About Call Forwarding
What is Call Forwarding?
Call Forwarding is a pretty common telephone feature that allows calls made to one number to be forwarded to another specific number. You are essentially telling your carrier to redirect all incoming calls.
You must turn on Call Forwarding so that when someone calls your primary smartphone number you receive the call on your Light Phone. You will turn on/off Call Forwarding when you go light or return to your smartphone.
There are a variety of ways to turn on/off Call Forwarding and we are trying our best to get to a universal solution for all carriers & devices.
Are You a U.S. User with Our SIM?
There is an automated process for you, learn more:
Have trouble with the contact we generated?
We tried to make call forwarding as easy as we can, but unfortunately, different carriers have different rules and formats which can make this process confusing, thank you for your patience with us!
If you're in the US, some phone devices will accidentally strip out characters from the vcard we've sent you causing them to not work as expected. Here's what they should like and how you can manually adjust them if this has happened to you:
If your smartphone is:
T-Mobile
To Go Light: ** 21* PhoneNumber #
To turn off Light: ## 21 #
Visit the T-Mobile website for more information.
ATT
To Go Light: ** 21* PhoneNumber #
To turn off Light: # 21 #
Visit the ATT website for more information.
Verizon
To Go Light: *72 PhoneNumber
To turn off Light: *73
Visit the Verizon website for more information.
Sprint
To Go Light: *28 PhoneNumber
To turn off Light: *38
Visit the Sprint website for more information.
Learn more about call forwarding.
Manually Setting Up Call Forwarding
A few options for how to manually turn on Call Forwarding and go light.
Using Device System Preferences
One of the easiest ways to turn on Call Forwarding is through the smartphone settings.
Below are the instructions for how to do so on iOS & Android devices.
iOS Call Forwarding
Users with a few carriers, like Verizon/Spint, do not have this option on their iPhone settings.
Android Call Forwarding
Open the settings menu.
Select Call Settings
Select Call Forwarding
Turn On Call Forwarding
Enter the phone number of the SIM in your Light Phone.
Once Call Forwarding is correctly turned on, you should see a confirmation icon in the status bar. This icon may not appear depending on the carrier of your smartphone.
Creating a 'Light' Contact
Call Forwarding is activated with carrier codes, which are short codes that you call to tell your carrier to do various things, like turn on or off Call Forwarding.
Because the codes are phone numbers that you dial, you can also save them as a contact and easily trigger call forwarding on or off by calling the appropriate number.
The most universal code to turn on Call Forwarding is:
ON: **21*+ Light Phone SIM Card #
OFF: ##21#
Please note, certain carriers might use a unique code, if this standard carrier code does not work we recommmend checking with your carrier to learn about call forwarding.
SIM Twinning / Cloning
A method not legal in the United States, but possible else where in the world, is to duplicate/clone your SIM card. Doing so will make sure the Light Phone always uses your same phone number for incoming and outgoing calls and might even be free to use depending on your plan with your carrier as it might use your existing plan's minutes. We do not have much more information than this, but you can speak with your current carrier about whether or not such a method is possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will all of my calls forward ?
All of your calls will forward if you use one of the above methods. You can be more specific with your Call Forwarding conditions by looking into other carrier codes that are offered by your provider.
What happens to text messages ?
Text messages will not forward to the Light Phone but remain on your smartphone waiting for you to return to them. If your device maker or carrier allows you might want to also consider setting up Auto-Reply Text Messaging so that others are aware that you did not receive their message and to call you if they need an urgent response.
What about voicemail / missed calls ?
Voicemail will be handled by the provider of the SIM card in your Light Phone. Missed calls will be displayed on the Light Phone device and can be view in the menu of the Light Phone itself. Learn about the menu on the About the Light Phone page.
Why is Call Forwarding manual?
The idea of people having multiple phone devices, be it a Light Phone, smartwatch, smartphone or other, is a relatively new idea to carriers and device makers. We tried to make a smartphone app that simplified this process, but with permission limitations it was not possible to build a solution in an app that worked universally. We believe, and can see proof in things like T-Mobile Digits or AT&T Number Sync, that carriers will be moving in this direction, but the Light Phone is ahead of the rest of the telecommunications world in imagining a second phone that keeps your same phone number. Together we are showing carriers and device makers what we as consumers want out of our communication devices, and this is the beginning. Thank you for understanding and we look forward to continuing to make the experience more seamless in the future.
Need more help?
Shoot us a note, we're happy to assist.