Is your iPhone Carrier Searching or No Service showing up on the status bar? Here are several contributing reasons why iPhone is not able to connect to the carrier. Apple offered a lot of options to the device owners to fix the No Service problem. Allow us to lay down the official solutions and well-known solutions that have worked for thousands of iPhone/iPad owners.
Worn out SIM Card
The world is shifting towards eSIM cards, but millions of iPhone/iPad have physical SIM slots. You can take our SIM card for example, where we have installed the device in 2017 and it has in place for almost four years now.
- Eject the SIM card from the device and clean it using cotton buds or cotton wipes.
- Install the SIM card back in the phone and conduct testing for another ten minutes.
The SIM card comprises of the metal frame, chip, and plastic build, which suffers from overtime degradation. You should clean the SIM card to ensure that it is reusable for another year. However, you should consider a replacement for the existing card or get an eSIM, if available in your region.
Enable 4G VoLTE / Update Carrier Settings
Many countries have 4G infrastructure in place and it is accepted by millions of subscribers. Your carrier must have enabled a 4G connection in your plan, and you have to enable Voice & Data to use the services. It is easy to enable in iOS 12 or later phones and allow us to guide you through the process.
- Tap on Settings > Cellular or Carrier or Mobile Data.
- Click to enable “Mobile Data” which is a 4G connection in our case.
- Tap to enable “Mobile Data Options” to continue.
- Tap on “Voice & Data” to access more options.
- The options appear differently on iOS 12 and iOS 15.
If the 3G connection is available, then you can try it as well, but a 4G connection is what is required to use VoLTE option.
The telecommunication companies don’t update the carrier settings often, but it does happen from time-to-time to keep up with the latest technology. You can update the network settings manually on iPhone/iPad devices and allow us to guide you through the process.
- Fire up and open Settings > General > About.
- Tap on the carrier name if there’s any update available on the screen, and then you have to tap on it to update it.
In many cases, it isn’t the case but updating the carrier configuration manually does help in resolving iPhone Carrier Searching or No Service error.
Airplane Mode
AirPlane Mode works, and It doesn’t matter whether you have an iPhone or iPad. You should enable the flight mode manually from the settings, and it works flawlessly in most cases.
- Click on Settings > Airplane Mode.
- Let it sink in for a minute.
- Disable the “AirPlane mode” one or two minutes later.
The device should pick up the signals from the nearby carrier towers and you don’t have to face the problem again. Remember, this happens rarely, but if it persists, and then you should contact network customer care for further instructions.
Update iOS
Apple released iOS 14 a few months back, and you can resolve iPhone Carrier Searching or No Service error. However, we are not able to recommend the iOS update because the shortcomings are not worth updating from iOS 13 to iOS 14. There are too many problems with the latest iOS version, and it might take a long time for the stable version to arrive.
Reset your Network Settings
iOS has a lot of software-related problems, and it is well-known among loyal Apple device customers. The Cupertino-based company launching a new iOS version every year, but it comes with lots of bugs & glitches. Resetting the network settings is the fastest way to get rid of the carrier errors.
- Tap Settings > General > Reset.
- Click on the Reset Network Settings > Reset Network Settings.
Final Words
Follow the official solution that we have engraved above to fix iPhone Carrier Searching or No Service problem. You don’t need additional tools or pay an engineer to fix the problem and if the problem persists, then consider replacing the SIM card. The last resort would be booking an appointment with Apple Service Center to look for hardware-related problems.
