Persistent Call Forwarding Notification - How to dismiss more permanently

[CarrotSlat]

Hi, this is not a question but a suggestion for anyone else who may encounter the same issue.

I use call forwarding on a long-term basis. All my calls are forwarded to a SIP VoIP provider so I can make and receive calls at my location over Wifi, since there is inadequate cell coverage here. This is great, and works for me, but the annoying problem is that there is a persistent 'call forwarding' notification that appears in my Android's notification tray. The notification can only be temporarily dismissed, then it simply returns once a cell network disconnect/reconnect happens. Since cell coverage is spotty here it happens constantly.

My solution that I came up with is to use a third party app called 'Hide Persistent Notifications'. It's available on the Play Store for about $5. What can I say? It works! The notification is automatically hidden and doesn't appear anywhere. For an app that doesn't require root privileges, or any other sketchiness, I think this is great. As long as 'Hide Persistent Notifications' is installed and working, this notification will be hidden without reappearing multiple times a day.

This can also be used to hide the persistent notifications for OS updates and upgrades. Your success may vary with this, as some app reviews claim it works, while others claim it doesn't. It may depend on the make and model/OS version of your Android phone.

If you have persistent notifications for other apps, or other phone services/OS level notification annoyances that can't be easily permanently disabled, I say it's worth a shot!

I hope this helps someone. Please let me know if you found this informative and helpful!

[CarrotSlat]

@funpig1 

Ahh, I see it now. So you do get the 'forwarding all calls' notification but only one time. I was getting mine many times a day. Every time I would dismiss it, it would reappear 5-10 minutes later. No way for me to permanently disable it, hence my third-party-app solution.

>landline forwarded to cell, forwarded to TextNow

Yeah I can see how that would be annoying, not knowing which number the call is being placed to. You would have to check both inbound call logs every time to see.

[funpig1]

@CarrotSlat 

I located the "phone services". It was a hidden systems app. See screenshot. The call forwarding is enabled and and greyed out 

When I set up call forwarding from PM to TextNow, my phone gives me a one-time notification. See screenshot below. However, there are no further notifications afterwards. In some ways, I think it would actually be a nice feature. Right now when I get a phone call (for example, spam call), I'm not sure if the caller is phoning my PM line or phoning my call forwarded landline.

 

[CarrotSlat]

@funpig1

Try going to Settings app > Notifications > App notifications > Three dot menu > Show system apps (This is the route on Motorola, I presume it's the same for Pixel)

Use the drop down menu to select 'All apps'. Then you can search for 'Phone services'. Make sure it says 'phone services' and not 'phone' as these are two distinct things!

Curious to see what is waiting there! Are you running Android 15? Maybe they have introduced more flexibility in these notifications on the later OS.

[funpig1]

@CarrotSlat 

I enabled call forwarding from my cell phone to TextNow, made some test calls and also checked the phone notifications setting in my phone. It does not have the same call forwarding notification. See screenshot. Judging from the reviews for the Hide Persistent Notifications app, a lot of Samsung phones deal with this issue. 

Anyways, learn something new.

 

[CarrotSlat]

@funpig1Yes, this is the icon/notification that shows when calls are forwarded by the stock phone app.

My calls are forwarded from Public Mobile to a VoIP.ms number which rings my Groundwire app on the same device. But the notification icon itself is from the stock/Google 'Phone' app. This class of notifications are known as 'Phone services' notifications, and are pretty restricted in what you can change about them. Check out the screenshot below to see what I mean.

Some of these ones that are restricted may be able to be automatically dismissed by the third-party-app I mentioned, specifically the ones with a blue notification bell next to them.

A screenshot of the Phone Services notifications options, showing 6 Phone Services notifications channels that cannot be disabled: Call forwarding, SIM status, High priority SIM status, SMS messages, Voicemail messages, Wifi Calling

[funpig1]

@CarrotSlat 

So, is this a phone app notification as opposed to VoIP app notification? 

I was also using TextNow as a form of Wi-Fi calling to deal with poor cellular signal in my home location.

Anyways, I'm glad this worked for you.

[CarrotSlat]

@funpig1Hi there, I'm using a Motorola Edge+ 2023! In the screenshot below, you can see a highlighted 'call forwarding active' icon. This is from a screenshot many months ago. Don't have to deal with this anymore thankfully from the third-party-app solution I mentioned.

Keep in mind this icon should appear when forwarding all calls from your Public Mobile SIM, to a different destination. I'm not sure why it wouldn't appear for you when forwarding from PM to TextNow. Perhaps the icon only appears when 'always forward' is selected, and not a conditional forward, such as 'busy', 'unanswered', and 'unreachable'. I'm wondering if those conditional forwards are what you were using.

An Android notification bar, showing a highlighted 'call forwarding active' icon

[funpig1]

@CarrotSlat 

What phone are you using?

I use call forwarding from landline to my Pixel 7a all of the time and for almost 3 weeks from my PM number to TextNow while on vacation and have never received such notification.

[CarrotSlat]

Hey @hTideGnow, I'm using VoIP.ms as my SIP provider, along with Groundwire as my softphone! I think they're both great!!

[hTideGnow]

hi @CarrotSlat 

thanks for the tips. 

and what SIP VoIP did you use?