How to Add Speed Dial to Your IPhone
Speed dialing was an important efficiency tool when you had to manually dial each number. Instead of wasting precious seconds entering the same numbers every day, you can program your favorite contacts to specific locations on your landline or mobile phone for quick access with a single button. Of course, we dial individual numbers less frequently these days. But if you want to go back in time or want to call your favorites even faster, there are a few solutions on your iPhone.
You may already know about one of these “speed dial” alternatives in the “Favorites” view: you can assign as many contacts as you want to the “Favorites” category of your Phone app for speed calling, video calling, or messaging. You’ll find the option to add a contact to Favorites on that contact’s card or on the Favorites tab itself. While this is a tried and true way to quickly connect to your contacts, it’s not the only way. If you’re looking for traditional, programmable options for speed dialing your favorite people, you should try this shortcut.
Shortcuts have a speed dial option on iPhone
Shortcuts have a “Phone” option that allows you to call as soon as the shortcut is activated. And it’s easy to do: open the Shortcuts app, then tap (+) to start creating a new shortcut. Search for “Call” in the search bar, then either select one of the contacts that prompts you to use the shortcut, or tap (+), then tap the “Contacts” field and select the contact you want to call with this shortcut. You can create other shortcuts around this simple action, but for our purposes this function is all we need. To sum it up, tap the icon in the top left to choose an icon for your shortcut (I personally choose a phone emoji) as well as a color for the shortcut.
Now it’s time to decide where the label should live. If you want it to appear as an icon on your home screen, tap the blue settings icon in the top right corner, then select Add to Home Screen. Give it a name, then click Add. From here, you can move the shortcut anywhere you like. In the same settings menu, you can also add a shortcut to the shared sheet. This way, every time you hit the share button on your iPhone, you will have the option to call your favorite contacts whenever you want.
You can repeat these steps to add as many of these icons as you want to your home screen, however, you can also add a preset group of these shortcuts to your home screen using the Shortcuts widget.
Use the Shortcuts widget to highlight speed dial contacts.
First you need to put the speed dial shortcuts in a separate folder. Open the Shortcuts app, tap Choose, then choose four to eight shortcuts to save. Click Move, click New Folder, give it a name and icon, then click Add. Now go back to the home screen and press and hold it, tap (+) in the top left corner, then select “Shortcuts” from the list. You can choose one label per widget, four labels per widget, or eight labels per widget. Add your selection to the home screen, then tap it to select the folder you created a few minutes ago.
You also don’t need to add it to your iPhone’s home screen only. If you prefer to keep the shortcut or shortcuts out of the way, you can add them to your Today View, a list of widgets accessible by swiping right on your Lock or Home screen. Go to Today View, scroll down, click Edit, then click (+) and select Shortcuts. The process here is the same as on the home screen and gives you the option of speed dialing in a convenient hidden location.
How to Add Speed Dial to Your Mac or Apple Watch
You can also add a shortcut to your Apple Watch or Mac so that other Apple products also have speed dial capability. If you tap the blue settings icon again, you can select Show on Apple Watch to see the shortcut in the Apple Watch Shortcuts app. You can also select “Pin to Menu Bar” and “Use as Quick Action” to see the shortcut on your Mac.
[ Scalable ]