If your iPhone 13 doesn’t ring when you get a call, don’t freak out. Here are step-by-step instructions on how you can fix the problem so your iPhone start ringing loud and clear.
Note: information in this article applies to iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Let’s dive in.
If your iPhone 13 doesn’t ring when someone calls you, it could be something as simple as lowered volume levels or bluetooth pairing, or it could be something more serious like a speaker issue.
A few times this has happened to me, it’s thankfully been something minor. I’ve covered all these possibilities and more below. Let’s discuss the reasons why your iPhone 13 isn’t ringing and how to fix the issue.
See also: 13 Pro Tips To Fix Wi-Fi Not Working On iPhone 13
Fixes for iPhone 13 not ringing issue
If your iPhone 13 doesn’t ring for incoming calls, follow the steps below to fix the issue.
1. Turn off the silent switch of your iPhone
If your iPhone 13 does not ring on all calls, make sure the switch on your phone’s left side isn’t set to Silent mode. Your iPhone 13 will not ring or play a sound when you receive cellular & app calls, notifications, and the likes in this mode.
You can put your iPhone back into ringer mode by using the ringer/silent switch on the side of your iPhone.
Look at the switch on the left side of your phone. If the switch is pushed away from your screen and showing an orange color strip, you have Silent Mode on. Flip the switch to turn it off.
2. Turn up the ringer volume of your iPhone
If your iPhone 13 is not ringing when you get a phone call, but your videos and music are playing at a normal volume, then this means your ringer volume is turned all the way down and your media volume is turned up. These are two separate settings in iOS
To adjust your ringer volume, simply adjust the volume with the volume buttons while no media is playing, or instead, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics and drag the ringer and alerts volume slider to the desired level.
You can then test if your iPhone 13 ringer is not working by playing music or a video. If you hear noise, the issue is low ringer volume, not your ringer not working.
3. Disconnect Bluetooth Audio Devices
If you occasionally use wireless audio devices like Bluetooth headset with your iPhone, then your iPhone is set to automatically connect to it when it’s in range. When it connects, iOS automatically uses AirPlay mirroring to direct all sound to the Bluetooth headset.
In this scenario, what can happen is if you leave home without your Bluetooth headset, your sound might work great when you’re out and about, but when you come back home, sound might start to route to the Bluetooth headset instead of through your iPhone, giving you the illusion that there’s no sound because the iPhone is routing sound to the Bluetooth headset that you’re not using instead.
You can either turn Bluetooth off when you’re not using the Bluetooth headset, or you can turn off the AirPlay connection between your iPhone and the Bluetooth headset. Since I use an Apple Watch, turning off Bluetooth isn’t really an option for me. Instead, I just open Control Center, tap on the AirPlay button, and choose the iPhone speaker instead of the Bluetooth headset, and this makes the incoming call ringtone to normally sound via my iPhone’s speakers.
4. Turn your device off and on again
If it’s a software glitch, which can happen from time to time, you might be able to fix it by simply turning your device off and on again. . This is very helpful especially when your iPhone runs into software bugs that cause the phone to run slowly or wonky, including if its sound or ringer has stopped working. Typically, a hard reset is the best, which can be done by pressing and quickly releasing the volume up button, pressing and quickly releasing the volume down button, pressing and holding the Side button for 10 seconds until the iPhone reboots.
5. Confirm Focus Mode Is Disabled
The Focus feature on iOS 15 disables sound and vibration for call, text, and app notifications. If you’ve accidentally enabled Focus Mode, your iPhone 13 won’t ring on incoming calls.
To check this, open Control Center and find the Focus icon. If Focus is enabled, tap on it to turn it off. Now you should start hearing the ringtone when you get any calls. If your iPhone 13 isn’t ringing, check the next solution.
