Apple released the first public beta of iOS 18 on Monday, just over a month after the tech giant announced the software at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
Apple said the update will bring many new features to your iPhone, including more ways to personalize your homepage, lock screen And Control centerThe update also brings T9 dialing to your iPhone, making it easy to dial your friends and family just by typing their name.
Learn more: Everything you need to know about the iOS 18 public beta
We recommend that you only download a beta on a device other than your primary device. Since this is not the final version of iOS 18, the update may have bugs and battery life may be short, so it’s best to keep these issues on a secondary device.
Note that the beta is not the final version of iOS 18, so more features may be added to your iPhone when iOS 18 is released. Apple has said that iOS 18 will be available to the public this fall, but there is no firm date yet.
Here’s what you need to know about T9 and how to use it to make calls on your iPhone.
What is T9?
T9 stands for Text on 9. Before cell phones had full keyboards, many phones had 12 keys. These were for the numbers 0-9, the star, and the pound sign or hashtag. I felt old writing this. To text someone, you usually used all nine number keys.
Each number key had three or four letters, with the 0 key being the space bar and the 1 key being empty. If you go to the Phone app and tap Keyboard at the bottom of your screen, you can see the corresponding numbers and letters.
In the beginning, to write “Hello” you had to dial 44(H)-33(E)-555(L)-555(L)-666(0). That’s a lot of text for a relatively short word.
T9 typing was introduced later and is an early form of predictive text. It allows you to press fewer keys and send messages more quickly. So, to say “Hello,” you type 4-3-5-5-6. It’s much simpler.
How to use T9 dialing to make calls
With iOS 18, you can now use T9 dialing to make calls. Here’s how to do it.
1. Open your Call app.
2. Faucet Keyboard at the bottom of your screen.
This is not his real number.
From here, start typing the name of the person you want to call using T9 principles. So, if you want to call your dad, you would type 3-2-3 on your keyboard, and for your mom, you would type 6-6-6 – no big deal, I promise. Their name should appear at the top of the screen. As you type, a backspace button will appear below the pound sign/hashtag if you make a mistake. Press it as many times as needed. However, there is no space button.
Once you’ve found the right person, tap on their name and their phone number will be automatically entered. Then tap the green call button and that’s it.
If you have multiple people with the same name in your contacts, you’ll see an option below the first result that says something like “3 more…”. Tap it to open a new menu with all the matching contacts. Tap the call button next to the correct contact, and your call will start immediately. But be prepared to explain why you’re calling the other person, not just texting them.
To learn more about iOS 18, here’s my hands-on experience with the first public beta, how get rid of your flashlight from your lock screen and what you need to know about RCS messaging.
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