These tips will work regardless of whether you have an iPhone or Android.
We live in a connected world, and these days, losing your cellphone signal doesn’t just mean you can’t check Instagram — it could be a matter of life and death. Regardless of which type of phone you have or which cellular service provider you use, it’s inevitable that you’ll run into service disruptions, either from bad weather or remote areas that can weaken your phone signal.
As travel ramps up ahead of the winter holidays, losing your cellphone signal can get you into a real jam while you’re on the road. If you want to avoid losing signal when navigating, dropping important calls with friends and family or even missing crucial travel updates and advisories this holiday season, there are several tips and tricks you can use to improve your cellphone signal.
The tried-and-true approach of turning on Airplane mode, waiting a few seconds and then turning it off again can definitely help with reception. But when that doesn’t work, you might need to take more drastic steps, like removing your SIM card or resetting your network settings.
Before you dive into your phone’s settings, take a few minutes to perform some basic troubleshooting steps that could get your phone working at peak performance.
Note: Although software across different iPhone models is relatively the same, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel and other Android devices may have different software versions, and so certain settings and where they are located might differ from device to device.
The settings on your phone can help you get better cell service, but there are other tricks for improving your reception without even touching your phone’s software.
Some phone cases cause more cell signal disruption than others.
Turning your phone’s connection off and then back on is the quickest and easiest way to try and fix your signal woes. If you’re moving around from one location to another, toggling Airplane mode restarts the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular network modems, which forces them to find the best signal in the area.
Android: Swipe down from the top of your screen — to access the Quick Settings panel — and then tap the Airplane mode icon. Wait for your phone to completely disconnect from its Wi-Fi and cellular connections. It doesn’t happen instantly, so give it a good 15 seconds before you tap on the Airplane mode icon again.
iPhone: On the iPhone, you can access Airplane mode from the Control Center, but that varies depending on which iPhone model you have. On the iPhone X and later, swipe down from the top-right corner to access the Control Center. On older iPhone models, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Then tap the Airplane mode icon, which will turn orange when it’s enabled. Again, wait up to 15 seconds before turning it off.
Left: Toggle Airplane mode on your iPhone. Right: The Airplane mode toggle on an Android.
Our phones are miniature computers, and just like computers, sometimes you can fix issues like network connection by simply restarting them.
