iPhone 12 Pro not making or receiving calls? Fix

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

The first culprit to iPhone 12 Pro 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 ‘Do Not Disturb’ enabled on your iPhone as this could block/silence incoming calls.

Additionally, if you are 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.

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

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. Yes, it’s possible to lose network coverage. It occurs most times when you’re in a location far from the network mast, or when you’re in a basement, or when on a flight.

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.

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). If you do, this means Airplane Mode is activated and that you can’t receive any kind of communications signal. It also means you’ll have to switch it off if you want to make or receive calls. You can do this on an iPhone 12 Pro by taking the following 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.

Make sure that Do not Disturb mode is not on

As with Airplane Mode, it’s also a good idea to check whether you have Do Not Disturb 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 many Do Not Disturb modes (such as Apple’s) only silence calls rather than disabling them completely.

You can turn off Do Not Disturb mode by swiping down from the top-right corner. Next, tap the Do Not Disturb Mode icon (it looks like a crescent moon) so that it turns clear.

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.

Restart your iPhone

If your iPhone 12 Pro 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.

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 Pro from making and receiving calls.

Reset network settings

As with your SIM card, you can try resetting your network settings if your iPhone 12 Pro 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 > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

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 Pro won’t make or receive calls.

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

Factory reset your iPhone

If you’ve tried all of the above steps and your iPhone 12 Pro 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.

Contact network carrier

If your iPhone can make and 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.

Contact Apple

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.