{"id":6429,"date":"2026-07-13T21:39:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antispyapp.com\/?p=2007"},"modified":"2026-07-14T01:03:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T01:03:56","slug":"5-secret-dial-codes-to-check-for-call-forwarding-and-phone-tapping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freephonespy.com\/blog\/5-secret-dial-codes-to-check-for-call-forwarding-and-phone-tapping\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Secret Dial Codes to Check for Call Forwarding and Phone Tapping"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

✅ Quick answer — the 2 codes that matter most:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Dial *#21#<\/strong> — shows if calls\/texts are unconditionally forwarded somewhere else.<\/li>\n
  2. Dial *#62#<\/strong> — shows where calls go when your phone is unreachable; an unknown number is a red flag.<\/li>\n
  3. To wipe every forwarding rule at once, dial ##002#<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    Type a short code into your phone’s dialer, press call, and a hidden status screen appears. These MMI codes (often called “secret codes”) have circulated for decades, wrapped in a mix of truth and myth — videos promising a code that “reveals if you’re tapped” get millions of views. Here is the honest version: dial codes cannot detect spyware on your phone, but they can<\/em> instantly expose one specific and very real spying technique: call forwarding<\/strong>, where your calls and texts are quietly diverted or copied to another number at the network level. Because forwarding happens at your carrier rather than on your handset, no app or settings screen fully reveals it — but these codes do, in seconds.<\/p>\n

    This guide covers the five codes worth knowing, what each result means, how to cancel anything you find, and — just as important — what these codes cannot tell you, so a clean result doesn’t lull you into skipping the checks that find actual spyware.<\/p>\n

    \"Phone
    Phone dialer with a status code entered illustration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    How These Codes Work (30-Second Version)<\/h2>\n
    \"Diagram
    Diagram showing a phone call being forwarded through the carrier to a second phone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Call forwarding is a standard carrier feature: tell the network “when my phone is busy, send calls to this number,” and it obeys. Useful when you set it; a surveillance tool when someone else does — and setting it takes under a minute with your unlocked phone, or sometimes just a call to your carrier by someone who can impersonate you. MMI codes beginning with *#<\/strong> are queries: they ask the network for the current forwarding rules and display the answer. They change nothing, are free, and are invisible to whoever set the forwarding. Codes beginning with ##<\/strong> are commands that erase rules. One caveat before you start: these are GSM-standard codes, so they work on most carriers worldwide, but some networks (and some VoIP or prepaid plans) respond with an error — if that happens, your carrier’s app or support line can read the same settings for you.<\/p>\n

    Code 1: *#21# — Is Everything Being Forwarded?<\/h2>\n
    \"Phone
    Phone showing the result screen for the *#21# code. Try it:<\/strong> open the phone app and dial *#21#<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Dial *#21#<\/strong> and press call. This queries unconditional<\/em> forwarding — the total diversion where your phone never even rings and every call, and on some networks SMS and data, goes straight to another number. The status screen lists each service (voice, SMS, data) with either “Not forwarded” or a destination number. Unconditional forwarding is the rarest but most serious finding: if it is active and the number isn’t your voicemail or something you set, someone is receiving your calls instead of you. Photograph the screen (including the number), then read the cancellation section below before erasing anything — the number itself is evidence, and in a legal situation, who it belongs to can be established by investigators.<\/p>\n

    Code 2: *#62# — Where Do Calls Go When You’re Unreachable?<\/h2>\n
    \"Phone
    Phone showing the result screen for the *#62# code. Try it:<\/strong> open the phone app and dial *#62#<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    *#62#<\/strong> asks: when my phone is off, in airplane mode, or out of coverage, where does the network send calls? For almost everyone the honest answer is “my carrier’s voicemail,” so expect to see a number here — a result is normal on this code. The question is whose<\/em> number. Voicemail numbers are typically odd-looking carrier service numbers; if you are unsure, search the displayed number together with your carrier’s name from another device, or simply ask your carrier whether it is theirs. A personal mobile number in this slot is the classic “missed-call interception” setup: whoever set it receives every call you miss, hears the voicemails meant for you, and you never see a trace on the handset.<\/p>\n

