My iPhone for Seniors, Second Edition (2016)
7. Managing Contacts
In this chapter, you learn how to ensure that your iPhone has the contact information you need when you need it. Topics include the following:
Getting started
Setting your Contacts preferences
Creating contacts on your iPhone
Working with contacts on your iPhone
Managing your contacts on your iPhone
You’ll be using your iPhone to make calls, get directions, send emails, and for many other tasks that require contact information, including names, phone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses. It would be time consuming and a nuisance to have to remember and re-type this information each time you use it. Fortunately, you don’t have to do either because the Contacts app puts all your contact information at your fingertips (literally).
Getting Started
The Contacts app makes using your contact information extremely easy. This information is readily available on your phone in all the apps, such as Mail, Messages, and Phone, in which you need it. And, you don’t need to remember or type the information because you can enter it by choosing someone’s name, a business’ name, or other information that you know about the contact. You can also access your contact information directly in the Contacts app and take action on it (such as placing a call).
To use contact information, it must be in the Contacts app. This can be accomplished in several ways. When you configure an online account on your iPhone, such as iCloud or Google, to include contact information, the contact information stored in that account is immediately available on your phone without you having to do anything else. (See Chapter 3, “Setting Up and Using iCloud and Other Online Accounts” for the steps to enable contact information in online accounts.) You can manually add new contact information to the Contacts app by capturing that information when you perform tasks (such as reading email). You can also enter new contact information directly in the Contacts app.
The Contacts app also makes it easy to keep your contact information current, such as adding more information, updating existing contacts, or removing contacts you no longer need.
Setting Your Contacts Preferences
Using the Settings app, you can determine how contacts are sorted and displayed, if or how names are shortened on various screens, your contact information, and which account should be the default for contact information.
Following is an example showing how to configure your information in the Contacts app. This is an important setting because it is how your phone identifies you, such as when Siri says your name, when you want to get directions home, or when you have Safari automatically fill in forms. You can configure other Contacts settings using similar steps and the descriptions of the settings in the table that follows these steps.
On the Home screen, tap Settings.
Swipe up the screen until you see Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
Swipe up the screen until you see the Contacts section.
Tap My Info.
Browse or search the All Contacts screen (to learn different ways to browse this screen, jump ahead to the section called “Using the Contacts App,” and then come back here).
Tap your name. This tells the Contacts app your contact information, which it can insert for you in various places; your contact information is indicated by the label “me” next to the alphabetical index. You return to the Mail, Contacts, Calendars screen where your name appears next to My Info. The following table explains the rest of the Contacts settings options in case you want to make changes to them.
Contacts Settings on the Mail, Contacts, Calendars Screen
Where Contacts are Stored
You can store your contacts in an online account (for example, iCloud or Google), which is good because it makes the information accessible on many devices and keeps it backed up. If you don’t have an online account, contact information is stored on your iPhone. This is not ideal because, if something happens to your phone, you can lose all of your contacts. You should use at least one online account for storing your contacts (see Chapter 3, “Setting Up and Using iCloud and Other Online Accounts,” for detailed information about online accounts).
Creating Contacts on Your iPhone
In this section, you learn how to create a new contact starting with information in an email message and how to create a new contact manually.
Creating New Contacts from Email
When you receive an email, you can easily create a contact to capture the email address.
On the Home screen, tap Mail.
Use the Mail app to read an email message (see Chapter 9, “Sending, Receiving, and Managing Email,” for details).
Tap the email address from which you want to create a new contact. You see as much information as could be gleaned from the email address, which is typically the sender’s name and email address.
Tap Create New Contact. The New Contact screen appears. The name, email address, and any other information that can be identified is added to the new contact.
Use the New Contact screen to enter more contact information or update the information that was added. This works just like when you create a new contact manually, except that you already have some information filled in for you—most likely, a name and an email address. For details on adding and changing more information for the contact, see the next task, which is “Creating Contacts Manually.”
>>>Go Further: More on Creating Contacts from Apps
It’s useful to be able to create contact information by starting with some information in an app. Keep these points in mind:
• Mail is only one of the apps from which you can create contacts. You can start a contact in just about any app you use to communicate or get information, such as Messages and Maps. The steps to start a contact in these apps are similar to those for Mail. Tap the person or address for which you want to create a contact, and then tap Create New Contact. The Contacts app fills in as much of the information as it can, and you can complete the rest yourself.
