How to Dial & Convert Vanity Phone Numbers on iPhone Easily

Need to dial a vanity number from iPhone? You know, the phone numbers that are listed as letters rather than numbers? These phone numbers are mnemonic and listed as letters and are often called vanity numbers, typically they will be in a format like 1-800-COMCAST, 1-800-MY-APPLE, 1-800-SOS-APPLE, etc, and they are not always automatically detected by iPhone or iPad. At first glance they don’t appear to be usable on the iPhone, but it turns out they are, with a little trick.

How to Dial Vanity Numbers on iPhone with Copy & Paste

To call a vanity number and convert it to numbers on iPhone, you just need to tap-and-hold on the alphabetic version, select “Copy”, and then go to the Phone app.

Once in Phone app, choose the Keypad, then tap and hold on the blank region on the top and choose “Paste”.

This will instantly convert the lettered vanity number into an actual phone number, that’s nice in and of itself, but of course you can then dial it too.

You’ll notice the vanity alphabetic number is still maintained below the converted numerical version, so you can be sure you are calling the right place.

You’re probably aware that iPhone will automatically detect phone numbers in web pages, allowing you to tap directly on a phone number and choose to call that number, send it a message, add it to Contacts, or to copy it to the clipboard. The tap-to-dial function is easily the quickest way to call a number found on the web, but if you come across a vanity number, now you know how you can dial that too.

Heads up to iLounge for finding the handy little converter trick.