The fastest way to reach someone you call often

Adding a contact to Favorites on iPhone puts that person at the top of your Phone app so you can call or message them without scrolling through your full contact list. Open the Phone app, tap Contacts at the bottom, find the person's name, tap the star icon next to their name, and the star turns solid. That contact now appears in your Favorites list, which you see first when you open the Phone app.

Favorites are useful if you call the same few people regularly — your spouse, a parent, your workplace, or a close friend. Instead of opening Contacts and searching every time, you tap Phone, tap Favorites, and their name is right there.

Key Takeaways

  • The star icon next to a contact's name in the Phone app is what you tap to add them to Favorites — it turns solid when they are added.
  • Favorites appear at the top of the Phone app and stay there until you remove them, making them faster to reach than scrolling through Contacts.
  • You can add as many contacts as you want to Favorites, and the order you add them determines the order they appear.
  • Removing someone from Favorites is the same action — tap the solid star icon and it becomes empty again.

Where to find the star icon

Open the Phone app on your home screen. Tap the Contacts tab at the bottom of the screen — it looks like a person's silhouette. Scroll through your list or use the search bar at the top to find the contact you want to add.

When you find the person's name, tap it to open their contact card. At the top of the card, next to their name, you will see a star icon. If the star is empty (outlined only), that contact is not yet in Favorites. Tap the star once and it fills in solid, which means the contact is now added.

How Favorites appear in your Phone app

Once you add someone to Favorites, they show up in a separate section at the very top of the Phone app. When you open the Phone app and tap the Favorites tab (the star icon at the bottom), you see only the people you have marked as favorites, in the order you added them.

You can call them directly from the Favorites list or tap their name to see their contact card and choose to call, message, or FaceTime. This saves time compared to opening Contacts and searching through your full list every time you want to reach them.

Changing the order of your Favorites

The order your Favorites appear depends on when you added them — the first person you marked as favorite appears first. If you want to rearrange them, open the Phone app, tap the Favorites tab, then tap Edit in the top right corner.

Three horizontal lines appear next to each contact's name. Press and hold those lines, then drag the contact up or down to move them. When you have the order you want, tap Done. Your Favorites now appear in the new order you set.

Removing someone from Favorites

If you no longer want someone in your Favorites, open the Phone app, tap Contacts, find their name, and tap it to open their card. Tap the star icon at the top — it changes from solid back to empty, and that contact is removed from Favorites.

You can also remove someone while viewing your Favorites list. Tap the Favorites tab, tap Edit, tap the red minus sign next to the contact's name, then tap Remove. The contact stays in your full Contacts list but no longer appears in Favorites.

Adding Favorites from Messages or FaceTime

You do not have to go through the Phone app to add a Favorite. If you message someone often, open the Messages app, find their conversation, swipe left on their name, and tap the star icon that appears. They are added to your Favorites in the Phone app.

The same works in FaceTime. Open FaceTime, find the person you call, swipe left on their name, and tap the star. This is faster if you are already in one of those apps and do not want to switch to Phone.

What Favorites do and do not do

Adding someone to Favorites only changes how they appear in your Phone app — it does not change how they call or message you, and it does not give them any special notification that you marked them as favorite. Your Favorites list is private and only you can see it.

Favorites are different from pinning a conversation in Messages or marking someone as a VIP in Mail. Each app has its own favorites or priority system, and adding someone to Favorites in Phone does not automatically add them to those other lists.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I add a business or group chat to Favorites?

Yes. If you have a group chat in Messages or a business contact in your Contacts list, you can add them to Favorites the same way — tap the star icon. This works for any contact, whether it is a person, a business, or a group.

What happens to my Favorites if I update my iPhone?

Your Favorites stay with your contacts when you back up and restore your iPhone. If you use iCloud to sync your contacts, your Favorites appear on any Apple device signed into the same account.

Can I add someone to Favorites without opening their full contact card?

Not directly from the Contacts list, but you can from Messages or FaceTime by swiping left on their name. In the Phone app, you have to tap their name to open the card first.

How many contacts can I add to Favorites?

There is no limit to how many contacts you can add to Favorites. However, the more you add, the longer the list becomes, which defeats the purpose of having quick access to the people you call most often.