How do I turn off call forwarding (Cosmote, Vodafone, Nova)?

First, see what is active

Before you switch anything off, it is worth taking a minute to check. You see, call forwarding — or call diversion, as it is also known — is not one single setting but four different ones, so you may have more of them active than you remember. The check codes are the same everywhere (the GSM standard) and work perfectly on Cosmote, Vodafone and Nova:

• *#21# — shows you whether unconditional forwarding is active and which number it sends your calls to.
• *#61# — does exactly the same for forwarding when you do not answer.
• *#67# — for forwarding when your line is busy.
• *#62# — for forwarding when your mobile is switched off or has no signal.

Simply type the code and press the call button. You are not actually phoning anyone — you are sending a query to the network, and the answer appears on your screen within a few seconds. Do not be surprised if you see a forward to voicemail even though you never switched one on: on COSMOTE, forwarding to voicemail is enabled automatically when your line is activated. And if voicemail only holds a message you may not hear for a while, an AI answering agent can talk to the caller and book the appointment instead.

The codes that switch it off

Each type of forwarding is cancelled with its own code, by putting two hashes in front. Because these too belong to the GSM standard, they are the same on every carrier and work just as well on mobiles as on landlines that support the service.

If you are not sure what you have switched on, the quickest fix is ##002#. It cancels every forward in one move and clears your line completely. You may also come across the shortened form with a single hash, e.g. #21#. That does stop the forwarding, but it keeps the destination number in memory for later — whereas with two hashes the number is erased as well.

For the reverse — that is, which codes switch it on and how to set it up properly for what you need — you can read our detailed guide on how to set up call forwarding on Cosmote, Vodafone and Nova.

If you prefer your carrier’s app

The codes are a sure-fire method, but not the only one. All three companies have their own app — MyCOSMOTE, My Vodafone and the Nova app — where every forward is shown clearly in your line’s settings. So you can see what is active and switch it off from there, without having to remember codes by heart.

If you have a landline that does not appear in an app, or if a forward has got stuck and will not cancel no matter what, the answer is to call customer service. They can see exactly what is configured on your line and can remove it directly. Especially where a forward was set up by the carrier itself, as often happens with voicemail, they are the only ones who can take it off.

What happens when you switch it off

Your phone starts ringing normally again, on your own line. Whoever calls you notices no difference whatsoever and receives no notification — their call simply no longer goes to another number.

To be sure, run a real-world test: call your number from another phone and let it ring right through. If your handset rings and the call ends up where you expected, the forward has been removed. If you hear something else — such as voicemail or another number — check again with the *#21# and *#61# codes, as one of the four settings may have been left active.

When you are better off keeping it

Before you cancel it altogether, consider one thing: is it the forwarding itself that bothers you, or where it ends up? Because with no forwarding at all, when you cannot get to the phone in time, the call is lost. The customer just hears the phone ring, hangs up, and very often simply calls the next professional they can find.

If the problem was that you were losing all your calls from the start, the answer is not to cut them off entirely. It is better to set up conditional forwarding: one that kicks in only when you do not answer or when you are already on a call. That way, your phone rings first, and only the calls you would have lost anyway are forwarded elsewhere. In a beauty salon, during a treatment, those calls can be answered by an AI receptionist for beauty salons, and the visit booked in your calendar.

And if having them land on another mobile does not suit you, there are services that always answer your calls. You can put in place a message-taking answering service that records each customer’s details, or even an AI receptionist that speaks Greek and books the appointment there and then. In that case, forwarding is not a problem to be cut off, but the tool that makes sure no call is lost when you cannot answer in time.