My iPhone Doesn't Ring Consistently

[Jerry1]

Wondering if anyone else is having this issue. I have an iPhone and an iPad. I'm not sure what OS they're running, but I'm sure I'm up to date with updates because I just did them recently. I've also tried resetting both units.

For some unknown reason, my phone is not ringing consistently. The odd thing is that my iPad is ringing. I've been right in the room with my phone in hand and the iPad on the table next to me. The phone is not ringing and the iPad is. When this happens, nothing is happening on the phone. It's not that I just do not hear it ring, there is no way to answer the phone because the phone function/app that comes up when the phone rings does not come up on my phone. But I can, and have, answered my iPad.

My son-in-law says that strange things happen sometimes when both are on the same wifi. So, I tried taking my phone off wifi (just using cell service) and sure enough, it rings (and my iPad does not).

Can anyone think of what could be causing this? As is typical of these things, I never changed any settings on my phone. Also, I've looked at all the settings and can see nothing that would silence my phone or prevent a call from coming through. I've reset both devices and made sure my OS is the most current on both devices. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[COcheesehead]

My watch rings, but my iPhone or iPad do not on WI-FI. Modern problems.

 

[Midpack]

Long shot, do you have more than one WiFi network? We have 2 networks at home, and my iPhone and iPad don’t ring if we’re on our secondary network (or the device is remembering another last WiFi connection). But that said, sometimes one device or the other will ring and not the other - IOW I’ve seen the same issue even when I’m on the primary network.

 

[Jerry1]

Long shot, do you have more than one WiFi network? We have 2 networks at home, and my iPhone and iPad don’t ring if we’re on our secondary network (or the device is remembering another last WiFi connection). But that said, sometimes one device or the other will ring and not the other - IOW I’ve seen the same issue even when I’m on the primary network.

Only one network.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

What is your setting on the phone:

Settings > Cellular > Calls on Other Devices

I leave mine OFF.

 

[Midpack]

FWIW, iPhone is on Do Not Disturb? I don’t think my iPhone ever failed to ring before the iOS Focus function came on. I played with it at first and I may have inadvertently changed something that I haven’t undone. I know my iPhone shows Do Not Disturb when I don’t want it to, seems almost random - not always at night when I do want it.

And there’s probably no one else as stupid, but I found my iPhone volume muted once and that was the cause. Not silenced, volume muted. Don’t know when it happened or how, but that was the culprit for me once.

 

[Jerry1]

What is your setting on the phone:

Settings > Cellular > Calls on Other Devices

I leave mine OFF.

Mine is on because I do want my iPad to ring when a call comes in. Which, seemed to work fine not too long ago.

However, I will shut that off to test to see if that gets my phone working correctly again.

Also, I forgot to mention, I just got my first Apple Watch about a month or so ago. Maybe that is causing some conflict. Though today when a call came through, my iPad rang, but neither my phone or my watch rang.

 

[Jerry1]

FWIW, iPhone is on Do Not Disturb? I don’t think my iPhone ever failed to ring before the iOS Focus function came on. I played with it at first and I may have inadvertently changed something that I haven’t undone. I know my iPhone shows Do Not Disturb when I don’t want it to, seems almost random - not always at night when I do want it.

And there’s probably no one else as stupid, but I found my iPhone volume muted once and that was the cause. Not silenced, volume muted. Don’t know when it happened or how, but that was the culprit for me once.

I’ll look at my “focus settings”. That might be something because I just set them for the first time due to my watch.

It’s not the silent setting because I looked at the phone while the iPad was ringing and the phone didn’t even show a call coming through. I tried to force answer it on my phone but there was nothing there to “answer”.

 

[braumeister]

A few things to check:

Do your carrier settings need to be updated? (in Settings/General/About)
Does the iPhone have Airplane Mode turned on?
Does it have Do Not Disturb turned on? (in the Focus settings)
Does it have Call Forwarding turned on? (in Settings/Phone)
Does it have Silence Unknown Callers turned on?

You could also reset the network settings (Settings/General/Transfer or Reset iPhone/Reset/Reset Network Settings) but be aware this will erase your Wifi password, preferred networks and VPN settings.

 

[steelyman]

I’ve yet to figure out iOS Focus settings and their interaction with Do Not Disturb (granted, I didn’t try very hard).

I have had a problem with the mute button on my phone. The reason was that my case (Otterbox) covers up the button which had gotten tripped somehow. But in that situation the phone never rang.