6. Turn Off Silence Unknown Callers
Starting in iOS 13, Apple added a feature to iPhones that allows you to stop unknown calls from ringing. Telemarketers and spammers often use the ‘Unknown Caller’ ID to try to reach you, and if you get a lot of them, they can be annoying. However, once you’ve enabled the Silence Unknown Callers feature when someone using an unknown number calls your phone, the call will be sent directly to voicemail, and it will appear in your Recent Calls list, but your iPhone 13 will not ring. Here’s how to disable the Silence Unknown Caller feature and make your phone ring.
Go to Settings > Phone > Silence Unknown Callers then tap Silence Unknown Callers again to turn the feature off (gray color).
7. Double-Check if You’ve Blocked the Caller
If you have blocked a person, you won’t get phone call from them. This naturally means you’re iPhone 13 won’t ring. To make sure you didn’t accidentally block an important number by accident, follow these steps.
- Start the Settings app on your iPhone and tap Phone.
- Tap Blocked Contacts.
- Swipe left on an entry here and tap Unblock.
8. Choose a Different or Louder Ringtone
If your iPhone 13 ringtone is too low to be recognized or the ringtone doesn’t ring, please try the following.
Start the Settings app on your iPhone and tap Sounds & Haptics. Tap Ringtone, and from the next screen, try selecting a different ringtone. Remember not to select “None” as it’ll turn off all the sounds.
9. Check and Turn Off Call Forwarding
Your iPhone 13 won’t ring if call forwarding is turned on. All your incoming calls will be forwarded to your specified number or to your voicemail. Therefore, when you find that your iPhone 13 doesn’t ring, you can disable call forwarding to fix the issue.
- Start the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap on Phone.
- Tap on Call Forwarding.
- Turn off the switch next to Call Forwarding.
10. Check for Custom Contact Ringtones
If your iPhone 13 won’t ring for a specific caller and that person isn’t blocked, then check to see if it’s a custom ringtone you assigned to them that isn’t working.
- Start the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap on ”Sounds & Haptics.”
- Tap on ”Ringtone.”
- Find the tone you want to delete from the Ringtones list before swiping left on it.
- Tap on the red ”Delete” icon that appears to delete the ringtone.
- Go back to your contact and assign a different ringtone to their profile.
11. Update iOS
Updating iOS can fix lots of bugs for software errors and other problems, including the iPhone 13 not ringing issue. Simply update your iPhone to the latest iOS version by going to Settings > General > Software Update. If an update is available, tap ’Download and Install.’
12. Connect a headset and see if ringer works
If you can’t hear ringer sound with the built-in speakers after trying all of the above steps, but are able to hear ringer sound via the headset when a headset is connected, there could be a problem with your built-in speaker(s).
If you believe an issue is tied to the built-in speakers, then you will most likely have to visit an Apple Store to have your speaker serviced. If the device is under warranty, it should be replaced for free. Otherwise, you may be facing a bench and labor charge.
13. Get your iPhone serviced
If you find ringer not working on iPhone 13 after trying all the above solutions, you probably have a hardware problem with your device, like a damaged speaker or a fried port.
You can go to Apple’s support page and make a Genius Bar reservation to have an Apple technician look at it.
Solved iPhone 13 not ringing issue!
The problem of iPhone 13 not ringing can occur without warning, but being armed with the knowledge to handle it can help you to troubleshoot this kind of issue. By now, your iPhone 13 ringing problem should be fixed, ensuring you do not miss future calls. To check, ask a friend or family member to call you.
Have you ever experienced ringer issues on your iOS devices? If so, share what caused them and what fixed them in the comments section below.
See also: 16 Useful iOS 16 Features Every iPhone User Should Know
Great article. One other tip. After doing all of these things, my IPhone 13 Pro STILL wouldn’t ring! I went to sounds and haptic, turned off ringer and alerts “change with buttons” and then turned it back on. FIXED!
YES, That finally did it and I spent a couple of hours on this fix. You’re the bomb! Thank you.
I found that if I had Facebook open my iphone 13 pro max wouldn’t ring. Even if I wasn’t actively using Facebook. So I close it completely every time I’m done using it. So far it’s working.
I just did what Pam suggested and it worked after much dismay with the other ideas suggested. Thank you very much. Virginia