    Code 3: *#67# — Forwarding When You’re Busy<\/h2>\n
    \"Phone
    Phone showing the result screen for the *#67# code. Try it:<\/strong> open the phone app and dial *#67#<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    *#67#<\/strong> covers the “line busy” case: where do calls go when you are already on a call or decline one? Again, your carrier’s voicemail is the normal answer. The abuse case mirrors the previous code, with one nasty twist — a spy who forwards only busy\/declined calls keeps your phone behaving completely normally for every call you answer, which makes this setup very hard to notice from symptoms alone. You would simply hear, occasionally, that “someone called” while you were on the line and you got no missed-call entry. If contacts have told you exactly that, this code just became the most interesting one on the list for you.<\/p>\n

    Code 4: *#61# — Forwarding When You Don’t Answer<\/h2>\n
    \"Phone
    Phone showing the result screen for the *#61# code. Try it:<\/strong> open the phone app and dial *#61#<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    *#61#<\/strong> queries the no-answer rule — where calls go after ringing without pickup, and on many networks also how long the phone rings first (the no-reply timer). Voicemail is again the expected destination. Two things to check: the destination number, exactly as with the previous codes, and the delay. A shortened ring time is a subtle manipulation — set the timer to five seconds and most calls “miss” you and land wherever the forwarding points, while your phone seems merely to ring briefly. If your contacts complain your phone barely rings before voicemail answers, this screen is where the explanation usually lives, whether the cause is snooping or just a misconfigured setting.<\/p>\n

    Code 5: ##002# — The Kill Switch<\/h2>\n
    \"Phone
    Phone showing confirmation that all forwarding was erased after ##002#. Try it:<\/strong> open the phone app and dial ##002#<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Found forwarding you didn’t set? ##002#<\/strong> erases all<\/em> conditional and unconditional forwarding rules in one command — the network confirms with an “erasure successful” style message. Three notes before you press call. First, photograph the status screens from codes 1–4 before<\/em> erasing; the destination number is evidence you cannot recover afterwards. Second, this also erases your legitimate voicemail forwarding on some carriers — if voicemail stops working, your carrier can restore it in minutes (or dial the setup code they provide). Third, and most important: erasing the rules removes the symptom, not the access. Whoever set forwarding once had either your unlocked phone or enough of your identity to convince your carrier — so change your phone’s lock code, add a PIN or password to your carrier account, and treat the event as the beginning of the checkup, not the end.<\/p>\n

    Two Bonus Codes Worth Knowing<\/h2>\n
    \"Phone
    Phone showing the IMEI number after dialing *#06#. Try it:<\/strong> open the phone app and dial *#06#<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    *#06#<\/strong> displays your IMEI, the hardware serial number of your phone. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe — if the phone is ever stolen, police and your carrier will ask for it, and it lets your carrier block the device on the network. Checking it occasionally also verifies it matches the IMEI printed on your box, a mismatch being a sign of deeper tampering. *#*#4636#*#*<\/strong> opens a hidden Android testing menu on many (not all) devices, showing network status and connection details — harmless to look at, and occasionally useful to confirm which network your phone is really registered on. Ignore viral claims that any dial code reveals “if your phone is hacked”; no such code exists, and the codes above are the full extent of what the dialer can honestly tell you.<\/p>\n

    Lock the Door Forwarding Came Through: Your Carrier Account<\/h2>\n
    \"Carrier
    Carrier account app showing security PIN settings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Every forwarding rule was set through one of two doors: your handset or your carrier account, and both deserve a lock. On the handset side, a screen-lock PIN nobody else knows closes the two-minutes-with-your-phone route — forwarding codes can be dialed from your own keypad by anyone holding your unlocked phone. On the carrier side, call or use your carrier’s app to add an account PIN or password<\/strong> that must be given before any change is made, and ask whether they offer a port-out or SIM-swap protection<\/strong> feature; most major carriers now provide one free. These two locks also defend against the nastier cousin of forwarding: a SIM swap, where an impersonator moves your entire number to their card and receives everything, including your two-factor codes. Five minutes of setup, and the technique this whole article checks for becomes very hard to use against you.<\/p>\n

