Turn off Live Voicemail on your iPhone

You dialed the forwarding code, the switch says your calls are going to Cara, and then a customer calls and nothing arrives. No lead, no alert, no missed call for Cara to catch. If you're on an iPhone, the most likely reason is a setting Apple turned on for you: Live Voicemail.

Turning it off takes about ten seconds, and you only do it once.

How it works

• On Rings you first, your phone rings, and it's your carrier that hands the call to Cara when nobody picks up. That handoff is the carrier noticing that the call went unanswered.
• Live Voicemail, added in iOS 17, answers that call itself. It picks up, plays your greeting, and types out what the caller is saying while they say it.
• Because your phone answered, the call was never unanswered. Your carrier has nothing to forward, so the call never reaches your ClearLine365 number and Cara never hears it.
• Nothing is wrong with your forwarding code or your carrier. The call simply stopped one step earlier than you expected.

Turn it off

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap Phone.
3. Turn Live Voicemail off.

That's the whole change. Your forwarding code stays as it is, and you don't need to dial anything again.

This is an iPhone setting, so you have to change it on the iPhone itself. A link from the app or the website can only open the Settings app, not the Live Voicemail switch inside it.

What to expect

• The next call you don't pick up rings out to your carrier instead of being answered by your phone, and Cara answers it. The lead shows up in the app and you get your usual alert.
• You keep ordinary voicemail. Turning off Live Voicemail stops your iPhone from answering and transcribing calls live; it doesn't remove your carrier's voicemail box.
• The reminder in the app goes away for good once you tap Done, it’s off. It's remembered on that phone, so it won't come back on your next call or your next sign-in.

Limits

This only affects iPhones on iOS 17 and later, where the setting exists. Android has nothing to do here and no equivalent setting to turn off.

If you use Straight to Cara instead, Live Voicemail can't get in the way: your carrier hands every call over before your phone rings at all, so there is nothing on your phone to answer it. You can leave the setting on.

Common questions

Will I still see who called and what they wanted?

Yes, and in more detail than Live Voicemail gave you. Cara answers the call, asks what the job is, and writes it up as a lead with the caller's name, number, and what they need.

Do I have to turn it off on every phone?

Only on the phones your customers call that forward to Cara on Rings you first. A second cell that never rings for the business doesn't matter.

I turned it off and calls still aren't reaching Cara.

Check that forwarding is actually on for that line in Settings → Call Forwarding, and that your phone company is set correctly there — the code you dial is different for each one. If Silence Unknown Callers is on, that can also send calls somewhere you don't expect.