How to make a contact group on your iPhone

If you plan on sending lots of messages to the same people in the coming months from your iPhone, there's good news. Since iOS 16, Apple has made it possible to easily group contacts. This tool is perfect for work communication or organizing events where you need to send messages to multiple people.

In just a few steps, you can easily group your contacts and send a message to the whole group. You can also add new members to the group, remove them, or delete the contact group entirely. The best part? You can do this right on your iPhone and without a third-party app.

Contents

How to create a contact group on your iPhone
How to send a message to your contact group
How to remove a contact from your group
How to delete a contact group on your iPhone

Difficulty

Moderate

Duration

15 minutes

What You Need

An iPhone
An iCloud account

In this how-to guide, we’ll cover the ins and outs of creating a contact group within the native Contact app on an iPhone (and iPad). You'll also learn how to customize the group and delete it as needed.

How to create a contact group on your iPhone

When you create a new contact group, you can add as many contacts as you want. And the steps for doing so are as follows:

Step 1: On the iPhone home screen, tap on the Contacts app. You can also get there by tapping on the Phone app, then selecting Contacts at the bottom.

Open the Contacts app on your iPhone Home screen — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 2: Tap Lists at the top left.

Adding contacts to a list in the Contacts app — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 3: Next, tap Add List at the top right.

Name your new list in the Contacts app — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 4: In the newly formed box, type the List Name. Tap Add List at the top right.

Add contacts to a Contacts group — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 5: On the Lists page, choose the list you just created. Tap Add Contacts. Choose every contact you wish to add to the list. When finished, tap Done at the top right.

How to send a message to your contact group

With your contact group created, you're now ready to send messages to your group. Here's how it works:

Step 1: Go back into the Lists page in the Contacts app, then long press the list you just created.

Prepare to message everyone in a group — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 2: Choose Message All. Send a message to the group as you would any other message.

How to remove a contact from your group

The time may come when you want to remove someone from your group. Should the need arise, doing so is quite simple:

Step 1: To get started, go into the Contacts app, then select the list you created above.

Remove a contact from a group — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 2: Swipe left on the contact you wish to remove and tap Remove. Your contact has been permanently removed from your group.

How to delete a contact group on your iPhone

Similarly, you can also delete the entire contact group if it's no longer needed.

Step 1: To get started, go into the Contacts app, then choose the List page.

Delete a contacts group in the Contacts app — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 2: Tap Edit at the top left.

Step 3: Tap the red icon to the left of the list you wish to delete.

Step 4: Tap the red garbage icon to delete the list. Your list is now deleted.

There are a lot of unique things you can do with the Messages app on your iPhone and iPad. In iOS 17, there's even more, such as creating your own iMessage stickers. You can also edit and unsend messages, along with the option to filter unknown senders. Managing your contacts and messages can be a pain, but if you know how to take control of the settings at your disposal, it doesn't have to be.