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go to Settings – FaceTime – turn off iPhone Cellular Calls
Rossman: Why calls ring on every iPhone in house
Published: 27 September 2014 06:00 PM
Updated: 27 September 2014 06:39 PM
I am wondering whether you have encountered issues with the iPhone’s new operating system, iOS 8. When I am home with my wife and boys, if I get a phone call, it rings on all of the kids’ phones and vice versa.
AT&T told me to disconnect the hand-off switch on the settings: general, but it didn’t work. Apparently they want us all to get an iCloud account. I don’t want to have to do that so I can track my kids’ activities.
M.T., Dallas
I get a lot of these questions.
Sometimes I’ve experienced the same issue, but most of the time the problems are unique to the reader.
In this case, I experienced phone calls ringing on two iPhones that were in the same room.
It’s only happened to me once, so I really didn’t think much of it, but when a reader asked about it happening to him, I started looking into the issue.
When technical people tell you they’re “looking in the issue,” it really means they’re searching the Internet for people who have had the same problem and seeing what they did to fix it.
I found the answer to M.T.’s question from an answer to a similar question at Apple’s support forums (bit.ly/Y2kxqT).
I got a better explanation from Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times (lat.ms/1riLtwz).
The ringing on multiple iOS devices is actually a feature of iOS 8 called Continuity, which will enable users to take calls to their iPhones on an iPad or even a Mac.
There are some settings to check to make Continuity work (or to turn it off).
All devices have to be connected to the same WiFi network.
All devices have to be logged in to the same iCloud account.
Facetime has to be active.
Enable “iPhone Cellular Calls” on each device in the Settings/Facetime preferences. This was the setting that helped M.T.’s situation. He turned off “iPhone Cellular Calls” for other phones in his house.
Hiltzik says that to get Continuity working, users should also turn off WiFi calling. That’s found under Settings/Phone/WiFi calling.
Have questions about features in your phone’s operating system? Let me know.
Follow Jim Rossman on Twitter at
@jimrossman.