How to Add a Contact to Your Favorites on Your iPhone for Quicker Calling

Remember the rolodex on the corner of the desk? The most-called numbers were dog-eared, coffee-stained, and always right on top. You didn't spin through the whole thing to find your sister — her card was already sticking out.

Your iPhone has something almost identical. It's called Favorites, and it puts the handful of people you call most often just one tap away. Here's how to add someone to it.

Opening Your Favorites List

Find the green icon on your home screen with a little white telephone in it. That's the Phone app. Tap it once.

Along the bottom of the screen, you'll see a row of words: Favorites, Recents, Contacts, Keypad, Voicemail. Tap Favorites on the far left. If you've never used this before, the list will be empty — that's fine. We're about to fix that.

Adding Someone to Favorites

Look in the top-left corner of the screen for a blue plus sign (+). Tap it.

Your full list of contacts will open up. Scroll until you find the person you want — say, your daughter Susan. Tap her name.

Now the iPhone asks a small but important question: which way do you want to reach her? You'll see choices like Call, Message, Video, or Mail. Tap Call.

If Susan has more than one phone number saved (a cell phone and a home phone, for example), the iPhone will ask which number to use. Pick the one you actually want to dial when you're in a hurry. Tap it, and Susan is now on your Favorites list.

Using Your New Favorites List

From now on, when you want to call Susan, you don't have to scroll through hundreds of contacts. Just open the Phone app, tap Favorites, and tap her name. The call starts right away — no dialing, no searching.

You can add up to 50 favorites, but most people find that 5 or 10 is plenty. Think of the handful of people you actually call in a normal week: a spouse, a child or two, a close friend, the doctor's office. Those are the ones that belong here.

Rearranging or Removing a Favorite

If you want to tidy up the list later, open Favorites and tap the word Edit in the top-right corner.

To remove someone, tap the red circle to the left of their name, then tap Delete. Don't worry — this only removes them from Favorites. Their contact information stays safely in your phone.

To change the order, press and hold the three little gray lines to the right of a name, then drag it up or down. Put the person you call most often right at the top. When you're finished, tap Done.

One Thing to Try Today

Open the Phone app, tap Favorites, and add the one person you call most often — probably a spouse, a child, or your closest friend. That single addition will save you a few seconds every time you pick up the phone, and more importantly, it means you'll never fumble when you actually need to reach them quickly.

Need a hand with your technology? We're here to help. Give PorchSwing a call or book an appointment, and we'll walk you through it at your own pace — no rush, no jargon.