How to disable voicemail on Android phones

How to Disable Voicemail on Android phones

A voicemail is a spoken message left by a caller on your phone’s voicemail system when they couldn’t reach you. You can attempt a few different methods to turn off voicemail on your Android phone. For instance, you could contact your mobile carrier to cancel your voicemail as they mainly control this service. Alternatively, there are some tricks that you could try to avoid getting voicemails. Here in this in-depth article, we’re going to find out how to disable voicemail on Android smartphones.

Here’s how to delete a voicemail number on an Android phone

On some Android phones, you can directly disable voicemail from the Call Settings on your Phone app. This method is relatively straightforward and requires only a few steps. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open the Phone app and tap on the three horizontal lines icon to open the Call Settings. (On some Android phones, there’s three dots menu instead)

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Step 2: Under the Call Settings, scroll down and tap on Advanced settings. After that, scroll down again and tap on Setup.

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Step 3: Your next step would be to tap on the Voicemail number section and delete the number. So, now you are no longer supposed to get any voicemails.

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However, some mobile carriers may not allow you to disable voicemail from your phone. In that case, you could try the following method.

Related Blog: How to Delete your Voicemail on iPhone

Here’s how to turn off voicemail on an Android phone by calling your mobile carrier

The most reliable way to disable voicemail on your phone is to call your mobile carrier and ask them to disable it. Most mobile carriers have a customer service code that you can dial to connect to them. If you’re in the US and using AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile, dial 611. So, here’s how to turn off voicemail on Android phones.

So, the first step would be to open the Phone app and call your mobile carrier’s customer service code. Next, choose the option for your voicemail. After that, request your mobile carrier’s support personnel to disable your voicemail and follow their instructions. Once you’ve confirmed the turning off of your voicemail service, hang up the phone.

Here’s how to disable voicemail on Android phones by enabling the call forwarding option

So by disabling the call forwarding option, you can prevent your carrier service from forwarding any calls to your voicemail. You can access the call forward options from your phone’s Call Settings. Here are the steps how.

Step 1: On your Android smartphone, open the Phone app. After that, tap on the three horizontal lines icon beside the Call button to launch the Call Settings. (On some Android phones, it is three dots menu icon)

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Step 2: Next, tap on the Call-forwarding settings. After that, you get four call forward options: Always forward, When busy, When unanswered, and When unreachable.

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Step 3: Disable all the call-forward functions. This will hopefully prevent your phone from forwarding your calls to your voicemail.

Here’s how to disable voicemail on Android by filling up your mailbox

Another trick to stop getting voicemails is to fill up your existing mailbox. When your voicemail is full, if someone calls instead of being told “your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system,” they’ll be told the message box is full. And they won’t be able to add any voicemails. Here are some ways to clutter your voicemail message box:

  • Don’t delete your existing voicemails and wait for them to fill up
  • Place your phone in the Airplane mode, and then use a different phone to call your phone. Then leave a voicemail for a few seconds. Do this a few times until your message box gets full
  • On your voicemail greeting, say that no one is going to check the voicemail message box. Instead, they should either send an email or a text.

How many voicemails can you get before it is full?

This number varies significantly depending upon the carrier service you’re currently using. For example, T-Mobile users get 30 messages before their voicemail box is full. At the same time, Verizon charges its users for extra voicemail space.

Can you change your voicemail without cell service?

Some claim that you’ll still get voicemails if your phone dies or there is no signal. These assertions, however, are false.  And experts are warning not to waste the precious battery life of your phone by attempting to leave a voicemail when there’s no cell service.

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