Why Your Android Phone Isn't Ringing and How to Fix It Now

There's nothing worse than missing an important call, and that can happen if your phone isn't ringing for some reason. In most cases, however, there’s an easy fix. These troubleshooting steps will help you get to the root of the problem so your calls will come through and you don't miss anything.

What Causes Android Phones to Stop Ringing?

There are several reasons that your Android phone might not ring when someone calls you. It could be that the phone is physically damaged or infected with malware. But a more likely scenario is that you've inadvertently silenced your phone, left it on Airplane or Do Not Disturb mode, enabled call forwarding, or that a third-party app is part of the problem.

Work through these steps to find the problem and get everything back to working properly.

How to Fix a Non-Ringing Android Phone

Work through these steps order, testing your phone after each one. As you complete each step, see if your phone will ring for incoming calls. If it does, you've fixed the problem. If not, keep trying until you find the solution.

1. Check your volume settings. You may have several sliders for volume control for your ring volume, media volume, etc. Be sure to adjust the Ring volume slider.

   An easy way to do this is to press the volume up or down button, then tap the menu button that appears on that volume slider—you have to act fast, though, because these buttons disappear pretty quickly. From there, you'll see all the sound controls, including the one for the ringer.

   If other sounds work, like music and alarms, switch to a different ringtone, maybe one that's easier for you to hear. If you’re using a third-party ringtone, try one of the built-in options.

2. Make sure your phone isn't set to Airplane Mode. Believe it or not, it's easy to activate this option accidentally, and if it's on, phone calls are sent straight to voicemail. Be sure to turn off Airplane Mode. You can check this by pulling down from the top of the phone's screen to access Quick Settings.

   If Airplane Mode is on, the button will be orange. Tap it to turn it off, and it will become transparent.

   Airplane Mode also turns off Wi-Fi and cellular data, so if you can't load any web pages nor send texts, emails, etc., then there's a good chance this is toggled on.

3. Make sure Do Not Disturb isn't active. Depending on how it's set up on your phone, turning this feature on will stop you from seeing notifications about incoming calls. To turn off Do Not Disturb, open the Quick Settings menu.

   In Quick Settings, tap Focus, and then check Do Not Disturb. If the button is transparent, it's Off, but if the button is white, then Do Not Disturb is active. Tap it to turn it off.

4. Make sure your calls aren't being forwarded. Apps like Google Voice and some versions of Android can utilize this feature, so try to turn off call forwarding just to be sure your calls aren't ending up elsewhere.

5. Check your headphone settings. If your headphones aren't set up to receive phone call alerts, then it might seem like your phone isn't ringing when really you just can't hear it through your headphones.

   The solution here is to route calls through your headphones, too. To do that, try this: go to Settings > Connected devices > select settings next to your headphones > toggle on Phone calls.

6. Rebooting could be the fix. If none of the above is the problem, try to restart your phone. This fixes many issues even if you never find the cause.

7. Make sure your device isn't infected with a virus. Sometimes Android phones can get infected with malware. There are a few steps you can take to remove malicious apps from your device.

   Uninstall apps you never use, and only download apps and files from trusted sources because although an app might be in the Play Store, that doesn't mean it's safe to use.

8. Update your phone. You should have automatic updating set up for your device, but if you don't, try to update the Android OS and update your Android apps. Outdated operating systems and applications can have unresolved bugs, causing your phone to stop ringing.

   Outdated software can also put you at risk of getting malware on your device, so if you don't have automatic updates set up on your device, you should do that now.

9. Reset Your device. Doing a factory reset of your phone will revert it to the same state it was in when you first got it. If software is to blame for your phone not ringing, this is the ultimate fix.
   

   All your apps, settings, photos, etc., will get deleted. Consider backing up your phone first.

10. Inspect your phone for physical damage. Damage to your phone—even 'just a broken screen' can indicate there's more wrong than you might see. This could mean something inside the device has come loose or broken, preventing your calls from ringing.

    Contact the manufacturer or carrier about getting it repaired, if possible, or getting a replacement. 

    In the meantime, your phone might support another way to get your attention about incoming calls. Learn how to set up camera flash notifications to be alerted visually instead or have calls ring on a different device.