Contacts in iOS

Contacts organizes the phone numbers, addresses, email, and other information about the people and businesses in your life. Other apps also use the information you provide in Contacts. Siri, for instance, can respond to the command to “email my sister” if the relationship field is properly filled out to define the contact as your sister.

Contact info card overview

Put information about a contact in their contact card. Call, message, email, and even start a FaceTime from this card.

Filling out your My Card

You have a special card in Contacts. Fill out your My Card information to easily share your contact information with others, help Siri and apps like Maps know how to help you, and define your close relationships with others listed in Contacts.

1. Open the Contacts  app or tap Contacts within the Phone app.
2. Tap My Card at the top of the screen.
3. Add your personal information.

Adding your contacts

1. Open the Contacts  app or tap Contacts within the Phone app.
2. Tap +.
3. Enter contact info. You can use a contact card for a person or business and add as many email addresses, phone numbers, and notes as you want.

iPhone will automatically suggest new contacts from emails and calendar invites you receive, and from other apps you use.

You can also add a contact from a recent phone call. Go to Phone > Recents >    > Create New Contact.

Adding relationships

You can define your relationship with people in Contacts. This includes family (spouse, mother, etc.), business (partner, assistant, manager, etc.), or create your own custom labels. Once you define a relationship, you can tell Siri to call, message, or email the contact with the relationship name, like “call mom” or “email my daughter.” You can create a relationship in one of two ways:

• Tell Siri something like: “Mary Smith is my wife” or “Carol Jones is my mom.”
• Open your personal contact card at the top of Contacts, tap Edit, go to Add related name, enter the name, and select a relationship.
• Open a contact’s card, tap Edit, go to Add related name, enter the name, and select a relationship.

Adding your contact info

Adding your contact information, including your address, helps Siri customize maps, relationships with other contacts, and more. Adding your info is also necessary for the Health app and emergency contact information. iPhone uses your Apple ID to fill out your contact card, called My Card, but you can add or change the information in it.

1. Open the Contacts  app.
2. Tap your My Card at the top of the list of contacts, then tap Edit.

Customizing contact information

There are lots of ways to customize contact information. Open a contact card and tap Edit to view all the customizable fields.

• Add field. Add a custom field like a nickname, phonetic name, or pronunciation.
• Add a custom ringtone or vibration. Tap the Ringtone or Text Tone field and choose your preferred sound and vibration. Tap Emergency Bypass to allow the contact to override your Do Not Disturb mode.
• Add a custom photo. Tap Add Photo and choose an existing picture from the gallery or take a photo with the camera.
• Add Facebook or Twitter information. Tap Add social profile. Tap the social media default name to access a list of additional options.

Entering pauses in dialing for extensions

Sometimes your contacts will have office numbers with extensions. When dialing numbers with extensions, you typically must pause and wait after dialing before entering an extension number. You can add automatic pauses by:

1. Tapping the key (bottom left of the screen). This will open another screen with Pause and Wait options.
2. Then tap Pause or Wait. Each time you tap Pause, you introduce a two-second pause in the dialing process to account for recorded messages. Conversely, Wait waits for you to tap Dial, then enters the extension number.

Organize how contacts are displayed in Settings > Contacts. Sort Order determines the order in which the contacts are displayed. Display Order determines how the contact names will be shown.

Searching for a contact

There are a few ways to search for a contact.

• Open Contacts by opening the Phone  app and tapping Contacts . Use the search field at the top of the contact list to find a contact.
• Open the Contacts  app and search.
• Summon Siri and say the name.

Adding a recent caller to your Contacts

Add a recent caller to your Contacts from the Recents phone list. From the Phone screen, tap Recents and then . Tap Create New Contact.

If the caller is in your Contacts already and you want to add the number to their profile, tap Add to Existing Contact and choose a contact.

Linking duplicate contacts

Your iPhone imports contacts from various places, including email and social media apps. They can also be imported from your last device. If you have duplicate contacts in your phone and don’t want to delete one, you can link the contacts.

To link contacts, go to your contacts list on your iPhone.

1. Select a contact card to be the master. This means it is the main contact and all duplicates will be linked to it.
2. Tap Edit in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
3. Scroll down and tap Link contacts.
4. Select the contact card that you’d like to link with the main one.
5. Tap Link in the upper right-hand corner.