Call forwarding sends calls to a personal mobile instead of the Myra app. It works well, but only if the receiving phone answers the call when a human answers it - and nothing else.
Modern phones ship with features that answer calls automatically: Apple's Live Voicemail and Screen Unknown Callers, Samsung/Galaxy AI Call screening, Auto screen calls, and Text call. Carriers and third-party apps add their own. Every one of them must be switched off on any phone you forward calls to.
Why this matters so much
A screening assistant answers the call before the person does. To the phone network that looks exactly like your team member picking up, so Myra treats that leg as answered.
That has two consequences:
- The lead is bridged into a robot. They hear "state your name and reason for calling" instead of a person, and most of them hang up.
- Everyone else on the preset is cut off. On a live transfer preset that rings several people, the first answered leg wins - the rest stop ringing and are hung up immediately. So one person's screening prompt can silently kill the transfer for the entire team, even though nobody actually picked up the phone.
This is the single most common cause of "the transfer connected but nobody was there".
How to find these settings on each phone
iPhone
- Open Settings.
- Scroll down and tap Apps.
- Tap Phone.
- Look for the settings below and change each one.
Turn these off:
- Live Voicemail: off
- Hold Assist Detection: off
- Screen Unknown Callers: set to Never
Android - Call screening (Samsung / Galaxy AI and similar)
- Open the Phone app.
- Tap the menu (usually three dots in the top-right corner).
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Call screening or Call assist.
Turn these off:
- Call screening: Off
- Auto screen calls: off
Android - Text call / voice assistant
- Open the Phone app.
- Tap the menu (three dots) then Settings.
- Tap Text call, Bixby Text call, or Smart call.
Turn this off:
- Text call: Off
Android menus vary
Unlike iPhones, Android phones are made by many manufacturers - Samsung, Google Pixel, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Motorola, and others - and each brand uses slightly different menu names. Look for any setting that mentions:
- Call screening
- Call assist / AI call assist
- Smart call / Bixby call
- Auto answer
- Text call / voice assistant
- "Say your name and reason for calling"
If you find anything that answers a call before you physically pick up, turn it off.
Best practices for call forwarding
- Use a personal mobile only. The phone must be answered by a human, not a system.
- Do not forward to a company main line, reception desk, shared line, or hunt group. Those systems answer instantly and create the same failure as call screening.
- Do not forward to a number with an IVR, menu, or announcement. Any pre-recorded greeting counts as an answer.
- Set voicemail pickup delay as long as possible. A short delay makes it more likely voicemail accidentally answers the call.
- Check every phone on the preset. One person with screening enabled can break the live transfer for the whole team.
- Re-check after OS updates. Apple and Android sometimes re-enable these features during major updates.
- Check third-party apps. Some caller-ID, spam-blocking, or call-recording apps also auto-answer calls.
What happens if you do not turn these off
If a screening assistant answers:
- The caller may hear a robot ask them to state their name and reason for calling.
- The caller usually hangs up before reaching a real person.
- The live transfer stops ringing everyone else on the preset.
- Your call logs may show "answered" even though no one actually spoke to the lead.
Quick checklist
- Live Voicemail / call screening: off
- Screen Unknown Callers: Never
- Auto screen calls and Text call: off
- No "say your name and reason for calling" greeting or assistant
- Voicemail pickup delay as long as possible
- Personal mobile only
- No shared line, reception desk, IVR, or menu on the destination number
Where to set forwarding in Myra
- Settings → Phone Numbers → Call forwarding - choose Myra app or Phone number per team member.
- Call Centre → AI Live Transfers → preset → Team → Settings - the same setting (Ring this user via), per agent, on the preset.
Both screens edit the same underlying record, and both link to this guide.