One of the basic features of any smartphone is the contact book, and the iPhone has several features to manage them in a practical and intelligent way.
However, some features are kind of «hidden», so we bring you some tips to get the most out of what Apple offers.
1 – Change the display order by first or last name
The default list of contacts is given by the first name, but if for some reason you want to change, you can organize it by the last name, or even keep the current order but leaving the last name first. The parameter being used for sorting will appear in bold.
To do this, go to Settings> Mail, Contacts, Calendars and scroll down to the Contacts section, where you have several options, including ordering and displaying by first or last name.
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2 – Import contacts from an operator chip
If you just bought an iPhone and, by chance, on your previous device the contacts were saved on the SIM card (on the operator’s chip), it is also possible to bring them to iDevice. In the same section mentioned in the previous item, just touch the Import SIM Contacts button.
3 – Change account to save contacts
Attention because this tip is extremely important, especially if you also have an Android device. Android uses a Google account to sync with cloud services, and iOS can use iCloud and also a Gmail account.
To ensure that your contact list is accessible from more places, we recommend that you set your Gmail account as the default to add new contacts.
If you don’t know, syncing contacts will save you a number on your phone and that contact is added to your Gmail account, automatically. With that, even when your device is not at hand, you can still access contacts using a computer – just open Gmail.
To use the feature, add a Google account (if you have not already done so), go to Settings> Mail, Contacts, Calendars and go back to the Contacts section, where there is a Standard Account option – select the one from Gmail.
4 – Delete a contact
If you want to delete any contact, the procedure is quite simple. Go to it in the Contacts application or over the phone and click the Edit button.
Besides being able to change all the data, at the end of the list you have the button Delete Contact.
Note that some contacts come from synchronization with Facebook and other social networks, and therefore cannot be deleted.
5 – Duplicate contacts
The fact that Facebook synchronizes contacts, and that you can add multiple accounts that synchronize contacts in the system, such as Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook and iCloud, makes your list a total mess, full of duplicate contacts – repeated.
«Ah so just delete one and leave the other». Easy, it’s not like that. The “William Neves” contact in Gmail may not have the same information as the “William” contact that I saved on the phone (and this is configured to sync with iCloud by default).
So instead of deleting a contact, there is a more intelligent, but laborious, solution. It’s called Combine Contacts, where you select contacts to be grouped into one.
The problem is that this must be done manually, contact by contact, although there are some applications that facilitate this process – don’t worry because we will talk about this tip in the future.
6 – Adding information other than phone numbers
On the iPhone you can add more information about your contacts, whether they are emails, social media accounts, related names, addresses, date of birth, website, notes, etc. Just explore the page to edit your contact.
The more information you enter, the better, as remember that everything is synchronized in the cloud.
7 – Customize ringtone for a contact
You can customize the default ringtone for a given contact, both for calls and for messages. Even the type of vibration can be changed.
To do this, go to the contact, tap To edit and look for the ringtone you like best.
8 – Favorite contacts
Favorite contacts are the ones most important to you, who are contacted most often. To make your life easier, there is a feature to mark the contacts you want as favorites, and they appear not only in a prominent place on the dialer but also just above the applications open in Multitasking.
Setting up a contact as a favorite is very simple. Go to that contact’s page, and at the bottom of the list there’s a button Add to Favorites.
I emphasize that Facebook contacts cannot be marked as favorites.
9 – Block someone
If a bore keeps calling you, know that you can ignore that contact. To do this, go back to that someone’s page, and at the bottom of the list, just below the button to add as a favorite, there’s another “Block this Caller”.
To unlock, the process is the same.
10 – Disabling synchronization with any service
This last tip serves to work around the problem of duplicate contacts. Each account added (Yahoo, Gmail, iCloud, Outlook), it is possible to select what you want to synchronize, if only emails, contacts or calendars.
To do this, go to Settings> Mail, Contacts, Calendars, select the account in question and deselect the items you don’t want to sync.
With these tips you can manage the contacts on your iPhone more efficiently and keep things organized.
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