One time, my son left his phone at home, so I had to reach him through other means via his tablet. Imagine my surprise and worry when I tried to reach him via Facebook Messenger, the call started with a beep resembling a distant Morse code signal!
While all has been well since then since I figured out how to hack the issue, those unexpected beeps got me thinking. What’s the story behind this quirky beep, and why does it occasionally hijack our anticipated ring?
Well, if you’re wondering the same thing, you’re in the right place! In this post, I’ll walk you through the reasons behind this peculiar beeping in Facebook Messenger calls, plus seven ways to fix it. Read on!
Why are my Facebook Messenger calls beeping instead of ringing?
Below are the most probable reasons Facebook Messenger calls are beeping instead of ringing. Being aware of these issues can help you choose the appropriate solution later in this guide.
- Facebook Messenger’s in-app notifications are turned off.
- Your device’s notification settings are turned off.
- Facebook Messenger doesn’t have background activity permission.
- Do Not Disturb mode is enabled.
- Your contact is muted on Facebook Messenger.
- Facebook Messenger’s app cache is corrupt.
- Your Facebook Messenger app is out of date.
Now, you should be in a better position to troubleshoot your Facebook Messenger calls. And the proven workarounds below should prove timely.
7 Ways to Fix Facebook Messenger Calls Not Ringing
Below are our most recommended fixes for your problem with Facebook Messenger calls that don’t ring. These solutions should help remove the unwanted beeping sounds, allowing you to receive incoming calls with the proper ringing alert.
FIX 1. Ensure your Facebook Messenger’s notifications are on
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 5 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 25 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any smartphone A working internet connection |
The solution is to ensure your configuration is spot on whenever your Facebook Messenger calls are beeping instead of ringing because of faulty notification settings. Therefore, you must activate your in-app notifications to make it work correctly.
Otherwise, messages and calls won’t produce the appropriate sound alerts whenever you receive them.
You can configure your Facebook Messenger’s in-app notifications from its settings menu, which is separate from the one native to your smartphone.
Your Facebook Messenger’s dedicated settings menu lets you configure notifications, call vibrations, and in-app sounds according to your preference.
Enabling these settings ensures you receive the proper notification alerts whenever you have an incoming call.
Therefore, we recommend this solution for fixing your Facebook Messenger’s beeping issue regarding your calls. Once configured, you can expect your incoming calls to trigger the appropriate ringing sound alert.
Step 1: Go to your Facebook Messenger app. |
Step 2: Tap the burger menu in the upper-left corner to open your account menu. |
Step 3: Tap the cog icon to open the app settings. |
Step 4: Go to Notifications & Sounds. |
Step 5: Turn on Facebook Messenger’s notifications, vibrations, and in-app sounds. |
FIX 2. Enable app notifications for Facebook Messenger
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 6 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 30 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any smartphone |
As mentioned, your smartphone has separate device notification settings independent of Facebook Messenger’s in-app notifications.
As such, you must enable system notifications alongside the in-app settings to ensure your sound alerts work.
Surprisingly, turning off your Facebook Messenger’s app notifications from your device’s settings menu can stop its in-app sounds from working correctly.
Therefore, ensuring both notification settings are active and working should fix your faulty sound alerts.
As a result, your Facebook Messenger calls should stop beeping instead of ringing as you receive them. More importantly, your device’s notification settings often dictate whether or not your notification alerts will appear in the first place.
However, you must note that this can vary between smartphone brands, models, and OS versions. Thus, you might find your device’s notification settings in a different menu, which our picture examples below don’t cover.
Step 1: Go to Settings. |
Step 2: Go to Apps. |
Step 3: Click Manage Apps. |
Step 4: Scroll down and select your Facebook Messenger app. |
Step 5: Go to Notifications. |
Step 6: Turn on notifications for Facebook Messenger. |
Since our picture example above shows the settings menu from an Android device, you might struggle to follow it step-by-step if you have an iPhone.
In this case, you must open your device’s Settings > Notifications and select your Facebook Messenger app.
After selecting Facebook Messenger, you must enable the switch to allow notifications. Doing so will activate your device notifications settings for the desired app on your iPhone.
FIX 3. Enable Facebook Messenger’s background activity
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 5 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 25 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any smartphone A working internet connection |
App permissions are essential to ensure your Facebook Messenger can perform the necessary functions to work correctly. Otherwise, prohibiting the app from conducting specific activities might stop it from working as intended.
For example, your Facebook Messenger calls might beep instead of ring unless you give it full permission. In particular, it often has to do with permissions for background activities, allowing it to perform necessary tasks like receiving and sending data.
Granting the Facebook Messenger app background permission is essential because it lets it run even when you’re not using it. This way, the app can receive constant updates from the Internet, including notification alerts for messages and incoming calls.
This app permission will ensure you can receive your notifications during Facebook Messenger’s supposed inactivity. Not only will you not miss your incoming calls, but they’ll ring correctly instead of making an unwanted beep sound.
| Step 1: Go to Settings. |
| Step 2: Go to Apps. |
| Step 3: Click Manage Apps. |
| Step 4: Scroll down and select your Facebook Messenger app. |
Step 5: Click Data Usage. |
Step 6: Enable Background Data. |
Again, enabling this app permission differs for Apple devices, which calls the feature background app refresh. However, it works similarly by allowing your iPhone’s background apps to connect to the Internet and update their content constantly.
