Your IPhone Has Secret Codes
I love the hidden features on my devices. It’s great to learn something new about the technologies you use every day, discover little features that aren’t advertised. And if you don’t spend a lot of time fiddling with the Phone app, dialing codes are likely to be among those hidden features for you as well.
Dialing codes are, as their name suggests, codes that you dial in the iPhone phone app. These codes can do many different things: one allows you to remove your Caller ID when dialing other numbers, and the other can show you how strong your current cell signal is. They can change settings or show you data you didn’t know about.
Now, full disclosure, these codes can be finicky. Many of these are carrier-dependent and may not work depending on your cellular connection. I myself ran into multiple issues with some of these codes with AT&T on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. However, they are tested and correct, so they should work with the right combination of device and carrier.
Here are some of the codes that we find to be the most interesting and useful.
Make anonymous calls to your iPhone
With a mobile phone with Caller ID, anonymous calling is a thing of the past. That is, if you don’t know how to hide your caller ID. All you have to do is add * 67 in front of the phone number you are trying to call, and your call will appear as “NO CALLER ID” on the other line. If you find that this option doesn’t work for you, you know that # 31 # will do too.
This dialing code is perfect for one-off situations where you don’t want the recipient of your call to know your number or ID. But if you need all your calls to be anonymous, you can do so by going to Settings> Phones> Show My Caller ID .
Show your Caller ID
If you do turn off the Show Caller ID option, you may need to know this code. Some numbers do not allow calls from unknown callers, so you will need to reveal your identity in order to get through. Other times, you can call someone you want knowing who you are. In either case, all you have to do is add * 82 to the number you are dialing.
Block outgoing calls
Handing your iPhone over to someone to use can be a painful exercise in trust. If you’re worried about who this person might call from your iPhone, know that there is a speed dial code to block all outgoing calls. Dial * 33 * followed by your four-digit PIN and # (example: * 33 * 1234 # ). This PIN ensures that someone cannot easily disable the lock. As soon as you hit the call button, the function should load and take effect. You can turn it off by entering the same code and PIN combination.
Check your iPhone’s cellular signal strength
Have you ever experienced poor cellular service when your iPhone claimed to have full bands? We, too. This is where field testing can come in handy; this hidden menu contains a lot of data about your cellular system, but we’re only looking for how reliable your connection is.
Note: This is the case where older iPhones have a feature that new iPhones don’t. If you have an iPhone 5G (iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 series), you cannot use this tip; all iPhones can use the field test menu, but only LTE iPhones will be able to see their cellular signal strength.
You can use the dialer code * 3001 # 12345 # * to open the field test menu. Do your best to ignore the sea of information this menu provides and tap the hamburger menu icon on the right. Now scroll down to LTE and select Serving Cell Meas . Check the numbers next to rsrp0 and rsrp1 , which represent your current cell tower and standby tower respectively. The closer the number is to zero, the better your connection to the tower. The further, the worse the connection.
Check your iPhone’s IMEI
Your iPhone’s IMEI is a unique number that can be used to identify your specific device. For this reason, it is often used to check if a phone has been reported stolen. It is important that you do not give this number to anyone who asks, but how can you verify it in the first place?
One way is through the dial-up code. Dial * # 06 # and before you can press the call button, you will see a page with information about the device . Your IMEI will be the second number on the list, along with other numbers depending on your particular iPhone type.
See Your Carrier Information
Want to know how many minutes you have left on your plan? Try * 646 # . If you want to check the current balance with a telecom operator, dial * 225 # . At AT&T, I can dial * 3282 # (* DATA #) to find out how much data I have left on my tariff plan for the current month.
Enable call waiting
While you can set up call waiting by going to Settings> Phone> Call Waiting , you can also quickly enable it with a code. Just dial * 43 # to turn it on. However, this setting is most likely already enabled; without this, incoming calls are routed directly to voicemail if you are currently on another phone call.
[ Tom’s Guide ]