• You can also add more contact information to an existing contact from an app you are currently using. You can do this by tapping Add to Existing Contact instead of Create New Contact. You then search for and select the contact to which you want to add the additional information. After it’s saved, the additional information is associated with the contact you selected. For example, suppose you have created a contact for a company but all you have is its phone number. You can quickly add the address to the contact by using the Maps app to look it up and then add the address to the company’s existing contact information by tapping the location, tapping Add to Existing Contact, and selecting the company in your contacts.
Creating Contacts Manually
Most of the time, you’ll want to get the information for a new contact from an app, as the previous task demonstrated, or through an online account, such as contacts stored in your iCloud account. If these aren’t available, you can start a contact from scratch and manually add all the information you need to it. Also, you use the same steps to add information to or change information for an existing contact that you do to create a new one, so even if you don’t start from scratch often, you do need to know how to add and update contact information.
The Contacts app leads you through creating each type of information you might want to capture. You can choose to enter some or all of the default information on the New Contact screen, or add additional fields as needed. The following steps show creating a new contact containing the most common contact information you are likely to need:
On the Home screen, tap Contacts. (If you don’t see the Contacts app on the Home screen, open the Extras folder to see if it is in there.) The All Contacts screen displays.
If you see the Groups screen instead, tap Done to move to the All Contacts screen.
If you have only one account that provides contact information, you see its contact list rather than the All Contacts screen, and you are ready to create a new contact.
Tap the Add button. The New Contact screen appears with the default fields.
To associate a photo with the contact, tap add photo. You can choose a photo already on your phone or take a new photo. These steps show using an existing photo. (See the “Taking Photos” note for the steps to take a new photo.)
Tap Choose Photo.
Use the Photos app to move to, select, and configure the photo you want to associate with the contact (see Chapter 14, “Working with Photos and Video You Take with Your iPhone,” for help with the Photos app).
Tap Choose.
Tap in the First field and enter the contact’s first name; if you are creating a contact for an organization only, leave both name fields empty.
Tap in the Last field and enter the contact’s last name.
Enter the organization, such as a company, with which you want to associate the contact, if any.
To add a phone number, tap add phone. A new phone field appears along with the numeric keypad.
Taking Photos
To take a new photo for a contact, tap Take Photo in step 4 instead of Choose Photo. The Camera app opens. Use that app to take the photo (see Chapter 14). Then use the Move and Scale screen to adjust the photo so it is what you want to use. When it looks right, tap Use Photo.
Use the numeric keypad to enter the contact’s phone number. Include any prefixes you need to dial it, such as area code and country code. The app formats the number for you as you enter it.
Tap the label for the phone number, such as home, to change it to another label.
Swipe up and down the Label screen to see all the options available.
Tap the label you want to apply to the number, such as iPhone.
Repeat steps 10–14 to add more phone numbers to the contact.
Swipe up the screen until you see add email.
Tap add email. The keyboard appears.
Type the contact’s email address.
Tap the label for the email address to change it.
Tap the label you want to apply to the email address.
Repeat steps 17–20 to add more email addresses.
Swipe up the screen until you see Ringtone.
Tap Ringtone. The list of ringtones and alert tones available on your iPhone appears.
Swipe up and down the list to see all of the tones available.
Tap the ringtone you want to play when the contact calls you. When you tap a ringtone, it plays so you can experiment to find the one that best relates to the contact. Setting a specific ringtone helps you identify a caller without looking at the phone.
Tap Done. You return to the New Contact screen, where the tone you selected appears.
Using the pattern you have learned in the previous steps, move to the next item you want to set and tap it.
Use the resulting screens to enter the information you want to configure for the contact. After you’ve done a couple of the fields, it is easy to do the rest because the same pattern is used throughout.
When you’ve added all the information you want to capture, tap Done. The New Contact screen closes and the new contact is created and ready for you to use whenever you need the information it contains. It is also moved onto other devices with which your contact information is synced.
>>>Go Further: Creating Contacts Expanded
Contacts are useful in many ways so you should make sure you have all the contact information you need. Here are a few points to ponder:
• You can (and should) sync contacts on multiple devices (computers and other iOS devices) by using iCloud, Gmail, or other similar accounts to store your contact information on the cloud from where all your devices can access it. Refer to Chapter 3 for the details of setting up an account through which you can sync your contacts.
