20 solutions to fix cellular data not working on iPhone

Experiencing cellular data problems on your iPhone or iPad? Check out these troubleshooting steps to fix all your 5G, 4G, LTE, and 3G issues.

When cellular data is not working on your iPhone or iPad, you might see alerts like “Could Not Activate Cellular Data Network.” Other times, the top status bar or the network indicator in Control Center may show No Service or Searching. If you are in such a situation, the solutions below should help fix this issue.

Note that Cellular Data is also called Mobile Data or Mobile Service in many countries. So, follow the steps accordingly.

Also see: 18 tips to increase cellular data speed on iPhone

1. Make sure cellular data is enabled

Before going for the solutions, make sure cellular data is switched on. For that, open Control Center and ensure the cellular button is green. If it isn’t, tap it to enable cellular data. You can also turn it on from the Settings app.

Note: The cellular option will be blurred, and making changes to it will be disabled if you have enabled content and privacy restrictions. Head to Screen Time settings to fix this.

2. Turn Airplane mode on and off

Open Control Center and tap the airplane icon. After waiting for about 10 seconds, tap the same button once again to disable it. Doing this disconnects and reconnects the wireless options, which generally improves cellular connectivity.

3. Ensure your iPhone has cellular coverage

Open Control Center and see how many bars are there for your cellular network. If it’s one or zero, cellular data may work poorly or not work at all.

In this situation, try moving to an area of your house or even room (like near the door or window) with better coverage. You may not get cellular coverage if you’re traveling in a remote area.

4. Do a manual network search

Go to iPhone Settings > Cellular > Network Selection and turn off Automatic. Now, your iPhone will search for available networks. When the search completes, tap the name of your carrier provider if it comes up.

Note:

If you use more than one SIM, select one first to see the Network Selection option.
Your carrier may have a tie-up with another carrier to use their services, or it may be a smaller local carrier owned by a big carrier. So, if you know that your carrier has such partnerships, tap their name from the network search result and see if you get coverage or not.

5. Turn on data roaming

If you’re traveling internationally (or even to a different state/telecom circle in some countries), make sure to enable data roaming by going to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Data Roaming.

6. Set the correct date and time

Internet may not work if the time and date settings are incorrect. The easiest way to fix that is by enabling Set Automatically from Settings > General > Date & Time. Now, restart your iPhone, and cellular data should work fine.

7. Restart your iPhone

On some occasions, temporary problems can prevent cellular data from working on your iPhone. You can fix this by simply turning off your iPhone and turning it back on.

8. Check if you have sufficient data allowance

Before moving to the remaining solutions, make sure you have data allowance for the day, month, or billing cycle. You can use your carrier’s official app or call customer support to know your data balance. In case you have some pending bills, clear that, and your internet should be restored soon.

9. Turn off your VPN

If you are using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) app on your iPhone, open it and turn it off. Once you do that, cellular data should work fine.

10. Try turning off Wi-Fi Calling

In rare cases, Wi-Fi Calling may interfere with standard calls and cellular data. So, you can give this one a shot if your cellular connection isn’t working on your iPhone. Go to Settings > Cellular > Wi-Fi Calling and turn off Wi-Fi Calling on This iPhone.

Note: Not all carriers offer Wi-Fi Calling, so you may or may not see this toggle in your iPhone Settings.

11. Get the latest carrier settings

Carriers push settings updates to fix issues and even introduce new features like 5G support, Wi-Fi Calling, and more. Some carrier updates aren’t mandatory and show you two options – Update or Not Now. If you choose Not Now, go ahead and install the carrier update manually.

For mandatory carrier updates, you see OK instead of Update or Not Now.

12. Update your iPhone

Cellular data may not work because of bugs in the outdated version of iOS on your iPhone. So, it’s important that you go to Settings > General > Software Update and download & install the latest version of iOS.

13. Take out the SIM card and reinsert it

Use the SIM ejector tool or an alternative to take out the physical SIM card from your iPhone carefully. After that, wipe it with a soft, dry cloth and insert it safely. Once that’s done, cellular data should work fine.

Note: Skip this if you use an eSIM.

14. Check the news for a temporary local shutdown of the internet

If there is some unrest, like a protest or violent demonstration in your area, local authorities may temporarily shut down cellular services in your county or district. In these situations, you can’t do anything except wait for things to cool down and the service to be restored. Also, note that during these times, your carrier’s customer care may already be swamped with many calls. So, it would be better not to call them and be updated via local news instead.

15. Reset network settings

This is an extremely important solution to follow when cellular data fails to work on your iPhone. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Once this completes, cellular data should work like a charm.

16. Reset all settings

If resetting the network fails to bring luck, go ahead and reset all the settings on your iPhone.

17. Contact your carrier

In some cases, there may be a problem or error on the part of your carrier in billing or information related to your account. The only way to fix this is by contacting them via call, chat, or going to their official store.

18. Chat with Apple

If all the above solutions fail, chat with Apple Support and see what they have to say in your situation.

19. Restore your iPhone

At last, if nothing works, erase your iPhone and set it up again. You can also use a Mac or PC to restore your iPhone using recovery mode.

20. If 3G is not working on your iPhone

Carriers worldwide (like AT&T) are phasing out their old 3G service for the next generation of 4G, LTE, or 5G. If you’re using iPhone 5s, 5c, or earlier, you can’t use these old iPhones with AT&T anymore for calls and data on 3G. In this case, you can switch to a different carrier that still offers 3G service. Or, a better solution is to upgrade to a new iPhone.

Check out new iPhones on Amazon

On a related note: