Divert Missed & Declined Calls on iPhone

You don’t want to forward every call — you want your iPhone to ring as normal, and only send the calls you can’t answer or decline somewhere useful. That’s called conditional call forwarding, and this guide shows you exactly how to set it up on any iPhone.

Important: The iPhone Settings → Phone → Call Forwarding toggle forwards every call immediately — your phone never rings. For a business mobile that’s rarely what you want. To forward only unanswered or declined calls, use the network codes below.

The three "conditional" codes

Type these straight into the iPhone Phone → Keypad and press call. They’re part of the GSM standard, so they work the same on EE, O2, Vodafone, Three and every UK SIM (Giffgaff, Sky, Tesco, VOXI, Smarty and so on). Replace [number] with the number you want missed calls to go to.

No answer (you let it ring out) **61*[number]#

Busy / you decline the call **67*[number]#

Unreachable (phone off / no signal) **62*[number]#

Set all three to the same number to cover every way a call can go unanswered. After each one you’ll see a "Setting activated" confirmation.

Does "declining" a call count?

Yes. When you tap the red button to reject a call, your network treats it as busy — so it follows the **67* code. If you simply don’t pick up, it’s a no answer and follows **61*. Setting both means it doesn’t matter how the call ends — it’s still captured.

Choose how long it rings first

By default a call rings for about 15–20 seconds before diverting. To set your own ring time, add the seconds (in fives, up to 30) to the no-answer code:

**61*[number]**20# ← rings ~20 seconds, then diverts

Tip: 15–20 seconds gives you a fair chance to answer without leaving the caller hanging.

Checking and cancelling

Condition	Check status	Cancel
No answer	`*#61#`	`##61#`
Busy / declined	`*#67#`	`##67#`
Unreachable	`*#62#`	`##62#`
Cancel every divert at once		`##002#`

Which iPhone models does this work on?

All of them. Because these are network codes, not an iOS feature, they behave identically on the iPhone 17, 16, 15, SE, 14, 13 and older — and on any version of iOS. If a code ever doesn’t "stick", it’s a network setting rather than your phone; your provider’s app or support line can enable it.

Using "Do Not Disturb" the smart way

Want your phone silent except for a few important people, with everyone else captured? Set a Focus / Do Not Disturb that allows calls from your Favourites, and pair it with the no-answer divert above — silenced callers ring out quietly and divert automatically, while your VIPs still get through.

Read: Diverting calls on Do Not Disturb →

Where should those calls go? To Call2SMS.

Diverting unanswered calls to another mobile just moves the problem — you still have to answer it. Point the codes above at your Call2SMS number instead (it’s in your dashboard).

The moment you can’t take a call, Call2SMS texts the caller straight back, has a friendly conversation to capture their name and what they need, and sends the lead to your phone. A missed call becomes a booked job — not a voicemail nobody listens to.

See Call2SMS plans How Call2SMS works