How to Add a New Contact on Your iPhone

Your iPhone is primarily a communication device, and keeping your digital address book organized is essential for making calls, sending text messages, and sharing information via AirDrop. While it is easy to dial a number manually, adding someone to your Contacts app ensures their name and photo appear when they call you, rather than just a random string of digits. Apple provides two main ways to save someone’s information: creating a brand-new contact from scratch, or saving a number from your recent call history.

Method 1: Create a Contact from the Contacts App

If you are meeting someone new and want to save their details before they have ever called or texted you, this is the best method.

1. Unlock your iPhone and open the Contacts app. (Alternatively, you can open the Phone app and tap the Contacts tab at the bottom).
2. Look at the top-right corner of the screen and tap the + (plus) icon.
3. A “New Contact” screen will appear.
4. Tap the First name and Last name fields to enter the person’s name using the keyboard.
5. Scroll down slightly and tap the green + add phone button.
6. Type in their phone number. By default, the label next to the number will say “mobile.” You can tap the word “mobile” to change it to “home,” “work,” or a custom label.
7. (Optional) You can continue scrolling down to add their email address, physical address, birthday, or even a specific ringtone for when they call.
8. When you have entered all the necessary information, tap Done in the top-right corner. The contact is now saved.

Method 2: Save a Contact from Your Recent Calls

If someone just called you (or you just dialed their number), you do not need to memorize it and type it into the Contacts app manually. You can save it directly from your history.

1. Open the Phone app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the Recents tab at the bottom of the screen (the clock icon).
3. Locate the phone number you want to save in the list of recent calls.
4. Do not tap the number itself (that will call them back). Instead, tap the small blue “i” (information) icon on the far right side of that specific row.
5. A new screen will open displaying the call details. Scroll down and tap Create New Contact.
6. The familiar “New Contact” screen will appear, but the phone number will already be filled in for you.
7. Type in their first and last name.
8. Tap Done in the top-right corner to save them to your address book.

Method 3: Save a Number from a Text Message

You can also save a contact directly from the Messages app if someone texts you from an unknown number.

1. Open the Messages app and tap the conversation with the unknown number.
2. Tap the phone number at the very top center of the screen.
3. A small menu will drop down. Tap the info button on the right side.
4. Tap Create New Contact and proceed to enter their name and save the profile.