Can’t make or receive calls? Is your iPhone showing “No Service” or “Searching”? Your iPhone may have a software or hardware issue that is preventing it from connecting to your carrier. Here are some quick solutions to help you when your iPhone is out of service.
Why does your iPhone say “No Service”?
There might have been an error updating your carrier settings, or there might be a hardware issue with your iPhone. In addition, there is a possibility that your carrier may face some operational issues that prevent you from having access to the network on your iPhone.
There are quite a few fixes to get rid of the No Service error message on your iPhone. Let’s go through each of them.
10 ways to fix your iPhone when it’s out of service
- Check your coverage area
- Turning airplane mode on / off
- Reboot your iPhone
- Reinsert SIM
- Enable data roaming
- Reset network settings
- Make sure the date and time are correct
- Update carrier settings
- Refresh your iPhone
- Contact your service provider
1. Check your coverage area.
If you live in a rural area, you probably won’t have one of the best cell phone tricks. If this is the case, talk to your service provider and convince them to install cell towers in your area or get a signal booster for your home.
Alternatively, you can also try turning on Wi-Fi calling if you have a reliable Wi-Fi connection at home.
2. Turn on / off airplane mode.
First, make sure you don’t have airplane mode turned on. Now turn on airplane mode and then turn it off again.
To do this, go to “Settings” → turn on airplane mode → turn it off after a few seconds.
This should fix the No Service error, but if you are still getting the error, you can check the fixes mentioned below.
3. Restart your iPhone.
Restarting iPhone can help you get rid of the error. So feel free to give it a shot.
- IPhone X and later: Press and hold any of the Volume and Side buttons until the Power off slider appears. Then swipe the power off slider to turn off your device. Now wait a minute or two, press and hold the side button again to turn it back on.
- IPhone 8 and earlier: Press and hold the side button and drag the shutdown slider to turn off the device. After a while, press and hold the side button to turn it on.
4. Reinsert the SIM card.
Sometimes the problem isn’t that big. This may be the case with your iPhone. You may have inserted your SIM card incorrectly and therefore your iPhone is unable to connect to your carrier. Try to insert your SIM card correctly and restart your iPhone once.
If the problem persists, go to the next step.
5. Turn on data roaming.
Sometimes your carrier will not connect you to the network if you are outside your home network area, resulting in a server missing error. So, you need to make sure that data roaming is enabled on your device.
To do this, open “Settings” → “Cellular” → “Cellular settings” → enable “Data roaming”.
6. Reset network settings.
On rare occasions, your network settings may be corrupted, causing you to receive a “No service” error message. So, resetting the network to factory defaults can help you fix this problem.
To do this, open “Settings” → “General” → “Reset” → “Reset network settings”. Now enter your password and click on “Reset network settings”.
Note. Resetting network settings to defaults will reset Wi-Fi networks and passwords, cellular settings, VPN and APN.
7. Make sure the date and time are correct.
Sometimes, the wrong date and time can be the reason why the iPhone is not reporting out of service. To change the date and time, go to Settings → General → Date and Time → enable the Set automatically option → select the appropriate time zone.
8. Update your carrier settings.
You might have set the wrong carrier settings, or there might be some kind of error updating your carrier settings, causing your iPhone to display a No Service error message. If so, check to see if an update is available for Career Settings.
Note. Make sure you are connected to a Wi-Fi network.
- Open settings.
- Select “General” → “About”.
You will be notified if your carrier has released an update. - Then click “Update”.
Now restart your iPhone and check if the No Service error message appears.
9. Update your iPhone.
There is a chance that the latest software update caused this problem. Therefore, it’s best to check for a new iOS update as Apple usually releases new updates that fix bugs. For this
- Open settings.
- Now click on General → Software Update.
- If an update is available, tap Download and Install.
10. Contact your service provider.
If none of the fixes worked for you, the problem might be with your mobile operator. It is best to contact your service provider to help resolve the issue.
I hope the above fixes have solved your problem. If you’re still getting No Service error, I suggest you contact Apple Support once. This could be a hardware problem.
