T9 Dialing Now Available on Your iPhone with iOS 18 Beta

Apple released the second public beta of iOS 18 on July 29, more than a month after the tech giant announced the software version at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

The update brings a host of new features to developers’ and beta testers’ iPhones, including more ways to customize home screen, lock screen AND Control CenterThe update also brings T9 dialing to your iPhone, so you can easily call friends and family by simply typing their name.

Read more: Everything you need to know about iOS 18 public beta

I recommend downloading the beta only on something other than your primary device. Since it’s not the final version of iOS 18, the update may be buggy and battery life may be poor, so it’s best to keep those issues on a secondary device. I downloaded all of the iOS 18 betas on my old iPhone XR to keep any issues off my iPhone 14 Pro.

It’s important to note that the beta isn’t the final version of iOS 18, so there could be more features coming to the iPhone when iOS 18 is released. Apple has said that iOS 18 will be released to the public this fall, but there’s no exact date yet.

Here’s what you need to know about the T9 standard and how to use it to make calls on iPhone.

What is T9 dialing?

T9 stands for text on 9 keys. Before cell phones had full keyboards, many phones had 12 keys. These were the keys for 0 to 9, the asterisk, and the pound sign or hashtag — I feel old writing that. To send someone a text message, you mainly used the nine numeric keys.

Each numbered key had three or four corresponding letters, with key 0 being a space and key 1 being a blank key. If you go to the Phone app and tap Keyboard at the bottom of the screen, you’ll see the corresponding numbers and letters.

In the beginning, if you wanted to type “Hello,” you had to type 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 is an early form of predictive typing. It allows you to press fewer keys and send messages faster. So for “Hello,” type 4-3-5-5-6. Much easier.

How to use T9 dialing

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

1. Open the Call app.
2. To obtain Keyboard on the bottom of the screen.

From here, start typing the name of the person you want to call, using T9 rules. So if you want to call your dad, type 3-2-3 on your keyboard, and if you want to call your mom, type 6-6-6 — no worries, I promise. Their name should appear at the top of the screen. As you type, a backspace button will appear under the pound sign/hashtag if you make a mistake. Press it as many times as needed. There is no space button, though.

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

If there’s more than one person in your Contacts with a given name, as you type, you’ll see an option at the top result that says something like “3 more…” Tap it to open a new menu with all of your matching contacts. Tap the call button next to the appropriate contact, and the call will be placed instantly. But be prepared to explain why you’re calling the person instead of just sending them a text message.

To learn more about iOS 18, check out my hands-on experience with the iOS 18 betas, remove flashlight from lock screen and what you need to know about RCS news. You can also check out our iOS 18 cheat sheet.