How to forward calls from your cell phone

To forward calls from a cell phone, turn on Call Forwarding in the phone's settings or dial your carrier's forwarding code from the keypad. The settings route is a switch (on an iPhone it's Settings › Apps › Phone › Call Forwarding), and the code route is a short string of stars and digits followed by the number you want calls sent to.

Either way, calls to your number ring somewhere else: every call, or with the conditional kinds, only the ones you can't take. The method you use depends on two things: whether you want every call moved or only the ones you miss, and which carrier you're on. Pick the situation that sounds like yours. If you already know your carrier, our call forwarding code finder shows its codes.

• Send every call to another number
• Send only the calls I miss
• I'm on an iPhone
• I'm on an Android phone
• My carrier uses *72

Send every call to another number

This is the plain version, called unconditional forwarding. Your phone stops ringing and each call goes straight to the other number. Verizon and Visible both put it that way: with forwarding on, your phone won't ring.

Before you start, have the full number you're sending calls to, area code included, and the phone in your hand. Verizon says you can't manage forwarding without using your mobile phone, and AT&T says to change it only from the wireless phone, not online. Then use the route that fits your phone and carrier:

• iPhone or Samsung Galaxy: the call forwarding screen in settings. The sections below give the steps.
• Verizon, Xfinity Mobile, Visible and Spectrum Mobile: dial *72NUMBER, with NUMBER as the 10-digit number, area code first.
• T-Mobile: dial **21*1NUMBER#.
• AT&T: use your phone's settings. AT&T's help sends you to a tutorial for your phone model.

Dial a code from the Phone app's keypad the way you'd dial any number, then let the confirmation finish before you end the call. Verizon describes a series of beeps, and Xfinity Mobile a confirmation tone and message. When it's done, call your number from another phone and check that the call lands where you expect.

Send only the calls I miss

The conditional kinds step in when something stops you from answering. On a Samsung Galaxy they sit right under Always forward as Forward when busy, Forward when unanswered and Forward when unreachable. Between them they catch the calls you can't take: you didn't answer, you were already on a call, or your phone was off or out of signal.

The Settings switch on an iPhone doesn't do these. It forwards every call, and for the busy and not-in-service kinds Apple tells you to contact your carrier. The conditional kinds come from codes instead:

• T-Mobile has one for each: **61*1NUMBER# for no answer, **67*1NUMBER# for busy and **62*1NUMBER# for phone off or out of signal.
• Verizon uses *71NUMBER. Its FAQ describes it as forwarding the calls you don't answer, and its longer help pages add calls that arrive while you're busy.
• Xfinity Mobile uses *71NUMBER for unanswered calls.
• Visible uses *71NUMBER when you're busy or on another line.
• Spectrum Mobile uses *71NUMBER for unanswered calls only; to forward when the line is busy, use the Busy Line & Missed Calls option in your Spectrum account.

Because the same code means slightly different things on different carriers, read your own carrier's page before you rely on it. Our conditional call forwarding guide lays the carriers out side by side, including the unreachable kind.

Forwarding from an iPhone

1. Open Settings, tap Apps, then Phone, then Call Forwarding.
2. Turn on Call Forwarding.
3. Tap Forward To, enter the number, then tap Back.

Apple's guide gives that same path for iOS 26 and iOS 27. A Dual SIM iPhone asks you to choose a line first. While forwarding is on, a Call Forwarding icon shows in the status bar, and you need to be in range of the cellular network when you set it up. Apple writes the switch for service on a GSM network. On a CDMA network, it says to contact your carrier.

If you'd rather dial a code, type it yourself. iPhone blocks links in messages, email, webpages and apps that ask to turn on call forwarding, so a tap-to-dial link won't do it. Our call forwarding on iPhone guide goes carrier by carrier and covers a switch that's missing.

Forwarding from an Android phone

Menus differ by phone maker and carrier. On a Samsung Galaxy, open the Phone app, tap More options (the three dots), then Settings, Supplementary services and Call forwarding. Pick a kind, enter the number and tap Enable. Samsung says availability may vary by carrier and phone model.

