Your iPhone now supports T9 dialing, the best way to call people in the Phone app
Your iPhone now has the ability to make calls much faster with T9 dialing, a new feature Apple brought alongside the iOS 18 update.
T9 dialing, also known as Text on 9 keys, has long been available on Android devices. With iOS 18, T9 dialing is available on the iPhone and works like a charm.
All the cool kids of the ’90s are familiar with a text entry system where pressing a numeric key several times would produce a corresponding letter. Our dumb phones had 3×4 numeric keypads instead of full keyboards, and each numbered key had three or four corresponding letters attached.
How the multi-tap text entry works
To write a message on old phones with numeric keypads, we used a multi-tap entry system where each numbered key had three or four corresponding letters attached. As an example, the key “1” has the letters “a”, “b” and “c” printed below the digit.
A single press of the key “1” produces the number one, two presses in a succession produce the letter “a,” three presses type the letter “b” and so on. If I wanted to type “Chris,” I’d type 2222-444-7777-4444-77777.
That wasn’t very efficient, so T9 text entry was developed as one of the earliest predictive text technologies.
How T9 dialing works
With T9, there’s no need for multiple presses of the same digit. You just type a person’s name on the keypad without using the Contacts app or typing the number manually. To type “Chris” with T9 dialing, for example, I’d press 2-4-7-4-7.
T9 dialing in iOS 18 allows you to call a person just by typing their name on the keypad, no need to open the Contacts app or type their number manually. To call Chris with T9 dialing, for example, I’d press 2-4-7-4-7. To call Dad, you’d press 3-2-3. Guess what digits you’d press to call Mom?
How to use T9 dialing on your iPhone
T9 dialing on an iPhone (iOS 18+ required) needs no setup. To use T9 dialing, open the Phone app, select the Keypad tan across the bottom of the screen and start typing the name of the person you’d like to call using the principles of T9 dialing. Made a mistake? No problem, press the Backspace button to delete the last number.
If there’s a match in the Contacts app, it will appear across the top of the screen. With multiple matches, you’ll see a More link that reveals additional results.
T9 dialing is to this date arguably the best way to call people. I don’t have to hit a person’s number in the Contacts app or type their number manually into the Phone app or call them from Messages. And now, it’s available on my iPhone!
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2024/09/27/apple-ios-18-t9-dialing-iphone-available/
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