iOS 18 Introduces T9 Dialing: All You Need to Know

After releasing iOS 18.1 in October, the tech giant took almost a month to release iOS 18.2 on December 11. Several iPhones gained access to Apple Intelligence capabilities, such as Genmoji and Image Playground, with the most recent update. But with the September release of iOS 18, the tech behemoth included T9 calling to your iPhone.

Just by entering a person’s name into your iPhone, you can make a call using T9 dialing. This means that in iOS 18, you can make a call directly from Messages or without searching your contacts.

The ins and outs of T9 dialing on the iPhone are detailed here.

What exactly is T9 dialing?

Text on nine keys is abbreviated as T9. Many phones had 12 keys before full-size keyboards became standard on cell phones. These were for the numerals 0–9, a star, and the hashtag (wow, I feel old just thinking about it). On most phones, the nine numbered keys are used for texting.

There were either three or four letters that went with each number key. The zero key was the spacebar, and the one key was empty. You may view the matching letters and digits in your phone’s app by going to the Settings menu and then tapping Keypad on the bottom of the screen.

At first, you had to press 44(H)-33(E)-555(L)-555(L)-666(0) to type “Hello.” A lot of effort went into typing that one fairly small word.

T9 texting, an early version of the predictive type, was released later. You can send messages faster with fewer key presses. So, to type “Hello,” you would type 4-3-5-5-6. Super easy.

Step-by-Step Guide to Using T9 Dialing on iPhone

T9 dialing is now available on iOS 18. Let me show you how.

Step 1: Open the Call App

• Launch the Call app on your iPhone.
• Tap the Keypad button at the bottom of the screen.

Step 2: Start Typing the Name

• Use the T9 rules to type the name of the person you want to call.
  • For example, to find “Dad,” type 3-2-3. For “Mom,” type 6-6-6.
  • Don’t worry if the keypad numbers seem odd. This is just how T9 works.

Step 3: Locate the Contact

• As you type, you’ll see matching names appear at the top of the screen.
• If you make a typo, tap the backspace button under the pound (#) sign to correct it.

Step 4: Call the Contact

• Once you see the correct name, tap it. Their number will auto-fill.
• Press the green call button to make the call.

Step 5: Handling Multiple Matches

• If multiple contacts match your entry, you’ll see an option like “3 more…” below the top result.
• Tap it to view all related contacts in a new menu.
• Select the right contact by tapping the call button next to their name.