 

[donheff]

I didn't even realize there was a focus setting option on the lock screen. Tells how closely I follow phone developments.

 

[Aerides]

I have the same (intermittent/occasional) issue, as does DH, with our Android phones. We know we're getting a call because google tells us on our desktop, but the phone sometimes doesn't ring.

More often, it's just lag, and the phone "knows" about the time of what would be the 3rd ring chime.

(one wifi, no DND, no funky settings, works most of the time, except when it doesn't, which is usually that rare time when you actually wanted to get that phone call).

 

[Alan]

Also, I forgot to mention, I just got my first Apple Watch about a month or so ago. Maybe that is causing some conflict. Though today when a call came through, my iPad rang, but neither my phone or my watch rang.

This was my first thought because my Apple Watch and iPhone interactions are very flaky and inconsistent.

 

[ShadowBloom]

I'm not sure if this is true, but I read that this can be caused if the phone hasn't been used recently because it becomes disconnected from the cellular network and by the time it reconnects it's missed several rings.

 

[disneysteve]

My wife has the same problem. She'll have the phone in her hand or right in front of her and miss calls because her phone doesn't ring. Until she sees the missed call notification, she has no idea anyone called. It's really annoying. It happened on her old phone (an iPhone 8) and she recently replaced that with an iPhone 13 and the same thing happens so it isn't even a device-specific issue. I had a 7 and now a 13 and never have that problem so it must be something in her settings.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

My wife has the same problem. She'll have the phone in her hand or right in front of her and miss calls because her phone doesn't ring. Until she sees the missed call notification, she has no idea anyone called. It's really annoying. It happened on her old phone (an iPhone 8) and she recently replaced that with an iPhone 13 and the same thing happens so it isn't even a device-specific issue. I had a 7 and now a 13 and never have that problem so it must be something in her settings.

For this issue, I would suspect she has has the following setting OFF.

Settings > Phone > Silence Unknown Callers

If that is turned OFF, then all calls from anyone who is NOT one of her contacts will just go directly to voicemail. You do not see/hear it ring. It's a great feature to avoid spam callers. You only know it happened because you will be notified of an incoming call and/or voicemail (if they leave one). How you are "notified" depends on your notification settings for the Phone app. Mine just shows up as a red indicator on the icon after it occurs.

I leave this setting to ON most of the time. Since I get quite a few spam calls. But if I'm waiting for a call from someone like a delivery person or repairman, who would not be on my contacts list, then I try to remember to turn it OFF temporarily.

For the original poster, I would agree with the above suggestions to dive into your Focus, Do Not Disturb, and Apple Watch Notification settings. I too have notification hand off issues between my iPhone and Apple Watch. However, mine is usually just related to Text Messages.

 

[Midpack]

It’s not the silent setting because I looked at the phone while the iPad was ringing and the phone didn’t even show a call coming through. I tried to force answer it on my phone but there was nothing there to “answer”.

Not talking about silent setting. I once found my phone volume down to nothing, and that was why it wasn’t ringing. The phone wasn’t silenced. Unlikely, but I did it to myself once.

 

[disneysteve]

For this issue, I would suspect she has has the following setting OFF.

Settings > Phone > Silence Unknown Callers

If that is turned OFF, then all calls from anyone who is NOT one of her contacts will just go directly to voicemail.

Good thought but no. It happens when anyone calls including me and I’m pretty sure I’m one of her contacts.

 

[Alan]

I was at a soccer match a couple of years back when my friend’s phone rang. He was stood next to me and when he looked at who was calling I could see it was “Dave”, and he said, that’s strange, I don’t have anyone called Dave in my contacts, but answered it anyway. I could hear his wife say, “Dave, have you got my phone, you left yours here in the house.”

 

[Qs Laptop]

Why in the world do people set their phones to ring over wifi networks?

 

[PaunchyPirate]

Why in the world do people set their phones to ring over wifi networks?

Because inside my aluminum siding house in a small rural town I don’t always get a strong cell signal. Wi-Fi calling reduces dropped calls.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Because inside my aluminum siding house in a small rural town I don’t always get a strong cell signal. Wi-Fi calling reduces dropped calls.

That is an excellent reason!

 

[pacergal]

I have learned about a few new settings on my iPhone, thanks all!

 

[troutnut1]

I somehow managed to block my own number which caused all kinds of grief. It must be easy-to-use do.

 

[bloom2708]

Why in the world do people set their phones to ring over wifi networks?

Poor cell signal inside the house. WiFi calling allows internet to extend the range/signal. Quite handy.