Reset the Voicemail Icon on Your Android Phone
Is your voicemail notification icon stuck in your Android's notification bar? You can usually remove it by resetting your phone app's data, but this may be only temporary. If you're constantly experiencing the problem, you'll need to contact your carrier or perform a factory reset on your device.
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[hide]Steps
Clearing Your Phone App Data
- Open the Settings app on your device. If your voicemail notification icon is stuck, and you know that you don't have any messages in your account, you can reset your phone app's data to temporarily fix the problem.
- Tap "Apps" or "Application Manager." This will display a list of applications on your phone. It will usually default to the "Downloaded" category.
- Swipe over to the "All" category. This will display all of the apps installed on your device, including system apps.
- Scroll down until you find "Phone." There may be several of these.
- Tap the first "Phone" app in the list. This will open the app's options.
- Tap "Clear Data" and confirm. This will remove the phone app's data, but will not affect your contacts.
- Repeat for any additional "Phone" apps. Make sure you perform the Clear Data step for each app named "Phone" or "Phone/Messaging Storage."
- Scroll down and tap the "Voice Mail" app. This will open the voicemail app's settings.
- Tap "Clear Data" and confirm. After clearing all of these, the notification should be gone.
- Disable and re-enable notifications. While still in the Voice Mail app's settings menu, uncheck "Show notifications" and confirm that you want to disable them. Once they've been disabled, check the box again to turn notifications back on. This should reset your voicemail notifications.
- Perform the method over again when you restart your phone. There's a good chance that the notification will appear again the next time you start your Android. You can clear the app data again to get rid of it, or try one of the long-term fixes below.
Long-Term Fixes
- Check your messages again. Even if you've checked and there are no new messages, call your voicemail again. You may have an old saved message that is triggering the notification icon. Be absolutely sure that there are no messages left in your voicemail inbox.
- Contact your carrier's customer service department. Sometimes a stuck notification is due to an error with your voicemail inbox, which can be reset by your carrier. Explain that your voicemail icon is stuck on, and ask to have your inbox reset. This has fixed the issue for many users.
- Factory reset your Android device. This is a last-ditch option, but sometimes factory resetting your device will fix your issue. The phone will be erased in the process, so you'll only want to do this if everything is safely backed up.
- You can quickly back up the data on your phone by connecting it to your computer and copying everything important over. Make sure to grab all of your photos and music before formatting.
- Back up your contacts by syncing your device with your Google account. Your contacts will be saved and restored when you log back in after resetting.
- You can reset your phone from the "Backup & reset" section of the Settings app. Select "Factory data reset" from the menu to begin the reset process.
