Pinning a contact puts the people you text most at the top of your Contacts app
When you pin a contact on iPhone, that person's name moves to the top of your Contacts list in a separate "Favorites" section. You will see them first when you open the app, without scrolling. This is useful if you message or call the same few people regularly — your family, your work team, your closest friends.
Pinning is different from marking someone as a favorite in other apps. On iPhone, pinning lives only in the Contacts app itself. It does not change how they appear in Messages, FaceTime, or anywhere else. You can pin up to nine contacts, though most people pin between two and five.
Key Takeaways
- Open the Contacts app, find the person's name, and tap the pin icon (a circle with a plus sign) to pin them to the top.
- Pinned contacts appear in a separate section at the very top of your Contacts list, above everyone else.
- You can pin up to nine contacts, and unpinning takes one tap on the same icon.
- Pinning in Contacts does not change how that person appears in Messages, Phone, or FaceTime — it only affects the Contacts app itself.
How to pin a contact in three steps
Open the Contacts app on your home screen. Scroll to find the person you want to pin, or use the search bar at the top to type their name. Tap their name to open their contact card.
Look for the pin icon — it looks like a circle with a plus sign inside it — in the upper right corner of the contact card. Tap it once. The icon will fill in with color (usually red), and the contact moves to the top of your list under a "Favorites" heading.
To unpin someone later, open their contact card again and tap the filled-in pin icon. It will empty out, and they will move back to their alphabetical place in your full contact list.
Where pinned contacts appear and where they don't
Pinned contacts show up only in the Contacts app itself, at the very top of the list. They appear in their own section labeled "Favorites." If you have nine pinned contacts, they will take up the first section you see when you open Contacts.
Pinning does not change anything in Messages, Phone, FaceTime, Mail, or any other app. If you want someone to appear at the top of your Messages list, you need to pin the conversation in Messages separately — that is a different feature. The same is true for FaceTime and other apps. Each app manages its own pinning or favoriting system.
Why you might pin contacts and why you might not
Pinning works well if you have a small group of people you contact regularly and you want them when ready visible. Parents often pin their children's contacts. People who work in teams might pin their manager or coworkers. If you live with a partner, pinning their contact can save you a few seconds when you need to call or text them quickly.
The downside is small: if you pin too many people, the "Favorites" section becomes less useful because it is no longer quick to scan. Most people find that pinning more than five or six contacts defeats the purpose. If you pin someone and then rarely contact them, unpinning takes one tap, so there is no harm in trying it.
How to manage your pinned contacts
You can change your pinned contacts at any time. Open Contacts, find the person whose pin status you want to change, tap their name, and tap the pin icon. There is no limit to how many times you can pin and unpin the same person.
If you want to see all your pinned contacts at once, open the Contacts app and look at the top section. The "Favorites" heading marks where your pinned contacts are. You can scroll down to see your full alphabetical list below them.
Pinned contacts stay pinned even if you restart your phone, back up your iPhone, or update iOS. They are stored as part of your contact information. If you switch to a new iPhone and restore from a backup, your pinned contacts will move with you.
The difference between pinning and other contact features
iPhone offers a few ways to organize contacts, and they work differently. Pinning puts someone at the top of the Contacts app. Creating a contact group (like "Family" or "Work") lets you send a message or email to multiple people at once, but does not change how they appear in your list. Blocking a contact prevents them from calling or texting you, which is the opposite of pinning.
You can also add a contact to your home screen as a widget, which shows their photo and lets you call or text them with one tap. That is faster than opening Contacts and finding them, but it takes up home screen space. Pinning in Contacts is simpler and takes no space.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I pin a contact to my home screen instead of just the Contacts app?
Yes, but it is a different feature. You can add a contact widget to your home screen that shows their photo and lets you call or text them directly. Long-press an empty area of your home screen, tap the plus icon, search for "Contacts," and choose the contact widget. This is faster than pinning in the Contacts app, but takes up home screen space.
What happens to pinned contacts if I delete the contact?
If you delete a contact, it is removed from your phone entirely, including from your pinned list. You cannot undelete a contact through the Contacts app — you would need to add them again manually or restore from a backup if you deleted them by mistake.
Can I pin a contact in Messages or FaceTime?
Yes, but it is separate from pinning in Contacts. In Messages, you can pin a conversation by swiping left on it and tapping the pin icon. In FaceTime, you can favorite a contact by tapping the heart icon. These do not affect how the contact appears in the Contacts app.
How many contacts can I pin?
You can pin up to nine contacts on iPhone. Once you reach nine, the pin icon will no longer appear when you open a new contact's card — you would need to unpin someone first to pin someone else.
Do pinned contacts sync across my devices?
If you use iCloud to sync your contacts, your pinned contacts will appear on your other Apple devices (iPad, Mac) that are signed into the same iCloud account. If you do not use iCloud sync, pinned contacts stay only on the device where you pinned them.