How to Divert Calls on an iPhone

Diverting calls on an iPhone means sending incoming calls somewhere else, either to another number or to voicemail, and the setting lives in Settings under Phone rather than in the Phone app itself. Call divert on an iPhone is a network feature run by your carrier, so the iPhone only sends the request: the diversion itself happens before the call ever reaches your handset.

What does call divert mean on an iPhone?

Call divert and call forwarding are the same thing under two names. Apple labels the setting Call Forwarding, while many carriers and many people say "divert", so a search for call divert on an iPhone and a search for call forwarding land on the same feature.

There are two separate things people mean by it. One is diverting every incoming call to another number until you turn it off. The other is getting rid of a single call that is ringing right now. They are done in different places, so decide which one you need before you open anything.

How to divert one call that is ringing right now

1. Press the side button once to silence the ringer. The call keeps running and still goes to voicemail if you ignore it.
2. Press the side button twice quickly to divert that call straight to voicemail.
3. If the screen is unlocked and shows Accept and Decline, tap Decline for the same result.
4. Use Message or Remind Me on the incoming call screen if you want to answer later without picking up now.

This affects one call only. Nothing is changed on the network, and the next caller rings your phone normally.

How to divert all calls to another number, step by step

1. Open Settings on the iPhone and tap Phone.
2. Tap Call Forwarding. On a phone with two lines, choose the line you want to divert first, because each line is set separately.
3. Turn the Call Forwarding switch on.
4. Tap Forward To and type the destination number in full, with the country code if the destination is in another country.
5. Tap back out of the screen to save. Wait a moment and check that the destination number is now shown under Call Forwarding.

Ask someone to call you before you rely on it. The setting can look correct on screen while the request never reached the network.

What to do if Call Forwarding is missing from the Phone settings

A missing Call Forwarding row is not a fault in the iPhone. The row appears only when your carrier supports setting the diversion from the handset, and several do not: they expect the change to be made in their own app or in your online account instead.

• Check that the line has signal. With no service, the row can disappear entirely.
• On a phone with two SIM lines, open the line you actually want to divert; the row is shown per line.
• Look for a pending carrier settings update in the About screen under General.
• On a work phone, a device management profile may have removed the option. Ask whoever administers the phone.

How to divert calls only when you are busy or do not answer

Conditional call divert sends calls onward only in specific situations: when your line is busy, when you do not answer within a set time, or when the phone is unreachable. The iPhone Call Forwarding screen does not offer these variants; it is all-calls only.

Conditional diversion is set through your carrier instead, either in the carrier's own app, in your online account, or with the short codes the carrier publishes for its network. Those codes differ between carriers, so use the ones your own carrier documents rather than a set found in a forum.

How to check whether call divert is currently on

• Look at the status area at the top of the screen for the call forwarding indicator, a handset with a small arrow.
• Open Settings, then Phone, then Call Forwarding, and read the destination number shown there.
• Ask someone to call you and see where the call actually lands. This is the only check that tests the network rather than the screen.

If the indicator is showing but the Call Forwarding screen looks off, trust the indicator and contact your carrier: the handset and the network have drifted apart, and only the network side decides where calls go.

How to turn call divert off on an iPhone

Turn call divert off in the same place you turned it on: Settings, then Phone, then Call Forwarding, then switch it off and wait for the screen to confirm. Check that the forwarding indicator has disappeared from the status area before you put the phone away.

Switching it off needs signal, exactly like switching it on. Trying to cancel a diversion while the phone has no service, or while it is in airplane mode, changes the screen and not the network, and calls keep going to the old destination.

Why calls stop diverting, or the switch turns itself back off

A diversion that undoes itself almost always means the request never completed on the network. The usual causes are weak or absent signal at the moment you set it, airplane mode, a destination number typed without the country code while you are abroad, or a plan that does not include diversion to that kind of destination.

Set the diversion again while the phone has a solid signal, type the destination in full international form, and test it with a real call. If it fails twice in good signal, the block is on the carrier side and no amount of retrying on the handset will move it.

Does call divert on an iPhone also divert text messages?

No. Call divert on an iPhone moves voice calls only. Text messages continue to arrive on the original line, and so do verification codes sent by text, which matters if you were diverting calls because you are travelling with a second phone.

What to check before you contact your carrier about call divert

1. Which line you were trying to divert, if the phone has two.
2. The exact destination number you entered, including the country code.
3. Whether Call Forwarding appears in Settings under Phone at all.
4. Whether the diversion fails for every caller or only for some.
5. The exact wording of any error message, and the time you last tried.

With those five answers a carrier agent can usually tell in one conversation whether the diversion request is reaching the network. Without them the conversation starts with the same questions and ends without an answer.