How To Set Up Call Forward on Any of Your Devices

Call forwarding lets you redirect incoming calls to a completely different phone number. While it’s a very common feature on most business phone lines, it is not something that is innately easy to find on most cell phones today.

Since many businesses rely on cell service to make business and personal phone calls, let’s talk about how you can set up call forwarding on any of your digital devices.

When To Use Call Forwarding Numbers

Call forwarding is a very common practice in business because it allows customers to have a better experience. If they want to call someone at your company who might be out on vacation, call forwarding allows their call to be sent somewhere else so they can be helped out in a timely fashion without needing to wait for the other individual to return.

It also helps employees get a better work-life balance because they don’t need to worry about missing important calls if they need to step away from work for a moment. Conversely, if you need to work remotely outside of the office, call forwarding lets your incoming calls get sent to a new device so you can talk with clients no matter where you are.

You can use call forwarding to get calls sent to an assistant or an alternate number if you don’t have the ability to answer a call yourself. Essentially, call forwarding can have a wide range of benefits and possibilities for personal and business use.

Conditional vs. Unconditional Forwarding

There are two types of call forwarding: conditional forwarding and unconditional forwarding. 

Conditional call forwarding is when you can set conditions to forward calls from your personal number to another number of your choice. For example, if you only want calls to be forwarded if not answered within a specific time period, that’s a conditional forwarded call.

Other conditions include sending a call to voicemail or an alternate number if the line is busy or if the number is unreachable. You can also set conditions like a specific date and time that you want calls to be forwarded to a different number.

Unconditional forwarding means that all calls will be sent to another number regardless of the reason. This is permanent until you turn forwarding off, so it will continue to forward all incoming calls no matter what.

How To Set Up Call Forwarding on iPhone

The call-forwarding feature on the iPhone is easy to set up. Just go to the Settings app on your phone and then tap Phone. 

You then have two options. The first is Call Forwarding, which you can turn on by swiping the button to the right. From there, hit Forward To and enter the phone number you want your calls to be forwarded to.

You can also do Call Waiting, which means that if you’re on a call and you receive an incoming call, it can get sent directly to voicemail as long as you have this feature on.

How To Set Up Call Forwarding on Android

To set up call forwarding on an Android, start by opening up the Phone app. Then, tap the three-dot icon at the top of the page and hit Settings. Next, tap Calls before tapping the Call Forwarding button.

Here, you’ll be met with a bunch of different options for however you want these calls to get forwarded.

• Always Forward: Enter a number that you’d like any and all incoming calls to get sent to. This is probably the one you’ll want to use in most cases.
• When Busy: Enter the number that gets called only if your phone number is busy. Most of the time, this is preset to your voicemail number, but you can change it to go somewhere else if you want.
• When unanswered: If you don’t pick up your phone, you can choose a number for the incoming call to get sent. Again, this is probably already set to your voicemail.
• When unreachable: If your phone is in airplane mode, doesn’t have any signal, or is just turned off, you can set a number that calls get directed towards. This is also probably already attached to your voicemail.

Choose either option, and you can then input the number you’d like calls to be directed to if any of these situations arise. Below are some step-by-step instructions for getting the most out of your call settings and phone service. 

How To Set Up Call Forwarding on a Windows Phone

On a Windows phone, you can set up call forwarding options by first going to your phone app, clicking the three dots at the top, and then selecting Settings. You’ll then find Call Forwarding.

From there, select Incoming Calls and tap to select Forward Calls. Under Forward Calls To, choose Voice Mail, New Number, New Contact, or your mobile number. To send your calls to a different number, enter the number or search for the contact as needed.

Under Apply Settings, choose when you want these changes to take effect by selecting All the Time or During Outlook Work Hours, which means that calls will only forward during times of the day when you’ve set your Windows Phone to go into work focus. Tap Done to save your changes.

These changes will automatically update to Skype for Business on your desktop or other connected mobile devices.

How To Set Up Call Forwarding With Mobile Carrier Codes

You can forward calls to another number by using carrier codes on your phone’s dial pad. These can be used when you receive a call and want to send it to a new phone number on a conditional basis.

For T-Mobile, enable call forwarding by dialing **21*PhoneNumber#. To disable call forwarding when you no longer want to use it, you’ll enter ##21#.

For Verizon, enable call forwarding with the code *72 (wait for the dial tone beep to confirm). Then, type in the phone number that you want to forward to. You can disable it by dialing *73.

For AT&T, you’ll dial **21*PhoneNumber#, just like T-Mobile. To disable it, dial #21#. And finally, for Sprint, you’ll dial *72, and then you’ll dial *720 to deactivate.

If you need more assistance setting up your mobile or landline phone system, call your service provider. 

Call Forwarding With Your Burner Number

With the Burner app, you can forward calls from your primary number to your secondary Burner number to help you achieve a greater work-life balance while also cutting back on the chance of spam calls and texts.

With your second Burner number, incoming calls that are sent to your primary are instead sent to your Burner number. If you want to answer the call, you can, but if you’d rather let it ring, that’s fine too. This benefit of Burner is that no one will ever have access to your primary number, which helps you fight back against scams, spam calls, and hackers. You can also change your area code, no matter where your mobile or home phone was set up. 

Your Burner number doesn’t just work for calls — it works with text messages too. Incoming calls won’t know your real number, and outgoing calls or texts will only reveal your secondary number: not your primary.

This makes it the perfect companion for a small business owner, so you can keep your primary number safe from strangers. With Burner’s advanced features like Do Not Disturb, you can get a better sense of work-life balance to feel more productive on the job and more relaxed at home.

Burner works with Apple and Android phones. 

Simple Steps With a Major Impact

Call forwarding is a useful phone management feature that gives you the ability to send incoming calls to a different number. There are many reasons why you might want to do this, such as going on vacation or needing to secure a second burner number to allow customers to reach the right employees faster.

You can enable call forwarding on all major smartphones, like iOS devices, Android devices, and Windows phones. You can even set up forwarding from your mobile carrier service on any mobile phone or landline of your choice.

Regardless, call forwarding can also be an excellent way to protect your privacy in light of scammers and hackers. Get a second Burner number today and keep your personal number safe and sound. 

Sources:

What is Call Forwarding? | CountryCode.org

Work Life Balance | Mental Health America

Common Scams and Frauds | USAGov