How to Fix Bad iPhone Reception

If you’re having trouble getting a signal on your iPhone, here’s how to fix bad iPhone reception.

We’ve all been there before: we need to text or call someone only to find out that our phone is barely getting a signal and reception is just plain crappy.

You might be able to call and get connected to the recipient, but there may be cut-outs and overall poor call quality. The same goes for texting someone, it’ll be in the middle of sending, but it simply won’t send.

Of course, it helps it help to be on a carrier that has good coverage, but most big carriers have pretty solid coverage when it comes to cellular towers and getting a general signal on your iPhone, but it’s not too difficult to get into an area where there’s a dead zone, or walking around in a store that doesn’t get good reception period.

However, what you may not know is that the bad reception you’re getting probably doesn’t need to be happening, and your iPhone could be getting a better signal than the one you currently have.

Here are some tips you can use to fix bad iPhone reception.

Turn On and Off Airplane Mode

Perhaps the easiest and quickest trick to try out when your iPhone is having trouble getting a connection is to turn on Airplane Mode and then turn it back off. What this does is automatically start searching for the nearest cellular tower with the best connection.

It’s possible that when you change locations that your iPhone’s signal doesn’t necessarily follow you, and it could still be connected to an old tower even if there’s a closer one nearby.

Technically though, your iPhone should switch between towers automatically, but it’s possible that it gets stuck every now and then.

This also works with your data connection, so if you find yourself only getting 3G speeds, toggle Airplane Mode and it could get you back up to 4G LTE speeds. Same with going from 1x to 3G, or even 1x to 4G LTE.

Restart Your iPhone

If turning on Airplane Mode and turning it back on doesn’t do the trick, then you can go all way and just completely restart your iPhone.

That could easily be enough to reset everything and get your iPhone back on course and obtain a better signal. However, it will take a couple of minutes to perform, so it’s not exactly a trick to use when you’re in a major pinch.

Charge It Up

The more battery your iPhone has, the better chance it has at getting a strong signal. When your iPhone’s battery is low, it could still make calls, but it may not have enough juice to search for a strong signal. Plus, when you have a bad signal, it can run down the battery quicker than usual.

This is why it’s always a good idea to keep your iPhone battery charged up whenever you can.

Plus, it’s actually bad for your iPhone battery’s health when it’s constantly running low before you recharge it. You want to aim to keep your iPhone battery above 50% to elongate the overall life and health of the battery.

Reset Network Settings

If all else fails, resetting your iPhone’s network settings could do the trick and get you better reception, for cellular, data, and WiFi.

This won’t factory wipe your entire iPhone, so there’s no need to worry about that, but it will erase any saved WiFi networks that you have stored on your iPhone, so be aware of that when you do this.

To reset your iPhone’s network settings, go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.