Dreaming about
a phone

Most of us check a phone dozens of times a day, so phones are one of the easiest things for a dreaming brain to borrow.^[1] Dreaming about a phone usually comes down to connection, someone you want to reach, news you're waiting for, or a fear of being cut off from the people and information you rely on.

It depends what the phone did. A call that went through is a different dream from a number you couldn't dial, a lost phone or a ringing you didn't answer. And who was on the other end matters as much as the phone itself, along with whoever you've been meaning to call, or avoiding, this week.

What dreaming about a phone means

A phone puts a person's voice in your ear from anywhere, and phone dreams are mostly about whether that works.

Reaching someone

When the phone worked and the call mattered, the dream is often about a person you want to hear from or speak to, an old friend, a parent, an ex, someone you've fallen out with. Think about who it was and what you said. If you had a long, easy conversation, the dream may be filling a gap you feel during the day.

Being heard

A bad line, a call that keeps dropping or a person who can't hear you is a picture of not getting through. It tends to come when you feel unheard at home or at work, when you keep saying something and nobody seems to take it in.

What you'd rather not hear

A phone that rings and rings while you stare at it is news you're not ready for, a result, a decision, a conversation someone wants to have with you. If you let it ring out, ask what you're putting off.

Dreaming about losing your phone

This is the phone dream people search for most. A phone holds our photos, messages, money and way home, so losing one in a dream is losing a good part of your connection to your life, and it can feel a lot like being lost yourself. It often comes when you feel cut off or disorganized, after a move, a breakup or a stretch where everything feels hard to keep track of. If you found the phone again, the dream may be telling you that what you've lost touch with is still within reach.

Dreaming about a phone that won't dial

It's one of the classic frustration dreams. You need to call someone, often for help, and your fingers hit the wrong keys, the numbers slide around, the screen freezes or the call connects to a stranger. Part of the reason is that numbers and text rarely hold still in dreams, which is why lucid dreamers use reading as a reality check. But the feeling is real, and it usually shows up when you're struggling to ask for help, to say something important, or to reach a person who feels out of reach in waking life.

Dreaming about a broken phone

A cracked screen or a dead phone is contact damaged, a relationship with a crack in it, or a way of staying in touch that no longer works. If the phone was smashed in anger, think about whether a recent argument broke something between you and someone. A battery that kept dying is closer to running out of energy for the people around you.

Dreaming about a call from someone who has died

Phone calls from people who have died are among the most vivid phone dreams, and many people wake from them shaken or comforted. The phone lets the dream bring back a voice without a body, which is often how we remember the people we've lost. These dreams tend to come with grief, an anniversary or something you wish you'd said. Whatever was said in the call is worth writing down, because it's usually what you most needed to hear, or say.

Dreaming about a phone according to Jung and Freud

A phone is a voice with no body attached, which is where both men's ideas catch.

Jung: a voice with authority

Jung found a figure in dreams that he called the wise old man, who turns up as a doctor, a teacher, a priest, a grandfather or any other authority.^[2] A phone is a natural way for him to reach a dreamer, as the doctor with your results, the parent with advice or a voice you couldn't place. Read that way, a call that never connects is you and that figure failing to meet, and one that does is worth writing down word for word. Jung never wrote about phones, so this is his figure applied, and he distrusted fixed meanings anyway, so who was on the line decides.

Freud: the voice you can't have back

In Freud's theory a dream shows a wish already granted,^[3] and a phone ringing with the one voice you miss on the other end is about as plain a picture of that as there is. The call that won't dial or keeps dropping is the same wish with its obstacle left in. A phone is also nearly all leftovers from the day, which he looked for first, so he'd ask whose message went unanswered yesterday. He didn't write about phones; the method is his.

Questions to ask about your phone dream

A phone dream always involves someone on the other end, even when nobody answers, so start with them.

• Who were you trying to reach, or who was calling you?
• Did the call go through, and what was said?
• Was the phone lost, broken, or impossible to use?
• Is there someone you've been meaning to call?
• Where in your life do you feel unheard right now?

The person on the other end usually says more than the phone did, which is why Oniri starts by asking who's been on your mind.