Google's Phone app help doesn't cover forwarding. For a Pixel, AT&T's tutorials for the Pixel 9a and 8a, written for AT&T service, give this path: Phone app, the menu icon (called Sidebar on the 8a), Settings, Calling accounts, pick a SIM, Call forwarding, Always forward, enter the number and turn it on. If you're on Google Fi, forwarding is set in the Fi app or on fi.google.com instead: Home tab, Phone settings, Call forwarding.

No Call forwarding screen on your phone? Dial your carrier's code from the Phone app's keypad. The call forwarding on Android guide has the four kinds and the matching codes.

A carrier that uses *72

Verizon's three codes are published by other carriers too. Xfinity Mobile, Visible and Spectrum Mobile each list the same three on their own help pages. *72 plus the number forwards every call, *71 plus the number is the conditional code (each carrier describes it a little differently, as the list above shows), and *73 turns forwarding off. Our setup page gives Total by Verizon and Straight Talk the same codes.

Verizon, Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum Mobile all want the 10-digit number with its area code and refuse international numbers. If callers hear a busy tone after you set it up, Verizon says to check the number you typed: an extra button pressed by accident makes it unrecognized. Set it up again with *72 and the number, area code included.

Each of these carriers has its own page: Verizon (which also covers Visible), Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum Mobile.

The two code families side by side

Almost every code in this guide belongs to one of two families. One turns forwarding on with two stars and off with pound signs. The other is the Verizon family: *72, *71 and *73.

Our setup page sorts its 16 carriers the same way: nine get the ** codes, six get the *72 family, and Google Fi gets neither, because its forwarding is set in the Fi app.

What changes while forwarding is on

• Voicemail. On AT&T, forwarding overrides your wireless voicemail. Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum Mobile both say unanswered calls skip the mobile voicemail once forwarding is on.
• Texts. Forwarding is for calls. Verizon says it doesn't forward text messages, and Xfinity Mobile says texts still come through on your phone as normal.
• Outgoing calls. AT&T says you can still make calls from your phone.
• Cost. Verizon says there's no monthly fee on most plans, and that without unlimited minutes forwarded calls are billed as if you'd answered them. AT&T bills forwarded calls for their length, and long distance or roaming charges can apply. Xfinity Mobile includes forwarding at no additional cost.
• Travel. Verizon says you can't set forwarding up outside its coverage area or while traveling internationally, and that forwarding you set up before you start roaming should keep working.
• Phone screening apps. Google says that if you use call forwarding, you shouldn't use automatic Call Screen, because screened calls won't be forwarded.

How VettedCalls uses forwarding

Our setup uses the first kind above, forward everything. Your cell keeps its number, and we give your account its own VettedCalls number in the area code you signed up with. Step 4 of setup is a forward-all code dialed from the phone's regular dialer, with that VettedCalls number where this page says NUMBER. From then on your cell hands every call to us and shouldn't ring by itself. A caller who gets through screening rings in the Cloud Softphone app, and the app shows their number before you answer.

That means we don't use the missed-call kinds, so there's no stage where your cell rings first. If you have a Pixel, leave Google's automatic Call Screen off when you forward to us, per the Google advice above. Our Google call screening guide covers that.

Two things to know before you start. iPhone blocks links that turn on forwarding, so on an iPhone the setup page and the welcome email show the code as plain text to type on the keypad. And if your carrier can't forward calls, you get a full refund within the first 14 days. The setup walkthrough has the carrier picker, and call screening explains what happens to each call once forwarding is on.

On Pro, your phone rings for up to 25 seconds, and then the caller goes to voicemail. By default you get a text alert, an email with the full transcript and a link to play it, and an entry in your dashboard. To undo forwarding later, see how to turn off call forwarding.

Every forwarding guide and carrier page

Guides:

• Call forwarding on iPhone: the carrier-by-carrier path, turning it off and a missing switch.
• Call forwarding on Android: Pixel and Galaxy steps and the matching codes.
• Turn off call forwarding: the off code for each carrier.
• Conditional call forwarding codes: busy, no answer and unreachable, carrier by carrier.

Carrier pages:

• Verizon, which also covers Visible.
• Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum Mobile.
• T-Mobile, which also covers Metro by T-Mobile, Mint Mobile and Google Fi.
• AT&T, which also covers Cricket and FirstNet.
• Boost Mobile, US Cellular and Consumer Cellular, which also covers Net10.