• By the way, syncing your contacts works in both directions. Any new contacts you create, or any changes you make to existing contact information on your iPhone, move back to your other devices through the sync process. The bottom line is that you always have the same contact information available no matter which device you are using.
• To remove a field in which you’ve entered information, tap the red circle with a dash in it next to the field and then tap Delete. If you haven’t entered information into a field, just ignore it because empty fields don’t appear on a contact’s screen.
• The address format on the screens in the Contacts app is determined by the country you associate with the address. If the current country isn’t the one you want, tap it and select the country in which the address is located before you enter any information. The fields appropriate for that country’s addresses appear on the screen.
• If you want to add a type of information that doesn’t appear on the New Contact screen, swipe up the screen and tap add field. A list of additional fields you can add displays. Tap a field to add it; for example, tap Nickname to add a nickname for the contact. Then, enter the information for that new field.
• When you add more fields to contact information, those fields appear in the appropriate context on the Info screen. For example, if you add a nickname, it is placed at the top of the screen with the other “name” information. If you add an address, it appears with the other address information.
Working with Contacts on Your iPhone
There are many ways to use contact information. The first step is always finding the contact information you need, typically by using the Contacts app. Whether you access it directly or through another app (such as Mail), it works the same way. Then, you select the information you want to use or the action you want to perform.
Using the Contacts App
You can access your contact information directly in the Contacts app. For example, you can search or browse for a contact and then view the detailed information for the contact in which you are interested.
On the Home screen, tap Contacts. The Contacts screen displays.
The title of the screen depends on what you have selected to view. The screen is labeled All Contacts or Contacts. If the label is Contacts, you are browsing only some of your contacts based on the contact groups you have elected to view. (If the Groups screen appears, tap Done. You move back to the All Contacts or Contacts screen.)
You can find a contact to view by browsing (step 2), using the index (step 3), or searching (step 4). You can use combinations of these, too, such as first using the index to get to the right area and then browsing to find the contact in which you are interested.
Swipe up or down to scroll the screen to browse for contact information; swipe up or down on the alphabetical index to browse rapidly.
Tap the index to jump to contact information organized by the first letter of the format selected in the Contact Preferences (last name or first name).
Use the Search tool to search for a specific contact; tap in the tool, type the name (you can type last, first, company, or nickname), and then tap the contact you want to view on the results list.
To view a contact’s information, tap the contact you want to see.
Swipe up and down the screen to view all the contact’s information.
Tap the data or icons on the screen to perform actions, including the following:
• Phone numbers—Tap a phone number or the receiver icon to call it.
• Email addresses—Tap an email address to create a new message to it.
• URLs—Tap a URL to open Safari and move to the associated website.
• Addresses—Tap an address to show it in the Maps app.
• FaceTime—Tap FaceTime to start a FaceTime call with the contact.
• Text—Tap Send Message, or the quote bubble icon, and choose the phone number or email address to which you want to send a text message.
• Share Contact—Tap Share Contact. The Share menu appears. To share the contact via email, tap Mail; to share it via a text, tap Message; or to share it using AirDrop, tap AirDrop. You can also share via Twitter or Facebook. Then, use the associated app to complete the task.
• Favorites—Tap Add to Favorites and choose the phone number or email address you want to designate as a favorite. You can use this in the associated app to do something faster. For example, if it’s the Phone app, you can tap the Favorites tab to see your favorite contacts and quickly dial one by tapping it. You can add multiple items (such as cell and work phone numbers) as favorites for one contact.
To return to the Contacts list without performing an action, tap Contacts.
>>>Go Further: Make Contact
When working with your contacts, keep the following points in mind:
• Last known contact—The Contacts app remembers where you last were and takes you back there whenever you move into the Contacts app. For example, if you view a contact’s details and then switch to a different app to send a message, and then back to Contacts, you are returned to the screen you were last viewing. To move back to the main Contacts screen, tap Contacts in the upper-left corner of the screen.
• Groups—In a contact app on a computer, such as Contacts on a Mac, contacts can be organized into groups, which in turn can be stored in an online account, such as iCloud. When you sync, the groups of contacts move onto the iPhone. You can limit the contacts you browse or search; tap Groups on the Contacts screen.
