iOS 18 will include texting tech from the 90s to make dialing numbers faster than ever

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Turn those numbers into words like it’s 1999 all over again.

iOS 18 Phone app showing T9 keyboard
(Image credit: Future)

Apple’s Phone app in iOS 18 supports T9 dialing, bringing back the days of texting in the late 90s.

In the latest update for compatible iPhones, set to arrive later this year, Apple’s Phone app will include T9, also known as Text on 9 keys. This feature allows you to type numbers, which use the corresponding letters to predict the name you’re trying to type on a numeric keypad. For example, if you need to search for ‘Mom’, you would type 6-6-6. In the late 90s, when non-touchscreen phones were commonplace, T9 was the primary method of communicating with family and friends through texts.

To use T9 dialing in iOS 18, open the Phone app then go to the Keypad screen. Here, you can search for contacts using the T9 method by tapping on the relevant numbers to generate the letters you need. For example, if I wanted to call John-Anthony Disotto, iMore’s How To Editor, I’d type in 56462, and my iPhone would bring up his name.

Other improvements in the Phone app include the ability to record calls. Apple Intelligence, the company’s take on AI, can also transcribe the call into the Notes app.

Apple says that iOS 18 will be available later this year for the iPhone XS and above.

Try T9 dialing now before iOS 18 arrives later this year

Having T9 dialing in the Phones app is a welcome feature and a nostalgic throwback to those who used to own an old-school phone in the late 90s. But did you know that you can try out this feature on your iPhone right now, even if you haven’t downloaded the iOS 18 beta?

Apps such as Type Nine are available on the App Store, allowing you to use T9 across iOS, including in apps like Messages and WhatsApp. This is a big advantage over Apple’s limited availability of T9 through the Phone app in iOS 18.

Using T9 dialing is a fun way to transform your iPhone into a throwback from 1999, thanks to apps like Type Nine. It also showcases how far we’ve come in over 25 years with mobile devices and what they’re now capable of.

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Daryl Baxter
Daryl Baxter
Features Editor

Daryl is iMore's Features Editor, overseeing long-form and in-depth articles and op-eds. Daryl loves using his experience as both a journalist and Apple fan to tell stories about Apple's products and its community, from the apps we use every day to the products that have been long forgotten in the Cupertino archives.

Previously Software & Downloads Writer at TechRadar, and Deputy Editor at StealthOptional, he's also written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider', which tells the story of the beginnings of Lara Croft and the series' early development. His second book, '50 Years of Boss Fights', came out in June 2024, and has a monthly newsletter called 'Springboard'. He's also written for many other publications including WIRED, MacFormat, Bloody Disgusting, VGC, GamesRadar, Nintendo Life, VRV Blog, The Loop Magazine, SUPER JUMP, Gizmodo, Film Stories, TopTenReviews, Miketendo64, and Daily Star.

3 Comments Comment from the forums
  • SvenJ
    You are either misremembering, or misinformed. T9 was not a dialing method, it was a texting method. You didn't call MOM by punching 666. There was no intelligence or predictive capability in those old phones. You texted by using the 10 key pad and the positions of the letters under each number. You paused between letters. If you wanted to text the word MOM, you hit 6 666 6. The center 666 is because the O is the third letter under the number 6, MNO. If you wanted to text the word JOHN you had to input 5 666 44 66. Does this seem slow? Yea, but 9.6Kbps wasn't fast either, and there were those (mostly teenage girls) who could T9 with the phone under their desks.
    If Apple has added some predictive capability to the keypad that helps you narrow down contacts just hitting the number keys, cool, but that's not T9.
    Reply
  • EdwinG
    SvenJ said:
    You are either misremembering, or misinformed. T9 was not a dialing method, it was a texting method. You didn't call MOM by punching 666. There was no intelligence or predictive capability in those old phones. You texted by using the 10 key pad and the positions of the letters under each number. You paused between letters. If you wanted to text the word MOM, you hit 6 666 6. The center 666 is because the O is the third letter under the number 6, MNO. If you wanted to text the word JOHN you had to input 5 666 44 66. Does this seem slow? Yea, but 9.6Kbps wasn't fast either, and there were those (mostly teenage girls) who could T9 with the phone under their desks.
    If Apple has added some predictive capability to the keypad that helps you narrow down contacts just hitting the number keys, cool, but that's not T9.
    What you described is not T9, but multi-press (or on my very old and lost phone as “abc” mode).

    T9 is the matching of the digits to a dictionary of words. So “mom” would have been “666”, and John – should it be present in the dictionary — “5646”.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T9_(predictive_text)?wprov=sfti1#
    Reply
  • FFR
    SvenJ said:
    You are either misremembering, or misinformed. T9 was not a dialing method, it was a texting method. You didn't call MOM by punching 666. There was no intelligence or predictive capability in those old phones. You texted by using the 10 key pad and the positions of the letters under each number. You paused between letters. If you wanted to text the word MOM, you hit 6 666 6. The center 666 is because the O is the third letter under the number 6, MNO. If you wanted to text the word JOHN you had to input 5 666 44 66. Does this seem slow? Yea, but 9.6Kbps wasn't fast either, and there were those (mostly teenage girls) who could T9 with the phone under their desks.
    If Apple has added some predictive capability to the keypad that helps you narrow down contacts just hitting the number keys, cool, but that's not T9.

    That’s multi-tap. t9 is predictive, it’s basically multi-tap with less clicks.

    However certain manufacturers added t9 directly to the dialer on resistive touch screen phones and smartphones in the 90s and aughts.

    These devices were very popular in Asia, Africa, Australia and Latin America, t9 dialer was very popular in those markets.
    Reply