You can enable this app permission by navigating to your iPhone’s Settings > General > Background App Refresh. The Background App Refresh menu lets you enable the feature for all or select apps, like Facebook Messenger.
FIX 4. Turn off DND
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 2 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 5 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any smartphone |
As its name suggests, Do Not Disturb (DND) mode stops your smartphone from bombarding you with bothersome notifications. This feature lets you work in peace and focus on your task by silencing your notification alerts and blocking incoming calls.
However, you must note that DND mutes all sounds, so your Facebook Messenger calls should stop beeping or ringing. We only recommend turning this feature off if you want to enable ringing sound alerts for your incoming calls.
As such, this method focuses more on bringing back your calls’ ringing sounds instead of removing the unwanted beeps. However, turning off DND should return all notification sound alerts to normal, which might also stop your calls from beeping.
You can quickly turn DND on and off to reset your notification sounds. Doing so won’t guarantee the return of your calls’ ring sounds, but you can’t lose anything by trying.
Step 1: Access the notification panel by swiping down your smartphone’s screen. |
Step 2: Turn off the DND switch to enable notification alerts. |
FIX 5. Unmute your contacts
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 6 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 30 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any smartphone A working internet connection |
Unlike DND, you can’t block notification sounds from specific contacts using Facebook Messenger’s mute function. It’s easy to notice when you mute someone because only the muted contact won’t produce notification alerts when sending messages or calls.
Therefore, you’ll know this was the case if your Facebook Messenger calls aren’t ringing when it’s from a specific contact. Unmuting them from the app’s contact list should re-enable their notifications and make their incoming calls ring again.
| Step 1: Go to your Facebook Messenger app. |
Step 2: Tap the People tab at the bottom panel of your Messenger’s chats page. |
Step 3: Open your contacts list. |
Step 4: Select a contact to open your chat conversation. |
Step 5: Click the “i” icon to view more information. |
Step 6: Click Unmute. |
FIX 6. Clear its cache
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 7 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 30 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any smartphone A working internet connection |
We suggest clearing your app’s cache storage because app malfunctions can cause your Facebook Messenger calls to beep instead of ring. This trick is a staple troubleshooting method because cached memory is prone to corruption.
When this happens, your Facebook Messenger app will malfunction, causing it to behave poorly. Among the most common malfunctions involve unwanted beeping sounds during incoming calls that replace the standard ringing alert.
It’s a baffling problem because your app’s cache storage is for improving performance and reducing load times.
However, once the data it stores turns corrupt, the opposite happens, and your Facebook Messenger app won’t work correctly instead.
Unfortunately, the only solution to cache-related app malfunctions is to delete the stored data. After clearing your Facebook Messenger’s cache, the app will keep storing temporary data, but it should return to its normal working condition.
| Step 1: Go to Settings. |
| Step 2: Go to Apps. |
| Step 3: Click Manage Apps. |
| Step 4: Scroll down and select your Facebook Messenger app. |
Step 5: Click Clear Data. |
Step 6: Select Clear Cache. |
Step 7: Click OK to clear your Facebook Messenger’s cache storage. |
FIX 7. Update Facebook Messenger
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 6 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 60 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any smartphone A working internet connection |
Another likely reason your Facebook Messenger calls aren’t ringing is incompatibility issues. This problem occurs when you use an outdated app that lacks the latest features and optimization upgrades that should make it work as intended.
Thankfully, addressing the problem is straightforward because you only need to update your Facebook Messenger app to its latest version.
You can perform this process from your smartphone’s app store, allowing you to download and install the update.
However, you must use a reliable internet connection and ensure your smartphone has enough storage to download and install the update. Otherwise, an installation error may cause further problems with your Facebook Messenger app.
After installing the update, your Facebook Messenger should perform better and faster. Your incoming calls should produce regular ringing sound alerts again unless the updated version is buggy, which rarely happens but isn’t impossible.
Step 1: Open Play Store. Note: Use the Apple App Store if you have an iPhone or the Galaxy Store if it’s a Samsung smartphone. |
Step 2: Click Google Play’s search bar. |
Step 3: Type “Facebook Messenger” and select it from the available search suggestions. |
Step 4: Select the Facebook Messenger app. |
Step 5: Click Update. |
Step 6: Wait while the app store downloads and installs the latest version of Facebook Messenger. |
FAQs about Facebook Messenger Call Beeping Instead of Ringing
Why can’t I call somebody on Facebook Messenger?
If you can’t call somebody on Facebook Messenger, you might have Internet connectivity problems. Other factors can also prevent you from calling someone, like not being friends on Facebook, the other person being offline, a faulty microphone, etc.
You can send a chat message before the call to ensure the recipient is available. This way, they can let you know when they’re ready or if they have a poor network connection.
How can you tell if someone declined your call on Facebook Messenger?
If the call ends after only one or two rings, it’s likely that the recipient declined your call. Your calls will often ring multiple times before going to voicemail, which means the other person couldn’t respond.
Facebook Messenger won’t ring at all if the recipient is offline to begin with.
How do I fix the sound on my Facebook Messenger call?
To fix the sound on a Facebook Messenger call, restart your device. Doing this step will check if the problem is due to a minor system bug or error.
Next, you can clear Facebook Messenger’s app cache or update its version if the first method didn’t work.
