iOS Update Removed ‘Recent’ Label for Contacts With Multiple Numbers — No Longer Shows Which Number Texted

danellem wrote:

I thought I was going mad. I use this all the time and am distraught that it is gone. I can't tell which number is the current one, and I keep all the historical numbers people have had in contacts across multiple databases. Insane that this is now gone.

I can't say I see the point of keeping numbers that are no longer valid, but I'm sure you have your reasons. Could you paste them into the notes section of the contact and remove them from the phone numbers section?

I thought I was going mad. I use this all the time and am distraught that it is gone. I can't tell which number is the current one, and I keep all the historical numbers people have had in contacts across multiple databases. Insane that this is now gone.

That would be a very long and tedious process, and likely confuse the syncing for my older and newer apple products. The last glitch I had deleted all the updated contacts that I had corrected on my phone, and replaced them with old contact info from a secondary laptop. All the system dates were correct. I still don't know what I lost there. I have over a thousand items. I just don't have the energy for this anymore. The old phone numbers are useful when looking people up by phone number. But now I can't tell which is the new one even if I wanted to do that. And it's hard to see the call number from the phone app too. If you have a name associated with the number, it only displays that. I feel blinded. They really didn't test this out on all ages or demographics. And I'm not THAT old. But apparently old enough. lol

867_53_09 wrote:

Prior to the most recent update, if you had two numbers saved for a particular contact, the only way to tell which number texted you is to look in their contact info and “recent” would appear next to the most recent number used. Since the latest iOS update, that no longer seems to be a feature. How else can we tell which number texted, without having to split the contact into two separate contacts? (bold mine)

As far as I'm aware, that's unfortunately the only way to find which number was used now. You can give Apple feedback here.

No offense, by I think this is, at least in part, a problem of your own making. You're trying to make the Contacts app do something it's really not designed to do well. Archive your older records, even if it takes you a few hours. Keep only current records in Contacts, sync only those current records.

Keep a copy of your older information in a spreadsheet or Notes or anywhere else.

Barring that, at least label the current numbers in Contacts. The labels still show in Recents.

Also, tell Apple how you feel:

Product Feedback - Apple