How To Create Custom Contact Labels on iOS and Mac

Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out what label to use for a contact number, if it’s a company you don’t want to use ‘Home’, and there are times you want to be more specific than the labels available to you in Contacts now. My example is using custom labels for the names of my Congressional representatives so that you can then contact them about Net Neutrality. This is possible in both the Mac OS and iOS versions of Contacts, we’re starting with the iOS version:

On iOS:

First, launch the Contacts app on your device. Tap the plus to create a new contact. Fill in the name of the contact, and then move down to phone number and enter the number.

New contact name and number entered.

Tap on the label and when the list of options comes up, choose Add Custom Label at the bottom of the screen.

Label selection screen.

You’ll get a blank entry box, fill in what you want the label to say (in this case, a Congressional Representative's name) and press Done.

Enter the label you desire.

When you’re done entering information, tap ‘Done’ and now your contact has a label that actually says something useful.

Behold! Congressman on speed-dial!

Here’s how to do the same thing on your Mac:

Launch Contacts.app, and create a new contact. Fill in the phone number you want, and click on the label. You’ll get a menu with custom at the bottom.

Mac ersion of editing a contact.

When the sheet drops down, fill in the label and click OK.

Add custom label sheet. 

And there you have your custom labels all ready to go. These are also handy for dates (tracking children’s birthdays if they don’t have their own contact card, for example) and for other phone numbers you have for people that may not be “home” or “work.”