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This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Travis Boylls. Travis has been a tech writer at wikiHow for more than 10 years. He has also worked in technical support for Dish Network and AT&T Wireless. He studied graphic design and web design at Pikes Peak Community College. He specializes in Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and video game consoles. Travis has had a fascination with computers and technology that goes all the way back to childhood. He is proficient in all manner of software and computer operating systems.
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Voicemail is a service provided by your mobile carrier, which means in order to turn it off completely, you'll need to contact your carrier. However, some carriers also allow disabling voicemail by disabling call forwarding, which prevents callers from being forwarded to your voice mailbox. This wikiHow article teaches you how to turn off voicemail on a Samsung Galaxy phone.
Easily Turn Off Voicemail on a Samsung Phone
To completely disable voicemail, contact your carrier--they'll need to deactivate it on your account. Depending on your carrier, you may also be able to turn off voicemail by disabling call forwarding in the Phone app, or by dialing "##004#".
Steps
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Open the Phone app. This is the phone receiver icon on your home screen (usually at the bottom). Call forwarding is a feature that voicemail relies on to forward messages to your inbox. If you disable call forwarding, calls can't be forwarded to your voicemail.- Some carriers do not allow you to turn off call forwarding preferences on phones you've leased or bought through their service.
- If you don't see these options or are unable to make selections on these screens, you will need to contact your carrier to have them turn off your voicemail.
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Tap the menu ⋮. It's the three dots at the top-right corner of the screen. -
Tap Settings. This is usually in the middle of the menu. -
Tap Supplementary Services or More Settings. You'll see one of these two options near the bottom of the menu under "Voicemail." -
Tap Call Fowarding. This is usually the second listing on the menu. -
Tap Forward when busy. This is usually listed under "Always forward," which should be turned off. -
Tap Turn off. If you can't turn off this setting, you may be able to change the number listed to another number. If you enter another number, your calls will be sent to that number instead of winding up in your voicemail when you don't answer. -
Tap Update to return to the main screen. If you are able to make any changes here, tap the first option in the menu to save your changes. -
Repeat these steps for "Forward when unanswered" and "Forward when unreachable". If you want to modify other call forwarding details, you can make your changes in these menus.[1]
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Open the Phone app. Another way to turn off voicemail is to enter an MMI shortcut that disables call forwarding. Call forwarding is a feature that voicemail relies on to forward messages to your inbox. If you disable call forwarding, calls cannot be forwarded to your voicemail.
- This method will not work on all mobile providers, especially if you bought or leased your phone directly through their service.
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Open the keypad. If it doesn't appear automatically, you'll usually see a keypad icon on the bottom of the screen. -
Dial ##004# and hit the call button. This is the MMI code that most carriers use to disable call forwarding to your voicemail. However, the MMI code can change from carrier to carrier.- If this code doesn't work for you, contact your carrier and ask them to disable your voicemail.
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Put your Samsung Galaxy into airplane mode. While this isn't the best way to turn off voicemail on your Samsung phone, filling up your voicemail can effectively disable it, as nobody will be able to leave you messages. Before you start this, it's recommended you put your phone on airplane mode so that calls go directly to voicemail. To do so, swipe down from the top of the screen and then tap the icon that resembles an airplane. -
Call your own phone number from a different line. You can use another cell phone, a landline, or even Google Voice to call your number. Wait for the call to go to voicemail. -
Leave yourself a voicemail message. You can leave any message you want. It doesn't have to be long, as length doesn't matter when it comes to filling up your voicemail box. -
Repeat until your voicemail is full. Depending on your carrier, you may need to leave 20 to 30 messages to completely fill up your voicemail. Verizon and AT&T both have a 20-message maximum.[2]- You may also want to change your voicemail greeting to let people know that nobody will be checking the voicemail.
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Disable airplane mode when you're finished. After you have filled your voicemail, swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the airplane icon to disable airplane mode. As long as your voicemail stays full, nobody will be able to leave you voicemail.
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1. Open your Phone app
2. Open the keypad.
3. Enter a number.
4. Tap the Call button.
5. Follow any spoken instructions.
6. Hang up by tapping the red icon on your screen when the call is over.