The Groups screen displays the accounts (such as iCloud or Google) with which you are syncing contact information; under each account are the groups of contacts stored in that account. If a group has a check mark next to it, its contacts are displayed on the Contacts screen. To hide a group’s contacts, tap it so that the check mark disappears. To hide or show all of a group’s contacts, tap the All account, where account is the name of the account in which those contacts are stored. To make browsing contacts easier, tap Hide All Contacts to hide all the groups and contacts; then, tap each group whose contacts you want to show on the Contacts screen.
Tap Done to move back to the Contacts screen.
• Speaking of contacts—You can use Siri to speak commands to work with contacts, too. You can get information about contacts by asking for it, such as “What is William Wallace’s work phone number?” If you want to see all of a contact’s information, you can say “Show me William Wallace.” When Siri displays contact information, you can tap it to take action, such as tapping a phone number to call it. (See Chapter 12, “Working with Siri,” for more on using Siri.)
Accessing Contacts from Other Apps
You have access to information stored in the Contacts app while you are using a different app. For example, you can use a contact’s email address when you create an email message. When you perform such actions, the app you are in uses the information stored in the Contacts app to find and select the contact information you want to use. The following example shows using contact information to send an email message. The steps for accessing your contact information from other apps (such as Phone or Messages) are similar.
Open the app from which you want to access contact information (this example uses Mail).
Tap the New Message button.
In the To: field, tap the Add button.
Search, browse, or use the index to find the contact whose information you want to use.
Tap the contact whose information you want to use. (If a contact doesn’t have relevant information, for example, if no email address is configured when you are using the Mail app, that contact is grayed out and can’t be selected.)
If the contact has only one type of the relevant information (such as a single email address, if you started in the Mail app), you immediately move back to the app. The appropriate information is entered, and you can skip to step 7.
If the contact has multiple entries of the type you are trying to use, tap the information you want to use—in this case, the email address. The information is copied into the app and entered in the appropriate location.
Complete the rest of the task you are doing, such as sending an email message.
Managing Your Contacts on Your iPhone
When you sync contacts with an iCloud, Google, or other account, the changes go both ways. For example, when you change a contact on the iPhone, the synced contact manager application, such as Outlook, makes the changes for those contacts on your computer. Likewise, when you change contact information in a contact manager on your computer, those changes move to the iPhone. If you add a new contact in a contact manager, it moves to the iPhone, and vice versa. You can also change contacts manually in the Contacts app.
Updating Contact Information
You can change any information for an existing contact, such as adding new email addresses, deleting outdated information, and changing existing information.
View the contact’s Info screen.
Tap Edit. The Info screen moves into Edit mode, and you see Unlock buttons.
Tap current information to change it; you can change a field’s label by tapping it, or you can change the data for the field by tapping the information you want to change. Use the resulting tools, such as the phone number entry keypad, to make changes to the information. These tools work just like when you create a new contact (refer to “Creating Contacts Manually,” earlier in this chapter).
To add more fields, tap add in the related section, such as add phone in the phone number section; then, select a label for the new field and complete its information. This also works just like adding a new field to a contact you created manually.
To remove information from the contact, tap its Unlock button.
Tap Delete. The information is removed from the contact.
To change the contact’s photo, tap the current photo, or the word edit under the current photo, and use the resulting menu and tools to select a new photo, take a new photo, delete the existing photo, or edit the existing one.
When you finish making changes, tap Done. Your changes are saved, and you move out of Edit mode.
No Tones or Vibes?
If you leave the default tones or vibration patterns set for a contact, you won’t see those fields when you view the contact. However, when you edit a contact, all the fields you need to add these to a contact become available.
Adding Information to an Existing Contact While Using Your iPhone
As you use your iPhone, you’ll encounter information related to a contact that isn’t currently part of that contact’s information. For example, a contact might send you an email from a different email address than the one you have stored for her. When this happens, you can easily add the new information to the existing contact. Tap the information (such as an email address) to select it, and then tap Add to Existing Contact. Next, select the existing contact to which you want to add the new information. The selected information is added to the contact. Tap Done to save the information and return to the app you were using.
Deleting Contacts
To get rid of contacts, you can delete them from the Contacts app.
Find and view the contact you want to delete.
Tap Edit.
Swipe to the bottom of the Info screen.
Tap Delete Contact.
Tap Delete Contact again to confirm the deletion. The app deletes the contact, and you return to the Contacts screen.
