iOS devices showing "SOS" and unable to make callsSolved

Participant
Discussion
2 months ago Jan 27, 2026

Hey everyone, running into a weird issue today with a couple of our iPhones and hoping someone can point me in the right direction. 

One of our users cannot make or receive any phone calls, and the top of her screen just says “SOS”. I have another user who can send and receive SMS text messages just fine, but they also can’t make or receive actual calls. They both supposedly have active SIM cards. Is there a kiosk setting or restriction in Hexnode causing this? 

Also, completely unrelated quick question: a colleague asked me to rename a user’s display name on the Hexnode portal, but I’m struggling to find where to actually change it. Any ideas? 

Replies (4)

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Participant
2 months ago Jan 28, 2026
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Hey @gnishilda, Hexnode (and MDMs in general) doesn’t really have a restriction payload for iOS that completely blocks cellular calls to the point where the phone drops off the network and displays SOS. Usually, SOS means the phone has lost connection to the cellular provider entirely or the SIM has been deactivated/damaged. 

You could try temporarily disassociating any policies from the device to test it. If the device still shows SOS after a reboot, you can confirm with 100% certainty that it’s a carrier/SIM issue and not Hexnode. 

For your second question, renaming a user is pretty straightforward: Navigate to the Manage tab > Users > click on the specific user > click on Actions > edit > Edit user, and you can modify the display name there. 

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Participant
2 months ago Jan 29, 2026
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Thanks, @pauel! I tested the policy removal, and it seems like it’s not a Hexnode issue, so I’ll troubleshoot further with the carrier. 

Regarding changing the user: I can get to the Edit User action just fine, but when the dialog box opens up, the text box to edit the name is greyed out. 

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Participant
2 months ago Jan 31, 2026
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Ah, are they an IdP user? If that’s the case, you’ll need to update their name in your actual IdP portal (like Microsoft entra ID or Google workspace). Once that directory syncs, the updated name will reflect in the Hexnode portal automatically.

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Participant
2 months ago Feb 01, 2026
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Oh, okay! That makes sense. Thanks for the help!

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