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How to make a contact group on an iPhone

If you’re trying to arrange a party or group trip, texting each person individually can be seriously time-consuming, and iOS doesn’t offer an easy way to make a contact group on an iPhone.

Luckily, creating contact groups the way Apple intended is as easy as pie with iCloud. There are also a handful of free apps available in the App Store that can help you.

Difficulty

Moderate

Duration

15 minutes

What You Need

  • iPhone

  • iCloud

In this how-to guide, we’ll cover the ins and outs of creating a contact group with iCloud and offer a quick tutorial on how to make a contact group on an iPhone with a popular app called Groups.

Further reading

How to make a contact group using iCloud (cross-platform)

Step 1: Go to iCloud.com and sign in to your iCloud account using your Apple ID and password. Then, select Contacts to view a list of your current contacts.

Step 2: Select the Plus icon in the bottom-left corner, and click New Group from the resulting pop-up menu. Alternatively, you can double-click the empty gray space to quickly create a new group.

Step 3: Name the group and click anywhere outside of the text box to save it. If you want to change the name, double-click it and type your new group name.

Step 4: To add contacts to a particular group, choose All Contacts at the top of the Contacts list, and click and drag your desired contacts to the proper group.

Step 5: To delete an entire group or just a single contact from the group, select it, click the Gear icon in the bottom-left corner, and select Delete. Keep in mind that this only deletes the contact from the group; deleting a group doesn’t delete the contacts within.

Step 6: Your group will automatically sync with your iPhone’s contact list. To use your new group, tap the Contacts icon on your iPhone and select Groups from the upper-left corner of your contacts page, then check the groups you want to use and select Done.

Step 7: If you accidentally delete a group or a contact from a group, you can always use iCloud to restore it. To do so, log in to your iCloud account on the web and click Settings. Once there, you’ll see a host of options for restoring contacts, files, reminders, calendars, and bookmarks under the Advanced section.

Now you're ready to begin messaging

Once you’ve created a group like this, you can then send a message to it. To do this, open Messages and create a new message. In the To: field, begin typing the name of the group and then tap on it. Then, write your message and send.

Tip: Let your iPhone automatically sync with iCloud. That way, when your phone is connected to your computer, your groups will automatically be backed up to iCloud.

How to make a contact group using Groups (app)

Groups is a free app available in the App Store that allows you to create groups without your computer.

Step 1: Open the App Store on your iPhone, click the Search tab at the bottom, and enter "groups" in the search field at the top. Afterward, select Groups from the top of the resulting list and tap the Get button before tapping Install.

Step 2: Launch Groups, and on the main page, select Add New Label.

Step 3: Navigate to the New Group page, form a contact group name, and select No Contacts — Add Some. After you do this, you can begin adding contacts. Click on the contacts you’d like to add and click Done. You’ll see a blue symbol appear right next to the group name, which you can click to personalize the group symbol.

Step 4: Tap Done in the top left of the screen after you’ve finished adding everyone you want and completely customized the group to your liking. It’s important to note that you can also add the same person to more than one group.

Step 5: You can add or eliminate contacts from a group after you’ve created it. If you want to do this, simply click the group name and search for the Manage option in the page’s top-right corner. After this step, sort through the contacts and pick out the ones you want to add or remove.

Step 6: Once you’re done doing that, select Done on the top-left side of the page, then click the Group name at the top to return to the original page.

You can do a lot of different things with iCloud. If you are stepping into the iOS world for the very first time, we advise reading our article on how to use iCloud. Be aware that iCloud stores your data on Apple’s servers, which implies it can be vulnerable to hacking. To battle this, we highly suggest that you use two-step verification to enhance your iCloud security.

Editors' Recommendations

Simon Hill
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Simon Hill is an experienced technology journalist and editor who loves all things tech. He is currently the Associate Mobile…
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