Switch from basic voicemail to visual voicemail

Hi. A few months ago I switched from an android LG G7 ThinQ to an iPhone 13 Mini. On the LG I used Verizon's basic, dial-in voicemail. When I activated my iPhone, that setting carried over and my voicemail was automatically set as dial-in without ever prompting me to set up my voicemail or change how it worked.

However on my iPhone I would rather use visual voicemail. But I can't figure out how to switch. There is no "set up voicemail" prompt in the voicemail tab of the phone app. And when I dial *86 to call my voicemail, and listen to all the settings, there is not an option to switch to visual voicemail.

An employee at the Apple store said this is a Verizon issue, not an apple issue, and they could not help me. Please help me figure this out. Thanks!

Accepted answers

MattL20

Hi all. I went into a Verizon retail store and they sorted out the issue in about three minutes!

I appreciate all the suggestions here, but I'm surprised nobody suggested going into a store which was all I had to do.

All comments

vzw_customer_support

I depend on my phone on a daily basis, so I know how important it is to make sure that my voicemail is up and running at all times. In this case, the device doesn't need an additional set-up, as I switched recently from Android to an iPhone. When you go to the voicemail option on the Phone app what does it show you? Are people able to leave voicemails?

~Freddy

MattL20

Yes people can leave a voicemail. But I have to dial *86 to listen to them. I want to switch from this function (Verizon's basic dial-in voicemail service) to visual voicemail.

When I open the phone app and tap voicemail, it just says "Call Voicemail" and there is no visual voicemail or prompt to set up visual voicemail.

MattL20

This is what my voicemail tab looks like

vzw_customer_support

We definitely want to help you be able to access your voicemail through your iPhone. Is your phone on the latest update? ~Peter

MattL20

Yes I install every ios update immediately. There was a new one today actually.

Just to reiterate, I CAN access my voicemail. I want to switch to visual voicemail.

vzw_customer_support

We were able to find these steps to set up your visual voicemail. Please give them a try: https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-202671/

~Jesse

MattL20

These steps don't work.

When I go to the voicemail section of the phone app, there is no button to "set up now" as it is already set as dial-in voicemail (see screenshot in last message).

And if I dial *86 I do not get those steps to set up voicemail, as again, it is already set up! Just not the way I want. So I selected "settings" and I listen to all the settings and there is not one to switch my voicemail to visual voicemail.

EDIT: Please remember that my voicemail is already set up. I want to CHANGE what kind of voicemail service I have. So these instructions about setting up for the first time on a new phone are irrelevant.

vzw_customer_support

Thank you so much for the insights! We suggest you the following steps, after complete them, restart your device and test. Let us know how it goes, please.

Turn on visual voicemail

Open the Phone app .
At the top right, tap More options .
Tap Settings. Voicemail.
Turn on Visual voicemail.

More information here:

https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-202671/

~Maria

MattL20

I appreciate the effort, but I have no idea where you are getting that information from. The phone app does not have a "more settings" button in the top-right.... or anywhere! Here are screenshots to show this.