    Quick Reference: All Five Codes in One Place<\/h2>\n

    For the moment you need them without re-reading everything: *#21#<\/strong> asks whether all calls are being diverted unconditionally, and “Not forwarded” on every line is the clean result. *#62#<\/strong> asks where calls go when your phone is unreachable, *#67#<\/strong> when you are busy, and *#61#<\/strong> when you don’t answer — on these three, your carrier’s voicemail number is normal and any personal number is not. ##002#<\/strong> erases every forwarding rule at once, to be used only after photographing what the query codes showed. The bonus pair: *#06#<\/strong> displays your IMEI for your records, and *#*#4636#*#*<\/strong> opens Android’s testing menu on supported devices. Query codes are invisible and free; run them as often as you like.<\/p>\n

    What These Codes Cannot Do<\/h2>\n

    A clean result on every code above means one thing only: your carrier is not diverting your calls. It says nothing about spyware running on the handset — an app reading your messages through accessibility access will never appear on any MMI status screen, because it operates on the phone, not the network. Forwarding checks and device checks are two different layers, and real peace of mind requires both. For the device layer, pair this article with our seven hidden Android settings tour, the iPhone detection guide, and the phone-tracking checklist — together they cover network, device, account, and physical trackers, which is the complete picture.<\/p>\n

    Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n

    The codes return “Invalid MMI code” or an error. Is that suspicious?<\/strong>
    \nNo — it almost always means your carrier or plan doesn’t support querying that rule from the handset. Some prepaid plans, VoIP-based services, and a few carriers block MMI queries entirely. Check your carrier’s app (forwarding settings usually appear under call settings) or ask support to read your forwarding status. The error is about your carrier’s configuration, not about anyone spying on you.<\/p>\n

    Can someone set up call forwarding on my number without touching my phone?<\/strong>
    \nSometimes, and it’s worth guarding against. Anyone who can convince your carrier they are you — through leaked personal details or a weak account password — can ask for forwarding, and in the worst case for a full SIM swap that takes over your number entirely. The defense is a PIN, password, or “port freeze” on your carrier account, which most carriers offer free. If you found forwarding you didn’t set and your phone never left your hands, call your carrier, ask when and how<\/em> the rule was added, and secure the account on the same call.<\/p>\n

    How often should I dial these codes?<\/strong>
    \nThey cost nothing and take under a minute, so add the query codes to any privacy checkup: monthly alongside your other checks, and immediately after the events that matter — your phone left unlocked around someone you distrust, unexplained missed-call complaints from contacts, a suspicious interaction with your carrier, or signs your personal details leaked in a breach. The status screens are worth photographing even when clean; a dated “Not forwarded” screenshot makes any future change easy to prove and time.<\/p>\n

    Do these codes work on iPhones too?<\/strong>
    \nYes — MMI codes are a network feature, so they behave the same from an iPhone dialer as from Android, carrier permitting. iPhone users can also see (and disable) basic forwarding under Settings > Phone > Call Forwarding, which covers the unconditional rule; the conditional rules (busy, no answer, unreachable) are only visible through the codes or your carrier.<\/p>\n

    Code support varies by carrier, plan, and region. This article is general information; when in doubt, your carrier’s support line can read and change every setting these codes touch.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    ✅ Quick answer — the 2 codes that matter most: Dial *#21# — shows if calls\/texts are unconditionally forwarded somewhere else. Dial *#62# — shows where…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guides"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freephonespy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freephonespy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freephonespy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freephonespy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freephonespy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freephonespy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6437,"href":"https:\/\/freephonespy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6429\/revisions\/6437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freephonespy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freephonespy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freephonespy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}