If you're experiencing difficulties making or receiving calls, encountering frustrating dropped calls, your phone isn't ringing but you have missed calls, or you're having issues with audio quality, such as delayed or choppy sound, you're in the right place! Below, we'll go through some troubleshooting steps to help resolve these issues.
Keep in mind that occasional dropped calls and audio quality issues can sometimes be attributed to various factors, such as adverse weather conditions or interference from buildings blocking cell tower signals. If the steps on this page don't help fix those problems, you may want to consider how environmental factors could be impacting the call.
General calling troubleshooting
After each of these steps, we encourage you to give someone a call or have them call you to confirm whether the problem has been resolved.
Click on the steps below to learn more and see instructions on how to complete them.
1. Make sure your Wi-Fi or mobile data is turned on and Airplane Mode is turned off
Sound quality can depend on your network speed, so you'll want to make sure you are getting proper internet speeds. You can do a speed test on this website to make sure your network speed is around 25 Mbps or higher
If you’re using cellular data, we suggest activating LTE or 5G. If you have the option to use Wi-Fi, that’s preferable. The improved speeds will ensure that your calls are well-connected.
2. Make sure the TextNow app is up-to-date
To see if your app is up to date you can go to the Play Store (Android) or App Store (iOS) and search for TextNow. If you see an option to update, click the Update button. If you do not see an option, then your app is likely up to date.
3. Disable any Battery Optimization or Power Saving modes
If your device has the option to reduce battery usage by turning on a Battery Optimization or Power Saving mode, try turning these off to see if your call is being impacted by the reduced functionality that these options may create.
4. Turn off Bluetooth, especially on older phones
You can try disabling Bluetooth, especially if you have an older device, to make sure your phone is not trying to route the call to a Bluetooth device you've previously connected to.
Android
- Go to your device's Settings page
- Open Connections (it may also be called Networks or Networks & Internet)
- Make sure Bluetooth is turned off
iPhone or iPad
- Go to your device's Settings page
- Open Bluetooth
- Make sure Bluetooth is turned off
5. If you're using an Android device, you can also try clearing your cache
This is a feature on Android phones that can help clear out old files that may be affecting app performance. Clearing the cache will not delete any personal data from your phone, it only removes temporary files that could be taking up space.
Note that you will likely need to log into your account again after clearing the cache, so first be sure you remember your login credentials and whether you've chosen to log in with email, Google, Apple, or Facebook.
Android only
- Go to your device's Settings page
- Open Apps
- Tap TextNow > Storage
- Here you should see the option to Clear Cache (Be careful not to select 'Clear Storage' or 'Clear Data' because those options will delete your calling and messaging history in the app)
Seeing missed calls but your phone didn't ring
After going through the general calling troubleshooting steps listed above, if you're still noticing that you've received a missed call but your phone didn't ring, there are a few more things you can try:
1. Turn on Background Data usage
Enabling Background Data usage allows your apps to update even when you're not using them. If Background Data is turned off, apps will only be able to refresh when you open them, which means you might not get notified about calls or texts if you don't have the TextNow app open.
Android
- Go to your device's Settings page
- Open Apps > TextNow
- Tap on Data Usage or Mobile Data & Wi-Fi
- Make sure Background Data is enabled
iPhone or iPad
- Go to your device's Settings page
- Tap on TextNow
- Make sure the toggle next to Mobile Data is turned on
2. Make sure Data Saver/Low Data Mode is turned off
Data Saver and Low Data Mode also restrict background data usage and could cause you to not get notified about calls or texts if you don't have the TextNow app open.
Android
- Go to your device's Settings page
- Open Connections (it may also be called Networks or Networks & Internet)
- Tap Data usage > Data saver
- Make sure Data saver is turned off
iPhone or iPad
- Go to your device's Settings page
- Open Cellular > Cellular Data Options
- Make sure Low Data Mode is turned off (you might need to open Data Mode first then turn off Low Data Mode)
3. Make sure Do Not Disturb is turned off
Do Not Disturb mode silences all incoming app notifications, so it's a good idea to make sure that it's turned off if you're not receiving call notifications.
Android
- Go to your device's Settings page
- Open Notifications
- Tap Do Not Disturb and make sure it is turned off
iPhone or iPad
- Go to your device's Settings page
- Open Focus
- Make sure Do Not Disturb is turned off
4. Make sure notification permissions are enabled for the TextNow app
It's a good idea to check and make sure you have notification permissions turned on for the TextNow app to ensure that your device isn't blocking any incoming calls or texts due to not accepting the necessary permissions.
Android
- Go to your device's Settings page
- Open Apps
- Tap TextNow > App permissions
- Tap on the three dots in the upper-right corner and select All permissions or manually enable the permissions for Phone, Notifications, and Call logs from the list
iPhone or iPad
- Go to your device's Settings page
- Tap on TextNow
- Make sure all of the necessary permissions are enabled
Trouble making calls
After trying the general calling troubleshooting steps listed above, if you're still having difficulty making a call there are a few additional things you can check:
Check the signal icon in the status bar at the top of your phone to make sure you're in the cellular network's range.
- If it shows no bars or only one bar, there may not be enough coverage in that area for your call to go through. You can search your location on our coverage map here to check if the area you're in has cellular coverage.
- If you're calling internationally or to a remote area of North America, make sure you have enough credits to place your call. You can purchase international long distance credits through the My Wallet section of your TextNow app.
- If you're only noticing issues when you call a specific number, ensure the person you're calling is available and you haven't accidentally blocked their number or they've blocked your number.
- If you’ve just arrived in Mexico or Canada (roaming in Canada is available on the Plus and Unlimited plans only), give it a few minutes to find a local network.
- If you’re still not connected, choose the network yourself:
- On Android go to Settings > Connections > Mobile networks > Network operators and turn off Select automatically.
- On iPhone go to Settings > Cellular > Network Selection and turn off Automatic.
- If you’re still not connected, choose the network yourself:
Trouble hearing the other person on the call, or they can't hear you
If you've gone through all of the general calling troubleshooting steps listed above and you're still having trouble hearing the people on your call, or the other person on the line is having trouble hearing you, you can check to make sure everything is functioning properly with the hardware of your phone.
- Make sure the volume on your phone is turned up, then try to record a short video with the Camera or a voice recording app and play it to check if the microphone on your device is functioning properly.
- If you record a video or voice recording and it doesn't play any audio back, but YouTube videos play fine, then there may be a problem with your microphone.
- If you record a video and it doesn't play back the audio on the speaker, but it does through the headphones, the problem may be with your speaker.