Not Receive Incoming Calls on the iPhone 6S / 6S Plus – What To Do

Kale Havervold June 7, 2017

Not being able to receive phone calls on your iPhone 6S can be a very worrying thing. You may be waiting for a special or important call, get nothing, only to have the person say they tried to call you and it didn’t work or that it went right to voicemail. While many people may text or Facetime instead of calling people nowadays, it is still very important that your iPhone 6S can actually still be used as a phone. If you are only receiving a certain amount of calls, none at all, or everything is going to voicemail, this can get quite annoying and can cause a ton of headaches.

Not Receive Incoming Calls on the iPhone 6S / 6S Plus - What To Do

While these devices are quite reliable most of the time, this isn’t always the case. Any and all devices can struggle with this from time to time. But thankfully, there are a few things you can do and try to fix the issue. There can actually be several different reasons why you may not be receiving calls on your iPhone 6S.

This article will take a closer look at the things you can do and try in order to be able to receive calls once again. Many of these methods are extremely quick and easy to do, while some may take a bit longer. However, unless your phone is having a much deeper issue, there is a good chance at least one of them will be able to help you out. If they cannot, it is a good idea to contact Apple directly and see what can then be done. Without any further ado, here are a few things to try to finally be able to receive phone calls on your iPhone 6S device once again.

Go Through Your Phone’s Settings to Make Sure Everything is in Order

The settings menu is home to a number of different things you can do to try and start receiving phone calls again. Here is a quick list of them to make sure you do everything you can to restore your ability to receive phone calls.

Try turning Airplane Mode off and back on again after waiting a few seconds. This can sometimes help to fix everything up so you can start getting incoming calls again.
Check your Do-Not-Disturb settings on your phone. This can be found in the Settings menu and then go into the Do Not Disturb menu, and make sure that Do Not Disturb is off. If it’s on, that would be the reason why you are not able to receive any phone calls.
Make sure that you don’t have any blocked phone numbers, as that would lead to you not receiving phone calls from that number. You can find this information out by going to Settings, then to Phone, and then into Call Blocking & Identification.
Have a look to see if Call Forwarding is turned on or off. Go to Settings, then Phone, and then click on Call Forwarding. You want to make sure it is turned off, if it was on, that might be why you weren’t getting any incoming calls.

Make Sure Your Software is Updated

The next thing you can do is to make sure that your software is updated. If your software on your device is older or out of date, it might be the reason for your troubles. Check both your carrier settings update and your iOs software updates, and make sure they are both updated to the newest offerings. Some updates might require Wi-Fi connectivity, but most should be easy, quick and straight forward. Outdated or unsupported software can sometimes lead to some issues, so it is always good to periodically check and make sure your device’s software is updated.

Remove and Reinsert Your SIM Card

If your iPhone has a SIM card, you should try removing it and putting it back in. iPhone’s come with a tool to use to remove the SIM card, but if you have lost that, don’t fret. You can use a small paperclip or other thin and sharp item to remove the SIM card. There is no guarantee that this will fix or change anything, but it is worth a try and has definitely worked for some people. You can also try turning your phone on and off again, and see if that is somehow able to help you out in this scenario.

Check and Tinker With Your Network Settings

Problems with your network could possibly be to blame, so that is the next thing you should check if you aren’t getting incoming calls, or they are going straight to voicemail. One of the first things you should try here is to make a call or receive a call in another location, as the physical location you are at might be what is causing your calling issues. Next, you should try switching to a different network band. To do this, follow the following different steps: Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Enable LTE. From there, try disabling LTE and using one of the other available options such as 4G or 3G and see if that helps your issue out. The last thing you should try here is to simply reset your network settings. This will erase all of your current saved settings, including WiFi, VPN settings and more. To do this, you just need to follow these steps: Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

Get in Contact with Your Carrier

By now, you have exhausted just about every single option at your disposal to try and get your phone to receive incoming calls again. At this point, the next thing you should do is to try is contact your cell phone carrier and provider. While they may not be able to offer you any assistance, it is the logical next place to go. When you call them, there are a few things you should make sure that you find out from them/ask them.

Make sure that your account is set up to actually use your iPhone 6S
If there are any local service outages or issues, that will likely be the reason behind your sudden inability to receive phone calls.
Make sure your account is all paid up and there is no block in place because of missed payments or other billing-related cause.
Make sure that your calls do not have an error on the carrier system for one reason or another.

Your provider/carrier should be able to provide you with this information to make sure your lack or incoming calls isn’t an issue with your carrier.

Restore your Device to Factory Settings

So let’s say that none of these other tactics have worked for you. You scoured the Settings menu, called your carrier and done everything else in your power, but still, you cannot receive phone calls. The next thing you will have to consider doing is completely restoring your device back to it was the day you first took it out of the box. This is a difficult choice to make as you are essentially going back to square one (though having a backup will help soften the blow). While this is generally an easy process, it is still a bit more timely than most of the other methods included in this article. All you have to do is go to: Settings > General > Reset, and then tap Erase All Content and Settings. Once you do that, your phone will be completely reset and hopefully, that helped your issue.

If none of these tips and tricks helped you be able to finally receive calls once again, it is a good idea to contact Apple as there is likely a deeper issue with your device. Hopefully, they will have an idea what is wrong or will be able to help you figure it out in a timely manner.