wrong telephone number format

Hi AM. I followed your advice and changed my Contacts telephone numbers to the full international (ie with the international dialling code) format and it all seems to work, including seeing Contacts' names when they call me, which wasn't happening with the format error. This task involved simply adding the UK international dialling code (+44) to the front end of existing telephone numbers and my telephone took care of the rest of the formatting.

It would seem that the iPhone 8 (and others?) can't resolve Contacts telephone numbers that are not in the international format, and appears to try and convert them into US numbers.

Thank you for your help.

Hi KOLAKUBE70, have you had any luck with this issue???

I have exactly the same thing and during my genius bar visit on Friday was told they had seen others. I had my software reloaded by the apple lady on Friday and all seemed to be going ok, zero phone number format changes over the weekend. I then came into work Monday where i put my phone on charge and within minutes the number format had changes to the 01 234 56 78 90 format. I also have no phone signal at work so get no 3g/4g or mobile signal but i am connected to wifi. From much more playing around with settings etc i have deduced that this change only occurs when i have the phone on charge, no cell signal but good wifi. The only spanner in this theory so far is that my iPad has exactly the same set up whilst at work but phone number format never changes, iPad is not cellular tho. My conclusion is that the phone connects to icloud when plugged in and on wifi so something, i am yet to discover what sadly, is causing this format change.

I am booked into the genius bar again on Wednesday evening so if i get any further i will post an update but please do reply if you have any extra info.

Thanks Shichimi, i have sat and changed all my numbers to +44 format and so far so good!!! Though must say was very dissapointed with my visit to the genius bar last night as the apple man had very little extra to say except reset settings, which obviously i had already done many times, and the phone numbers went wrong format again within the hour!!

You are very welcome. I have so far seen this phenomenon in Japan and the US, and have helped people in Australia, Thailand, Malaysia and, now, the UK. It seems that this happens most frequently to people who have contacts in more than one country, so I am amazed that no Apple executives have screamed for a remedy yet.

I've had this problem on and off for months now. I've tried changing the region setting to something else and then back again. fixes the problem for a while but always find the next day the number format (and so doesn't match incoming calls) is wrong again. It's about time @Apple fixed this!

Yes, Apple should fix this. But at least the workaround should keep you sane until they do. Meanwhile, if you turn off "Dial Assist" and register your entire Contacts list in E.164 format, you should have relatively smooth sailing.

Well, you certainly are welcome to stick around here, complaining. You are also welcome to add your feedback to the pile that has already been submitted to Apple on this subject. I have yet to see a better workaround than the one I shared with you.

Well you've not looked hard enough then. If found someone suggesting I do a reset of the phone (home key and power button).

That seems to have solved the problem. Much easier than update a shed load of phone numbers.

Still, I'd expect Apply to solve the problem; it's been around for long enough.

And why shouldn't I moan about it? I've paid a lot of money for this phone I expect it to be able to do a base function like record phone numbers correctly and match them to incoming calls without issue!

The workaround that worked for me is to maintain all phone numbers on iDevices in E.164 format. Change all UK numbers from 01234 567890 format to +44 1234 567890 format and all should be working.

Did anyone come up with something that doesn't require editing hundreds or thousands records in my contacts?

You can wait until Apple fixes the problem, which first hit me in iOS 11, I think. Or you can implement the workaround. If I could offer you anything more, I would.

yeah because I want to go through my entire phone book and change EVERY number. Not like I haven't got a life to live.. sheesh.

Virgin in the UK. Piggy back on EE.