Learn how to set up favorite contacts on your iPhone, so they appear in a dedicated section, making it quicker to call, text, FaceTime, WhatsApp, or email close people.

Marking an important contact as a favorite is one of the easiest ways to speed dial on iPhone. Just one tap is all you need to call a favorite person.

And you’re not limited to just marking only a person’s phone number as the favorite. You also have the option to add their texting number, WhatsApp number, or email address as a favorite. Tapping those will open the Messages, WhatsApp, or Mail apps as appropriate.

Favorite contacts appear at the top of the Calls tab or in their own dedicated Favorites tab in the Phone app (more on that below).

Add favorite contacts on iPhone

1) Make sure you have saved the person’s phone number or email address to your iPhone.

2) Go to your iPhone contacts and tap the person’s name.

3) Scroll down and tap Add to Favorites.

4) Depending on the contact, you’ll see one or more of these options:

Messages: Tap it, select Messages, WhatsApp, or another supported chat app shown here. Then, tap the mobile number or email address to add it to your favorites. Going forward, tapping that favorite entry will open a texting window with this person in Messages, WhatsApp, or the relevant app.

Call: Tap it, select Phone (to make a regular cellular call), FaceTime Audio, WhatsApp, or another supported app, and then tap the phone number. If the person uses their email address for FaceTime, you can select that as well. From now on, just one tap on this favorite entry will start a phone call with this person.

Video: Tap it, select FaceTime, WhatsApp, or another app, and tap their mobile number or email address. Touching this in your Phone app Favorites section will initiate a video call with this person.

Mail: Tap it and then select an email address you have added to this person’s contact card. From now on, tapping this favorite entry will open a new email compose box in the Apple Mail app or whatever app you have set as the default.

See all your favorite contacts in one place

If you’re using the default Unified Phone app layout, then your favorite contacts appear as big tiles at the top of the Calls tab. In case you have added more than 8 favorites, tap Show All to see the rest. Stupidly enough, there is no Hide All option, and you’ll have to force-quit and reopen the Phone app to get back to just two rows in favorites.

If you have switched to the Classic Phone app layout, you’ll see all your favorite contacts in a dedicated Favorites tab.

Tapping a favorite contact in either layout will instantly initiate an audio or video call, or open the text or email compose screen.

Change the order of your favorite contacts

In the Unified Phone app layout, tap the Edit button, followed by Edit Favorites. Then touch and hold a favorite contact and drag it to another spot.

In the Classic Phone app layout, tap the Edit button, and then drag the hamburger icon next to a favorite contact up or down to change their position.

Remove a contact from favorite

In the Unified layout, touch and hold the favorite contact tile and tap Remove Favorites.

In the Classic layout, swipe left on a favorite contact and tap the delete icon.

This only removes the favorite entry; it does not delete the contact itself.

I use the Classic Phone app layout…

I have added phone numbers of all my family members to my Favorites. And since I have not memorized their mobile numbers, I regularly need to look them up when paying their phone bills and such.

The new Unified layout requires me to touch and hold the entry and then tap View Contact. In comparison, in the old Classic layout, I only need to tap the info icon ⓘ to view the full contact, which is much faster. This is why I have switched my iOS 26 and iOS 27 Phone app to the old Classic layout.

But if you prefer the new Unified look, do yourself a favor and spend a few minutes setting up Contact Posters for people who haven’t set it up on their end or who don’t have an iPhone. Contact Posters and contact photos make the Favorites interface more beautiful.

Also, check out:

• How to get a call back reminder on iPhone
• How to trim a phone call recording on iPhone

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2026/08/12/add-favorite-contacts-iphone/

In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to turn your iPhone into a dumb feature phone with just a few basic features and a simpler interface, all without requiring third-party apps or profiles.

One of the best ways to repurpose your old iPhone or iPad is to pass it on to a person like your grandparents or kids who don’t need all the latest features. Plus, an older person or a child may not find it convenient to navigate the iOS interface without a clear back button and too many on-screen elements and features.

To address this, iOS includes a lesser-known Assistive Access feature which strips down the entire operating system for a simpler interface. You can choose to allow specific apps, or even just certain features within an app (like only the selfie shooter in the Camera app).

If your goal is to give your young kid a simple phone with just a few features, then you can consider using it.

I will demonstrate by turning my old iPhone into a feature phone by allowing only Phone, Messages, Camera, Photos, and YouTube apps. You can add more apps if you want.

But before you begin:

• Download the third-party apps you want to be allowed during Assistive Access mode.
• Set up the apps beforehand. What I mean by this is log in to those apps (like YouTube), allow notifications and camera access (like for WhatsApp), and so on.
• Set up a Screen Time passcode and don’t share this code with your child if you don’t want them to exit Assistive Access mode. Of course, you may not have to worry about this if your child is very young.

Turn iPhone into a simple phone for kids

1) Open the Settings app and tap Accessibility.

2) Scroll to the bottom and tap Assistive Access.

3) Tap Set Up Assistive Access > Continue.

4) If the Apple Account you want to use on this iPhone is correct, tap Continue. Otherwise, change it.

5) Select the apps you want to allow in this ‘dumb phone’ mode.

I’m choosing:

• Calls — I will only allow receiving and making calls from Favorites, which I set up beforehand.
• Messages — Again, texting can only happen between contacts marked as Favorites.
• Camera — I will only allow Photo and Photo Selfie modes.
• Photos — I have allowed shared albums.
• YouTube (Apps not optimized for Assistive Access don’t give you the option to select sub-features)

After adding the apps, tap Continue, and follow along.

6) Choose an appearance style and tap Continue. I prefer the Grid style.

7) Go through the instructions screens and tap Continue.

8) Enter the Screen Time passcode (if you had set it up).

9) Learn how to exit Assistive Access. You can do that by triple-pressing the side button.

10) Finally, tap Start Using Assistive Access and confirm with the Screen Time passcode if asked.

You’ll see “Entering Assistive Access” on the screen for a few seconds, and then your iPhone will effectively convert into a basic phone with just the selected apps and features.

You can exit Assistive Access mode and return to normal mode (with all apps and data intact) by pressing the iPhone side button three times. You can learn a lot more about Assistive Access in our full guide.

Also, check out: What to do before handing your iPhone or iPad to kids

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2026/08/11/turn-iphone-into-kids-phone/