Mobile Phones > Android How to Turn Off Voicemail Hate receiving voicemails? Get rid of them for good By Molly McLaughlin Molly McLaughlin Twitter Senior Content Strategist New York University Molly K. McLaughlin has been a technology writer since 2004. Her work has appeared on many tech sites across the web including PCMag, Dealnews, Wirecutter and many others. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on July 21, 2021 Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25+ years' experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email In This Article Expand Jump to a Section Step-by-Step: Delete Voicemail on Android Use Carrier Codes Fill Your Mailbox Turn Voicemail into Text There are a few ways to turn off voicemail. Depending on your phone, you may be able to use a carrier code, adjust your phone settings, or use a third-party app. There are also less techy options that do the trick. Here are four methods to disable voicemails, or at least limit voicemail messages. How to Disable Voicemail on Android If you have an Android phone, you might be able to disable voicemail by adjusting your call-forwarding settings. You can disable three functions, such as Forward When Busy, Forward When Unanswered, and Forward When Unreached. In some cases, you can disable all call forwarding. Check if you have call forwarding. Open the Phone app, select the Menu icon, then choose Settings. Scroll through the settings and select Call-forwarding if it's an option. You may have to open Advanced or More Settings to find this. Disable all call-forwarding functions. Your phone should stop forwarding calls to your voicemail provider. Your options might not match exactly, and not all Android smartphones have this setting. How to Use Carrier Codes to Remove Voicemail Your carrier may be able to help disable voicemail. You can also use a carrier code to call customer service or call the helpline directly to talk to a representative. Dial 611 from your smartphone if you use AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon in the U.S. You should be able to talk to someone who can shut off your voicemail while you're on the line. Fill Your Mailbox One surefire way to kick voicemail to the curb is by filling up your mailbox. When you reject or miss a call, a greeting tells the caller that the mailbox is full, and they won't be able to leave a message. Here are a few ways to stuff your mailbox: Never delete your voicemail messages and wait for it to fill up.Call your phone, wait for the beep, and play music into the speaker. You might have to record a few messages if voicemails have a cutoff time, but once you do, you can't receive new messages.Change your greeting to say that nobody is checking the mailbox and that they should send a text or email instead of leaving a message. Turn Voicemail into Text Voicemail isn't going anywhere in the short term, but you can take the voice part out of it by using visual voicemail, which transcribes your messages. Mobile carriers offer paid options, but Google Voice does it for free. To use Google Voice, forward your calls to a Google Voice number, which is also free. When you get a voicemail, Google transcribes it and texts or emails it to you. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up! Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit