Forwarding your existing number

Your assistant has its own local number that callers reach directly. The simplest setup is to hand that number out — on your website, your Google listing, your cards — and you're done. Nothing to forward.

This guide covers the other option: keeping the number your customers already know and forwarding it to your assistant, one time. You choose how much to forward:

• Ring me first, then your assistant — your phone rings first, and only the calls you miss roll to your assistant.
• Send every call — every call goes straight to your assistant; your existing number then behaves exactly like your assistant's number.

Either way it's one code, dialed once on your phone. Your hours and settings — not your carrier — decide who answers.

The codes

Under Send your calls to your assistant (the screen uses its name) — on the go-live screen, and on Home until a forwarded call comes through — choose how calls reach you, pick your carrier, and the exact code appears under Dial this code with your assistant's number filled in, ready to copy (or, on Android, Tap to dial), and the off code under it: "To undo it any time, dial …". After you're live, Forwarding codes in Settings → Phone & texting brings the same screen back. The codes below are the same ones, for when you'd rather read them here.

Verizon (and carriers on Verizon's network): *71 + your assistant's number forwards the calls you miss (*72 forwards every call). Your phone still rings about five times first — Verizon doesn't let anyone change that. Turn off with *73.

AT&T, T-Mobile, and most other carriers: **61* + your assistant's number + **15# forwards the calls you miss after 15 seconds (the ring-count choice above the code lets you pick 10–30 seconds; **21* + number + # forwards every call). Turn off with ##61# (or ##21#); ##002# clears every kind of forwarding at once.

Landlines and VoIP lines: codes vary — ask your provider for "no-answer call forwarding" to your assistant's number. Google Voice numbers forward from Google Voice's own settings.

One honest note: missed-call forwarding forwards unanswered calls. If you're already on a call, a second caller gets your carrier's normal busy handling (usually your voicemail) rather than your assistant. Forwarding every call avoids that.

What it costs: nothing extra from us. Carrier forwarding is usually included in your phone plan.

Checking it took

Call your own number from another phone and let it ring through: your assistant answers. If your answer rate ever drops sharply, a Monday watchdog emails you and leaves a note in the app.

If forwarding stops working later: carriers occasionally reset forwarding (plan changes, SIM swaps, new phones), and an iPhone with Live Voicemail turned back on will answer before your assistant can — see iPhone owners: turn off Live Voicemail. Dial the forwarding code again. Nothing is ever changed on your phone by us; you always dial the code yourself.