Samsung Galaxy S23: Voicemail is Not Working (Fixes)

If the Voicemail is not working on your Samsung Galaxy S23. It can be a frustrating issue as you won’t receive or be able to hear any important voicemail messages. 

Not only you, but many Samsung Galaxy S23 users and even Galaxy S22 users have also reported having trouble with the voicemail service.

However, there’s no need to worry as we have included all the solutions with step-by-step instructions you need to fix this problem in this guide. So follow this article from top to bottom to make the voicemail work on your Galaxy S23.

Note: Solutions in this guide will work on any Samsung Galaxy S23 model (S23, S23 Plus, and S23 Ultra models.)

Editor’s note: We created these instructions using a Samsung Galaxy S23 running Android 13. Depending on your device’s software version, some steps and menu positions may look slightly different.

Why Voicemail does not work on your Galaxy S23

Before we jump into the solutions, let’s take a look at why voicemail is not working on some Samsung Galaxy S23 devices:

1. Voicemail is not activated on your device: 

This is the most common reason for a lot of cases. If you receive a “Not registered” error message on your Galaxy S23, it means that your device is not registered to the voicemail service.

2. Call forwarding has not been set up correctly: 

You need to explicitly set up call forwarding in order to make the voicemail service work correctly. So if it is not set up correctly, you will miss some voicemails as the call gets cut without letting your device receive voicemails.

3. Your network provider does not support voicemail messages: 

If your connection is new and you have no experience with the current provider, maybe your network provider does not support voicemails or may require an additional subscription to use it.

4. Visual voicemail service is glitched: 

The visual voicemail service may not work correctly if there are software glitches or compatibility issues with your device.

5. Misconfigurations and other software-related bugs

How to fix voicemail not working on your Galaxy S23

Before you begin, make sure that voicemail is supported by your network provider. You can directly contact their customer support and ask for that.

Follow every solution until you get the voicemail to work again on your Galaxy S23. After each solution, test it by leaving yourself a voicemail message. This will ensure that your voicemail service is working correctly.

Let’s get started.

Fix 01: Activate the voicemail service first

To register and receive voicemails to your Samsung Galaxy S23, you must activate the service on your device first. 

Here’s how you can check if your device is ready to activate voicemail:

1. Open the Dialer on your device.
2. Tap on the three dots located at the top left corner of the screen, and then select Settings.
3. Tap on Voicemails
4. Check if there is a phone number listed under the Voicemail number section. If there is, then your voicemail service is available to activate.

If you cannot see a voicemail number, contact your network provider for assistance. They can provide you with the necessary information to activate your voicemail service.

Then, to register with voicemail, follow these steps:

1. Open the Dialer again.
2. Press and hold the number 1 to access the voicemail service.
3. If your voicemail is already set up, you will be asked to enter your PIN by a prompt. If you have forgotten your PIN, Don’t worry. You can reset it from there.
4. If you haven’t set up voicemail, then you will be asked to set up a PIN code first.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to set up the PIN and register for voicemail.
6. Once you have finished setting up, hang up the call.
7. Press and hold the number 1 again and when you get the prompt, enter the PIN to complete the activation.

Once you have successfully registered and activated the voicemail service. Test a voice message.

Fix 02: Force stop and clear the cache of the visual voicemail service

Clearing the cache of the visual voicemail service will erase outdated cached data. This can help to resolve issues by causing its cache. 

Here’s how you can clear the cache of the visual voicemail service:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on Apps.
3. Tap on the filter button.

4. Toggle on “Show system apps.”

5. Find Visual voicemail and tap on it.
6. Tap on Force stop.
7. Tap on Storage.
8. Tap on Clear cache.

Once you have cleared the cache, restart your device to apply the solution successfully.

Fix 03: Set up call forwarding

As we said earlier, Setting up call forwarding to the voicemail number can help ensure that voicemail messages are always received by your Galaxy S23. Here’s how you can set up call forwarding:

1. Open the Dialer.
2. Tap on the three dots located at the top right corner of the screen.
3. Tap on Settings.
4. Tap on Call forwarding.
5. Add a triggering method as “Forward when unanswered.”
6. Enter the voicemail number provided by your network provider.
7. Tap Save to apply changes.

Fix 04: Reset network settings

Resetting the network settings will restore your device’s network settings to their default state, which can resolve any issues caused by misconfigured settings.

Follow these steps to reset your device’s network settings:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on General management.
3. Tap on Reset.

4. Under reset options, tap on Reset network settings.

5. Confirm.

Once the device has finished resetting the network settings, restart your device.

Fix 05: Contact the network provider

If you have tried all of the solutions up until here, it’s time to reach out to your network provider for assistance before going for other solutions.

Your network provider is the one that can check if the voicemail service is active on your account and if any network-related issues are causing the problem, they will also give you the necessary guidance to activate voicemail and ensure that it is working correctly on their end.

We often see people not asking the right question when activating such services from network providers. So when contacting your provider, first explain your issue and then ask these questions:

1. Is the voicemail service active on my account?
2. Could you provide me with the necessary steps I should take to activate voicemail on my Samsung Galaxy S23 (make sure to say the full device model name, like Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra)?
3. Are there any network-related issues that could be causing the problem?

Update the software

Software updates are often packed with bug fixes and other improvements. So if there are any bugs in the android system on your Galaxy S23, you can fix them by updating your device software.

To update your Galaxy S23, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on Software update.
3. Tap on Download and install.

Wait for your device to check for any available updates. Then you can go ahead and install it.

Factory data reset

A factory data reset is the extreme solution to this issue. Most of the time you won’t need to do this. But if you are still having problems receiving voicemails to your Galaxy S23, you can try resetting your device completely to see if it fixes the issue. 

As you know, a factory data reset will erase all the personal data on your device, so you should take a backup first (follow this guide to do that).

Once you have taken a full backup of your device, you can then proceed with the factory data reset:

1. Go to Settings > General management.
2. Tap on Reset.
3. Tap on Factory data reset.

4. Confirm by entering the lock screen password.

Wrapping Up

We hope that the solutions we have provided in this guide have helped you to resolve the problem with the voicemail service, without going for extreme solutions like the factory data reset.

If you have any further questions or need help, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below. We will be happy to help you.

Have a nice day!