Mac Format

iOS Software

Swipe away your touchscree­n troubles and rekindle your love of Apple’s mobile devices

- by M a l c o l m P a i c e

Swipe away your touchscree­n troubles

Edit the default template on your Mac, which can sync your label choices to iOS using iCloud

Changing the standard template for new contacts

QI have an iPhone 6 running iOS 9.2.1. Whenever I add a new contact on it, the default phone number label that appears is for ‘home fax’, which is the most obscure of all the options. Each time I do this I have to manually select ‘mobile’, which is my most common choice. I cannot see how to change the defaults. Is there a way?

AYes, but you will need to do this using a Mac running a recent version of OS X, such as El Capitan, as iOS does not currently offer any more direct solution. Instead you must edit the default template using Contacts for Mac. This also assumes you synchronis­e your contacts between your Mac and iPhone using iCloud.

In Contacts on your Mac, open the app’s preference­s, click the Template tab, then edit the template, which is used as the default both on your Mac and your iPhone. In your case, select ‘mobile’ to make that the default label for a person’s telephone number. While you’re here, also check the address format given at the foot of the template: click its label, place the pointer over Change Address Format, and ensure that United Kingdom is chosen so that details are presented correctly.

Close the Preference­s window to save your changes, quit the app, and allow iCloud a few minutes to catch up with this. You should then find the field choices you made on your Mac have become the default on your iPhone. However, we’ve had mixed results among the team, with some people’s iOS 9 devices not picking up the change, though it has worked fine for others. Let us know how you get on.

 ??  ?? Currently, iPhones and iPads cannot edit the template used for new contacts. That has to be done on a Mac.
Currently, iPhones and iPads cannot edit the template used for new contacts. That has to be done on a Mac.

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