How to forward calls on UScellular

UScellular uses the standard North-American star codes, so the same two codes cover almost everyone:

• *72 — forward every call. Dial *72 followed by the destination number with no spaces or dashes (for example *7218005551234), press call, and wait for the confirmation tone before hanging up.
• *73 — cancel forwarding. Dial it from the same line that has forwarding active.

That's unconditional forwarding — your phone stops ringing entirely and every call goes to the destination. If you'd rather keep answering calls yourself and only send the ones you miss, use the conditional (no-answer) option in your phone's Settings menu instead, described below.

On most UScellular iPhones the forwarding toggle lives in Settings:

1. Open Settings → Phone → Call Forwarding.
2. Turn Call Forwarding on.
3. Tap Forward To and enter the destination number.
4. Back out — the toggle stays green while forwarding is active.

If you don't see a Call Forwarding row (common on older CDMA UScellular iPhones like the iPhone 5/5s/6), the menu isn't supported on that device — use the star codes instead: dial *72 + the number to forward, and *73 to cancel. The star codes work on every UScellular iPhone regardless of age.

On Samsung and most other Android phones, open the Phone app, tap the ⋮ menu (or the gear), then Settings → Supplementary services → Call forwarding (older Samsungs call it Call settings → Call forwarding). You'll see four conditions you can set independently:

• Always forward — every call, same as *72.
• Forward when busy — only when you're on another call.
• Forward when unanswered — only after it rings and you don't pick up.
• Forward when unreachable — no signal or phone off.

Enter a destination for each condition you want. If the menu is missing or greyed out on an older device (Galaxy S5/S6/S7), fall back to the GSM codes: **21*number# to forward everything, ##21# to cancel, and *#21# to check what's currently set.

Most small businesses don't want every call forwarded — they want to answer the calls they can and forward only the ones that would otherwise be missed. That's conditional forwarding: set Forward when busy and Forward when unanswered in the Settings menu above (or the GSM codes **61*number# for no-answer and **67*number# for busy). You keep picking up calls at your desk, and anything you miss rolls straight to the destination instead of dying in voicemail. It's the setup that pairs best with an answering service or an AI receptionist.

A few related things people forward UScellular calls to reach:

• Voicemail — press and hold 1 in the Phone app to reach your UScellular voicemail, or dial your own number. If calls skip ringing and go straight to voicemail, forwarding is usually still switched on — dial *73 to clear it.
• 3-way calling — during a call, tap add call, dial the third person, then tap merge (iPhone) or the ⋔ merge icon (Android) to join everyone. See how to make a 3-way call.
• Google Voice — if you forward your UScellular number to a Google Voice line, set it as unconditional (*72) so Voice's own screening and voicemail take over. See forward calls to Google Voice.