iOS 18 Beta: How to Call Mom or Dad Using T9 Dialing

Apple released the first public beta for iOS 18 on Monday, a little more than a month after the tech giant announced the software at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

Apple said that the update would bring many new features to your iPhone, including more ways to customize your home screen, lock screen and Control Center. The update also brings T9 dialing to your iPhone, making it easy to dial your friends and family just by typing their name.

Read more: Everything to Know About iOS 18’s Public Beta

We recommend downloading a beta only on something other than your primary device. Because this isn’t the final version of iOS 18, the update might be buggy and battery life may be short, and it’s best to keep those troubles on a secondary device.

Note that the beta is not the final version of iOS 18, so there could be more features to land on your iPhone when iOS 18 is released. Apple said iOS 18 would be released to the public this fall, but there’s no definitive date yet.

Here’s what to know about T9 and how to use it to make calls on your iPhone.

What is T9?

T9 stands for Text on 9 keys. Before cell phones had full keyboards, many phones had 12 keys. These were for the numbers 0-9, star and the pound sign or hashtag — I felt old writing that. In order to text someone, you mostly used the nine numbered keys. 

Each numbered key had either three or four corresponding letters attached to it, with the 0 key being the spacebar and the 1 key blank. If you go into your Phone app and tap Keypad across the bottom of your screen, you can see the corresponding numbers and letters.

At first, if you wanted to type “Hello” you had to press 44(H)-33(E)-555(L)-555(L)-666(0). That’s a lot of typing for one fairly short word. 

T9 texting was introduced later, and it’s an early form of predictive typing. It lets you press fewer keys and send messages faster. So for “Hello” you’d type 4-3-5-5-6. Much easier.

How to use T9 dialing to make calls

With iOS 18, you can now use T9 dialing to make calls. Here’s how.

1. Open your Call app.
2. Tap Keypad across the bottom of your screen.

From here, start typing the name of the person you want to call using the principles of T9. So if you want to call your dad, you’d type 3-2-3 into your keypad, and for your mom you’d type 6-6-6 — nothing to be freaked out about there, promise. Their name should appear across the top of the screen. As you type, a backspace button will appear beneath the pound sign/hashtag if you make a mistake. Press that as many times as needed. However, there is no space button. 

Once you find the right person, tap their name and their phone number will automatically be entered. Then hit the green call button, and you’re set.

If there is more than one person in your Contacts by a given name, as you type you’ll see an option beneath the top result that says something like “3 more…” Tap that to open a new menu with all the corresponding contacts. Tap the call button next to the right contact and your call will immediately start. But be prepared to explain why you’re calling the other person and not just texting them.

For more on iOS 18, here’s my hands-on experience with the first public beta, how to get rid of your flashlight from your lock screen and what to know about RCS messaging.

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