How to create a new contact from a received text in Messages

KEEP SCROLLING! The add contact from text message feature is still there, but Apple has a spacing issue bug!

Create a Contact is at the bottom of the contact info page after scrolling through about 6 screens of gray space! This still needs to be fixed but at least I can save a contact through text messages now!

Krissypi8 - THANK YOU! As of Jan 23, 2024, you are correct - this works. Seems ridiculous that you have to scroll WAY WAY down through lots of grey space before the Create New Contact option appears, but it's there. In iMessage, tap the phone number at the top of the page, then click Info, then scroll way down and you will eventually see Create New Contact. (For me, I only had to do that once. Every time I went to add new Contact from iMessage thereafter, the option was easily seen in it's usual space. Definitely a bug. )

I got on the phone with Apple support, as my wife was having the issue on her iPhone 11 but I was not on my iPhone 13 (go figure). Anyway, long and short, I did a reset all settings and the problem was resolved. I now have to fix the font sizes, etc, but at least I have that functionality back.

i found a work around that’s pretty easy,

1. capture pic of screen with text.
2. save pic
3. go to album, tap image
4. hold finger on the incoming number
5. screen will pop up with option to add new contact
6. select option and add
7. delete pic from album

Thank you very much for this post!! This has been driving me nuts. I scrolled way down at the bottom after hitting info and there was the button to add a contact! It’s totally not intuitive and not easy to find.

i miss my Samsung Galaxy. I got bullied into getting an iPhone and am still getting used to it!

FALSE. This feature has not been eliminated. Keep scrolling…. It’s a spacing bug… it’s way at the bottom, you’ll see if you try it

ScottinLA wrote:

Until recent updates I was able to create a new contact directly from imessage. That is to say that if I received a message from an unknown number, I could add the number to an existing contact or I could create a new contact by just tapping the sender's number and then tapping "info".... Now those choices are gone. Any suggestions on how to create a contact from an imessage without a lot of clicking around and app switching and copy/paste nonsense?

Or am I missing something obvious?

(iphone 13, ios 17.1.1)

Those choices are still there I created 2 new contacts today using that method, close out of your imessage and do a force restart Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

Yes, if you scroll above to page one, I think you’ll see this guy who shared how to do it: take a screenshot of the contact you want to save. Save it to your pictures. Go to your picture and hold your finger on the phone number you want to save. You’ll get the option to go to info at that point. Then once you click info, you’ll scroll down and you have the option to “ new contact” and you’ll be good to go. The other person who provided that information may have said it much better than me, so scroll back up. I’ve done it multiple times and it works! Oh, he said to also don’t forget to delete from your photos. Lol.

Try updating your device. It is working for me in iOS 17.2.1.

LYLROSE wrote:

1. JustAI found a work-around and I just tried it and it worked!!

capture pic of screen with text.

2. save pic

3. go to album, tap image

4. hold finger on the incoming number

5. screen will pop up with option to add new contact

6. select option and add

7. delete pic from album

Swiping down in Contacts is a whole lot easier.

This is a bug. When you go to “Info” scroll down thru many empty screens and the “add new contact” is still there! Please fix Apple!

i found a work around that’s pretty easy,

1. capture pic of screen with text.
2. save pic
3. go to album, tap image
4. hold finger on the incoming number
5. screen will pop up with option to add new contact
6. select option and add
7. delete pic from album

JustAI found a work-around and I just tried it and it worked!!

1. capture pic of screen with text.
2. save pic
3. go to album, tap image
4. hold finger on the incoming number
5. screen will pop up with option to add new contact
6. select option and add
7. delete pic from album

Doing a forced reset is not enough. You have to do the reset all settings to fix the problem.

The only fix that works (at least that I've found) is to reset your settings, which reverts everything to the iPhone defaults. But you can create new contacts from text messages afterwards.

It's a pain. Resetting the settings deletes all the changes you've made over the years that carried over from phone to phone (e.g., font size, background, sounds). You simply have to set up those preferences all over again. Unfortunately, I can't even figure out how to reset all them. Lost to time, I suppose...

Apple products should be better than this. Sad that they aren't.