If you are frequently calling a contact that requires an extension, the process of entering the extra digits can be time consuming. If you are in the car, for safety reasons you should not be accessing phone, so it makes it difficult to call those contacts who are not direct numbers. Whether it’s your wife, husband or you want to simplify those dreaded calls to your cable company, the iPhone makes it easy. Read on for our guide on how to add extensions to iPhone contact numbers.

You’ll need to access the Contacts application. If it’s not readily accessible, swipe right and type ‘Contacts’. You can also access your contacts from the ‘Phone’ app by selection the Contacts tab.

In this example, we’ll be adding a new phone number with extension. Tap on the ‘+’ sign and type the name. Enter the 10 digit telephone number for the contact.

At the bottom left of the numerical keyboard you’ll see ‘+*#’. Select this to reveal a few new options that will allow us to add the extensions. If you are programming your iPhone to dial and extension, you’ll want to select ‘Pause’. This will insert a comma into the phone number and return you to the numerical keypad. Enter the extension you’d like to dial. This is also termed a soft pause. The iPhone will wait a few seconds before dialing the extension. In some cases, you’ll want what’s called a hard pause. If there is a fair delay before the initial pickup, you can try selecting the ‘Wait’ option. This will insert a semi-colon into your phone number and provide you with that hard pause.

When you are finished, press ‘Done’ at the top right. Before you head out on the road, you should test your newly created phone number with extensions to see if it works as intended.

Original publish date: January 26, 2013. Updated: April 2nd, 2015