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You are here: Home / Not working? / 12 Best Fixes for iPhone 12 mini Not Making or Receiving Calls

12 Best Fixes for iPhone 12 mini Not Making or Receiving Calls

Last Updated: February 4, 2022 by Kevin Shaw

Your iPhone 12 mini won’t make or receive calls and you don’t know why. This problem is incredibly frustrating, especially if you’re expecting or want to place an important call. In this article, I’ll tell you exactly why your iPhone 12 mini is not making or receiving calls and show you exactly how to fix the problem for good!

Note: If you can make outgoing calls, but your iPhone 12 mini isn’t ringing when you get an incoming call, that’s a separate issue.

When you can neither make nor receive calls on an iPhone 12 mini, the cause might be any number of issues. We’ve put together an outline of things you can try when your iPhone 12 mini is not making or receiving calls. This spans everything from the simple to the more involved. Regardless of why your iPhone 12 mini is not making or receiving calls, it should get you back up and running again.

Try these troubleshooting steps in order. Even if you don’t find out precisely why your iPhone 12 mini can’t make or receive calls, these tactics can resolve an array of iPhone problems.

Contents show
1 1. Verify that you’re in network
2 2. Turn off Airplane Mode
3 3. Make sure that Focus mode is not on
4 4. Check for blocked numbers
5 5. Restart your iPhone
6 6. Remove and reinsert SIM Card
7 7. Check For A Carrier Settings Update
8 8. Update iOS
9 9. Reset network settings
10 10. Factory reset your iPhone
11 11. Contact network carrier
12 12. Contact Apple Support
13 Conclusion

1. Verify that you’re in network

In order to make/receive calls or even connect to the internet with mobile data, there must be network coverage. While relatively rare, dead spots still exist. You might encounter this when underground (in a basement or on mass transit) or in a rural area. Reception issues can also happen if you’re near another country’s border and your iPhone thinks you’re roaming. You will automatically detect this if the signal indicator bar on your status bar is empty or the network name is not showing up.

To be sure there’s network coverage and the problem is not from your iPhone, try asking people near you if they have network coverage on their phone, and if they can make calls.

2. Turn off Airplane Mode

When checking the signal bar, you may instead find a symbol indicating Airplane Mode (this will usually look like a plane). When this mode is enabled, mobile networks are disabled, and incoming phone calls go to voicemail. This means you’ll have to switch it off if you want to make or receive calls. You can do this on an iPhone 12 mini by following these steps:

Step 1: Swipe down from the top-right of the display.
Step 2: If the Airplane Mode symbol is orange, this means it’s on. Turn it off by tapping it so that it turns clear.

3. Make sure that Focus mode is not on

As with Airplane Mode, it’s also a good idea to check whether you have Focus mode on. This shouldn’t stop you from making calls, but it generally stops you from receiving them. Or, at least, it will stop you from hearing an incoming call since the Focus mode only silence calls rather than disabling them completely.

You can turn off Focus mode by swiping down from the top-right corner. Next, tap the Focus Mode icon to turn it off.

4. Check for blocked numbers

If you’re expecting a call from a particular number, but it never comes (even when the other person tells you they’re trying to phone), you may want to check if you’ve previously blocked it. Blocking a number prevents that person from calling you, so if you want to receive calls from the number, it’s time to unblock.

You can unblock numbers by going to Settings > Phone > Blocked Contacts. Next, tap Edit in the top-right corner and tap the red Minus icon next to the number you want to block before tapping Unblock.

If you can’t call a particular number, check that the person hasn’t blocked you; call the person with another number to find out.

5. Restart your iPhone

If your iPhone 12 mini is not making or receiving calls after following the above solutions, try restarting the phone. Especially if you’ve been using your phone for a couple of days, restarting it can help fix a lot of software-related issues. Go to Settings > General > Shut Down.

6. Remove and reinsert SIM Card

Similar to the perennial reboot advice you get from IT departments, it’s usually worth removing your SIM card and reinserting it again. Doing this effectively de- and reactivates the card, hopefully removing any issues that were preventing your iPhone 12 mini from making and receiving calls.

7. Check For A Carrier Settings Update

Basically, carrier settings contain packets of data about your iPhone and the network you use that help ensure performance and connectivity. Keeping this data up-to-date is important to ensure your iPhone is working optimally, so it’s worth checking to see if your carrier settings are up to date.

Most of the time, you’ll automatically be prompted to update your carrier settings when such updates become available.

You can also manually check for a carrier settings update by going to Settings > General > About. A pop-up will usually appear within ten seconds if a new carrier settings update is available.

8. Update iOS

Yes, we’re starting to get a little desperate now, but updating to the latest available version of iOS can often help in cases where your iPhone 12 mini won’t make or receive calls.

Head to Settings > General > Software Update. Your phone will then tell you if an update is available.

9. Reset network settings

As with your SIM card, you can try resetting your network settings if your iPhone 12 mini still can’t make or receive calls. This clears your iPhone of any stored data that might potentially interfere with its functioning.

Head to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

10. Factory reset your iPhone

If you’ve tried all of the above steps and your iPhone 12 mini still can’t make or receive calls, you may want to consider a factory reset. This is basically the nuclear option as far as any problem or bug is concerned, but it can resolve issues in certain cases.

Head to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.

Needless to say, you should always backup your iPhone before performing a factory reset.

11. Contact network carrier

If your iPhone can make and receive calls with another SIM card, you should contact your network carrier —with another number or via social media channels— to confirm that the affected SIM card is active and hasn’t been blocked. If the SIM is active, you might be provided with useful information to resolve the issue with your SIM card.

12. Contact Apple Support

If all else fails, the issue might be due to hardware damage. Find out if it’s worth repairing or how to get a replacement. If you can, take your phone to a nearest Apple Store so the Genius Bar can conduct some troubleshooting.

Conclusion

To sum up, the first culprit to iPhone 12 mini call issue is network coverage. Check the cellular network bar on your iPhone to see the signal strength in your location. If network reception is low/weak, try moving to another location to get better network reception. You should also check that you don’t have ‘Focus’ enabled on your iPhone as this could block/silence incoming calls.

Additionally, if your iPhone 12 mini is unable to receive phone calls from a particular contact, check that you haven’t blocked the phone number. Conversely, if you can’t call a particular number, check that the person hasn’t blocked you; call the person with another number, perhaps. The issue could also be caused by some basic glitch that a simple device restart would fix. So, reboot your iPhone and see if things go back to normal.

I hope one or a combination of the above solutions helped you fix iPhone 12 mini call issues. In the comments section below, let us know your opinion and which method worked for you. If you have additional questions, then feel free to ask us.

About Kevin Shaw

Kevin Shaw is a tech writer at iPhoneArena covering news, how-tos, and user guides about iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.

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