How to Set the Number of Rings Before Your iPhone Goes to Voicemail

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Posted January 25, 2009 at 5:54pm by iClarified

These are instructions on how to set the number of rings before your iPhone goes to Voicemail. You can increase or decrease the amount of time your iPhone rings by following the simple steps below.

Step One
Press the Phone icon in your iPhone's dock.

Step Two
Press to select Keypad from the tabs at the bottom of the screen. Then enter *#61# and press the Call button.

Step Three
An information screen will appear. Take note of the Voice Call Forwarding number. It should say something like
Voice Call Forwarding
When Unanswered
Forwards to +16478396148.

Press the Dismiss button to return to the Keypad.

Step Four
Enter *61*, followed by the Voice Call Forwarding number we retrieved above, followed by *11, followed by *s# (replace s with the number of seconds your iPhone should ring before going to Voicemail)

Example: *61*+16478396148*11*20#

NOTE*: You can enter a + by holding down 0. The default ring time before going to Voicemail is usually 20 seconds.

Press the Call button.

Step Five
Your iPhone will inform you that
Setting Activation Succeeded
Voice Call Forwarding
When Unanswered

Press the Dismiss button to return to the Keypad. The next time someone calls your iPhone it will ring for your specified amount of seconds before going to Voicemail.

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AW - April 14, 2018 at 6:14pm

Thank you so much! It worked! Loved the extra tip on how to get the plus(+) sign!! However can you let everyone know that 30 seconds is the max number of seconds it allows...

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JDW - March 19, 2018 at 6:53pm

Is there a max number of rings allowed? I am trying to get about 20 rings before VM, however I set it for 240 and its going to VM at 6 rings no matter how far out i go

rodger price - March 12, 2018 at 3:28pm

Great stuff - worked perfectly - got a good 30 secs now before voicemail kicks in. Thanks for such a clear set of instructions.

lyn bosch - February 18, 2018 at 1:52am

this does NOT work. just wanted to change the number of rings before going to voicemail. the instructions end up trying to go to call forwarding. and *#61# is Invalid!

ruth964 - March 12, 2018 at 8:26pm

lyn bosch Hi there. Let me encourage you to try it one more time! Perhaps one star or number went in wrong for you! It worked for me and so many others, it seems! I hope you've got it now!

Steve wilson - February 7, 2018 at 7:10pm

Thanks for your advice,it now means my wife has longer to look for phone in her handbag before it goes to answer phon!!!! Yippee

Oralene Smith - January 20, 2018 at 6:06pm

Thank you very much for the detailed directions. I was looking for the "telephone number" to be in its usual format, but then I typed in the number that appeared on my phone's screen, and it worked. Maybe now I can get to my phone before it goes to voicemail.

Snowmanc - January 8, 2018 at 7:14pm

Thanks worked on my old I-phone 5 in the UK on O2. Now can get to my phone before its transferred to call answering.

Eric Gordon - December 20, 2017 at 9:26pm

This does not work.

mommymaryRN - December 7, 2017 at 3:33am

It worked on my iphone X. Thanks! I have AT& T in Ohio, US. I have always been frustrated that by the time I get to my phone it stops ringing. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

nimrod01 - November 30, 2017 at 11:56am

This worked for me in UK on O2 network - Thanks. The only issue was accessing + symbol. I then read thro' all instructions and followed the directions outlined in later text. I completely disabled my call forwarding by entering 30 which is fine, 'cos it takes a while to locate my phone when I'm busy.

Lorne - November 14, 2017 at 3:21pm

The number that comes up to forward is unknown to me. It should forward to my voice mail.

Anne-Mai Wallin - October 28, 2017 at 3:37pm

That did not work at all. At step three I did not get a thelephonenumber. I live in Sweden and perhaps it dos not work her,

Balki Bartokamus - September 22, 2017 at 4:17pm

Is this a joke? Why should I have to jump through hoops to do something that should be in a Settings Menu right there on the phone?

Dan Haldeman - August 26, 2017 at 3:39am

This method doesn't work if your carrier is Verizon!!!!!!

minge - August 21, 2017 at 3:47pm

Terrific.. Ta very much. This trick will save me breaking my neck rushing to pick the phone up and fumbling/dropping the thing.

Joan Dick - July 19, 2017 at 3:06am

Wow! Thanks for this info. It works! Much appreciated. : -)

Lor - June 26, 2017 at 3:23pm

Those are a crazy amount of steps fo follow just to change the number of rings ill just hit the "beat it " button before goin thru all that

Nkuntima Almeida - May 23, 2017 at 7:18pm

Thanks for useful info, I contacted Virgin costumer support and they weren't able go give me the correct info. I followed the steps and it works just fine. Set it to 30 seconds

OKenji - May 19, 2017 at 2:01am

It wrks for iphone 6, but 2 rings even though you do 5secs which is 1 ring. How can it go directly to voicemai? Anyone? Thanks

ruth964 - March 12, 2018 at 8:33pm

hey, OKenji! 1. Mine was going straight to voicemail and THAT was the problem for me! I couldn't find my phone by calling my cell number because it was not ringing for me! (Just in case you hadn't thought of that yet!) If you put 0 for the numb of secs. in, that should work. If not, leave it blank.

Donna L Bodway - May 2, 2017 at 8:54pm

I agree with everyone else, why is # of ring tones not a menu item? I guess Apple thinks we are all software developers. I have spent the last hour trying to get this done, thank you for this page, it was clear, concise, and it worked on my 5s.

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