iOS 18: Call your friends and family with T9 dialing on your iPhone

Apple has released iOS 18 to the general public on September 16, a week after the company unveiled its new iPhone 16 series, Apple Watch Series 10 And more on the event in SeptemberThe update brings many new features to your iPhone, including more ways to home screen, lock screen And Control CenterThe update also brings T9 dialing to your iPhone.

With T9 dialing, you can call someone by simply typing their name on your iPhone. That means with iOS 18, you no longer have to search for a person’s name in your contacts to call them, or call them from Messages.

Read more: iOS 18 brings these features to your iPhone

Here’s what you need to know about T9 and how to use it to make calls on your iPhone.

What is T9 dialing?

T9 stands for Text on 9 keys. Before mobile phones had full keyboards, many phones had 12 keys. These were for the numbers 0 through 9, asterisks and the pound sign or hashtag — I felt old writing that. To text someone, you usually used the nine numbered keys.

Each numbered key had three or four corresponding letters, with the 0 key being the space bar and the 1 key being blank. If you go into your Phone app and tap Keyboard at the bottom of your screen, you’ll see the corresponding numbers and letters.

In the beginning, if you wanted to type “Hello” you had to type 44(H)-33(E)-555(L)-555(L)-666(0). That’s a lot of typing for one fairly short word.

T9 texting was introduced later and is an early form of predictive typing. It allows you to press fewer keys and send messages faster. So for “Hello” you type 4-3-5-5-6. Much easier.

How to Use T9 Dialing on iPhone

With iOS 18, you can now use T9 dialing to make calls. Here’s how.

1. Open your Call app.
2. Crane Keyboard at the bottom of your screen.

Start typing the name of the person you want to call using T9 principles. So if you want to call your dad, you’d type 3-2-3 on your keyboard, and for your mom, you’d type 6-6-6 — you don’t have to worry about that, promise. Their name should appear at the top of the screen. As you type, a backspace button will appear under the pound sign/hashtag if you make a mistake. Press this as many times as necessary. Note that there is no space bar.

Once you find the right person, tap on their name and their phone number will automatically fill in. Then press the green call button and you’re done.

If there’s more than one person in your Contacts with a certain name, as you type you’ll see an option beneath the top result that says something like “3 more…” Tap this to open a new menu with all the associated contacts. Tap the call button next to the correct contact and your conversation will begin immediately. Be prepared to explain why you’re calling the other person and not just sending them a text message.

For more information about iOS 18, here’s my review of iOS 18how to remove your flashlight from your lock screen and our iOS 18 cheat sheet. You can also take a look at everything Apple announced at its September event.

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