Call forwarding on Android: Samsung Galaxy, Pixel and dial codes

On a Samsung Galaxy the route is Phone app, More options (the three dots), Settings, Supplementary services, Call forwarding. Choose Always forward, type the number and tap Enable. Google's Phone app help has no forwarding steps, so the Pixel section below uses AT&T's tutorials, and a phone with no forwarding screen at all can use your carrier's dial code from the keypad instead.

Samsung Galaxy

1. Open the Phone app and tap More options, the three vertical dots.
2. Tap Settings, then Supplementary services, then Call forwarding.
3. Choose Always forward, Forward when busy, Forward when unanswered or Forward when unreachable.
4. Enter the number to forward calls to and tap Enable.

Samsung adds that what you see may vary by carrier and phone model. AT&T's tutorial for the Galaxy S25 Ultra takes the same route, with the first icon called Menu, and tells you to repeat the last two steps for each remaining option.

Turning it off on a Galaxy. Samsung's US page covers turning forwarding on. Samsung's Australian page, written for Australian-variant Galaxy devices, says to tap the Call Forwarding option and then select Disable. On a US phone, open the same Call forwarding screen and look for that choice, or dial your carrier's off code, covered under turning it off below.

Google Pixel

Google's help for the Phone app has no forwarding steps. It says the number of rings before voicemail is set by your carrier. The steps we can point to are AT&T's tutorials for the Pixel 9a and Pixel 8a, written for AT&T service:

1. Open the Phone app and tap the menu icon. The Pixel 8a tutorial calls it the Sidebar icon.
2. Tap Settings, then Calling accounts.
3. Select a SIM to configure, then tap Call forwarding.
4. Tap Always forward, enter a phone number, and tap Turn on.

While forwarding is on, a phone receiver with an arrow shows in the status bar. The Pixel 8a tutorial also describes three more options: When busy (you're already on another call), When unanswered (you don't answer after a few rings) and When unreachable (the phone is off, in airplane mode or has no signal). Other Pixel models and other carriers may word the menus differently. These tutorials cover turning forwarding on, so for turning it off on a Pixel, use the off codes below.

Google's own advice is to skip automatic call screening on a phone that uses forwarding, since the screened calls won't be forwarded.

A Pixel on Google Fi. Fi forwarding isn't in the phone's settings. It's set in the Fi app or at fi.google.com, under Home tab, Phone settings, Call forwarding, and you pick from Don't forward, Ring all numbers or Always forward.

Other Android phones

Look in the Phone app's settings for an entry named Call forwarding or Supplementary services. The wording shifts with the maker and the region: Samsung's page for the UAE puts the same screen under Call Settings › Call Forwarding. When a phone has no such screen, or it won't save, the dial codes below are the other route.

The four forwarding types and their codes

Samsung's forwarding screen and the Pixel screen in AT&T's tutorial offer the same four choices, and carriers publish codes for some or all of them. T-Mobile has a code for each. Verizon's help article describes one code for busy and unanswered together. In every code, NUMBER stands for the number you're forwarding to: ten digits, area code first. T-Mobile's codes put a 1 in front of it.

Xfinity Mobile and Visible use the same three star codes as Verizon: *72, *71 and *73. Xfinity's *71 is for unanswered calls, and Visible's covers busy or on-another-line calls. AT&T's call forwarding page lists no codes and sends you to the tutorial for your device, so use the menus above. Its documented off code is #21#, followed by the Call key. Full code lists are on our T-Mobile, Verizon, Xfinity Mobile and AT&T pages, and the conditional call forwarding guide covers the busy and no-answer codes for more carriers.

Dialing a code instead of using the menu

Open the Phone app, go to the keypad, enter the code with your number, and tap the call button. Verizon confirms with a series of beeps, then hangs the call up on its own. Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T each say they won't forward to an international number. Verizon also wants the forwarding line to be an active US line that takes voice calls.

Turn off call forwarding on Android

For a Galaxy, see the Samsung section above. On a Pixel, or any phone where you can't find the screen, dial the off code for what you set: the table above has T-Mobile's and Verizon's, and on Verizon *73 stops forwarding whichever code started it. Xfinity Mobile and Visible take *73 too, AT&T uses the #21# code mentioned above, and on Google Fi you pick Don't forward in the Fi app. Our turn off call forwarding guide puts every carrier's off code in one table.

When forwarding doesn't work on Android

• There's no Call forwarding screen. Samsung says what's offered varies by carrier and phone model. Use the codes above, or the Fi app on Fi.
• The phone still rings. When unanswered forwards a call only after a few rings, so the phone rings first. Always forward is the choice that sends every call.
• Callers get a busy signal. On AT&T that is what they hear when the number you forward to is busy. On Verizon, check the number you entered, since a stray key makes it unrecognizable, and set it again with the area code.
• It won't set while you're away. Verizon says you can't set up forwarding outside its coverage area or while traveling internationally, though forwarding set up beforehand should keep working.
• Calls stopped coming in. Verizon's troubleshooter names a forwarding setting as one reason a phone gets no calls, and Verizon also points to Do Not Disturb, blocking and Quiet Mode. On T-Mobile, ##004# and ##21# reset the settings that send calls to voicemail.

Forwarding an Android phone to VettedCalls

Our setup has four steps on an Android phone: install Cloud Softphone from Google Play, tap Activate VettedCalls in the welcome email, allow the app's permissions and set its battery use to Unrestricted, then dial one code that forwards every call to your VettedCalls number. The welcome email puts that code in a link you can tap to dial, with your number already filled in for the carrier you chose at signup. Typed by hand it's **21*NUMBER# on AT&T, T-Mobile and the other carriers in that family, or *72NUMBER on Verizon, Xfinity Mobile, Visible, Spectrum Mobile, Total by Verizon and Straight Talk, and ##21# or *73 undoes it. None of the busy or unanswered codes in the table above are involved.

Google Fi has no dial code. Setup shows the Fi app steps instead: Home, Phone settings, Call forwarding, Always forward, then add and verify your VettedCalls number. After that, each call lands with us first, and your cell shouldn't ring on its own. The Android setup page walks through each screen. For what happens to a call after it arrives, read call screening.

Screening on the phone itself is a separate subject: Samsung call screening, Google call screening and the Android call screening overview cover it. On an iPhone instead, see call forwarding on iPhone, and for every phone at once, how to forward calls.