Can I show custom contact names in Caller ID on my iPhone 12?

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Level 1

98 points

Can I show custom contact names in Caller ID on my iPhone 12?

I have quite a few Business contacts, each of which has several numbers entered - the main biz line, plus one or two representatives I deal with. I don't want to have separate contact cards, I prefer to keep those reps listed on the main business contact card, and I use "custom" to give their phone number their name (or department) so I can tap on the correct one when I need it.

However, incoming calls from all of those numbers only show up on caller ID with the main business name - not the underlying custom phone number's assigned name.

As an example, let's say I have a contact for Joe's Widgets with their main number, then I have two custom numbers on the same Contact record, one for Sally in billing and one for Susie in Sales, because I deal with both Sally & Susie often. I'd prefer to not have to have 3 separate contact records for this company (my Contacts would get huge if I had to do that).

When Sally calls me, I'd like it to say "Sally - Billing" but it shows "Joe's Widgets" instead.

I've done a lot of searching to see if this is even possible, and not finding any information whatsoever - but it seems like if I have the information in my Contacts/Address book, there's no reason it couldn't be shown when an incoming call from that number occurs.

Yes, I have verified my Contacts are synchronized correctly with iCloud (and I did follow suggestions to toggle off and back on the syncing, no change).

Does anyone know if this is possible, and there's some esoteric Setting I'm just not finding?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 12, iOS 18

Posted on May 10, 2025 1:19 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

236,345 points

May 11, 2025 10:54 AM in response to TchKtn

Not quite. Because her contact card has her name as the contact and the company name in the card. Your description was for a contact card that had a company name and no contact name. You want to put the contact name as a label for the phone number. That is not what it shows for the call, it is showing the company. There is nothing that I know of that will allow you to show a custom label with a name as where the call came from. I was also incorrect about how the display shows when she calls from her iPhone, it just shows her and nothing else. It just shows something else when it is from work. I would consider working within the contact name area to do something else. Maybe something like firstname Sally, Billing, lastname. You could put the company name in the card then too. Just a thought, something you could test out.

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Answer 2

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

236,345 points

May 10, 2025 5:45 PM in response to TchKtn

If you created the Contact as a business with Joe's Widgets as the company name, then whenever any number in that contact list calls, it is going to display the company name. The numbers listed are all for that company as far as the phone is concerned. Generally, if I get a call from someone that has multiple numbers listed, and this is not for a company but an individual, I see something in a second line that can identify the number or the company. For instance, if my wife calls, it displays her name because that is how I have it listed. I do have her company name in the contact, and I have her work address, and the work number has a label of work, so when she calls from her work number, it will show the name of the company, but if she calls from her iPhone, it will show iPhone.

I don't think you will be able to get what you are looking for considering the way you have the numbers listed. Hope that helps.

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Answer 3

TchKtn Author

Level 1

98 points

May 11, 2025 10:42 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

Thank you Chris, I appreciate the reply and your insights...so I understand, when you get an incoming call from your wife, it will show something like:

WIFEY

work number

OR

WIFEY

iPhone

Am I reading that correctly? So in my case it (theoretically) would show:

Joe's Widgets

Susie - Sales

If I could get something like that I'd be content, but it sounds like that doesn't work for Companies? Maybe what I'll try doing is changing the Contact type to unselect "Company" and see if I get a second line on my caller ID.

In any case, even if this can't be done, I appreciate the input. I can't get too worked up over it because I grew up when we had rotary phones, and we had to answer to find out who was calling, LOL.....I try to keep problems in perspective. :-)

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Answer 4

TchKtn Author

Level 1

98 points

May 11, 2025 11:22 AM in response to TchKtn

Aha, gotcha.....now I do understand, and thank you for the explanation, I do appreciate it. I'll just live with it as is, it's truly only a very minor annoyance, not something I'll stress over.

:-)

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Can I show custom contact names in Caller ID on my iPhone 12?

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