iPad Contacts phone numbers not formatted

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Level 2

191 points

iPad Contacts phone numbers not formatted

I have an iPad and iPhone both running the latest iOS10. Both have Region set to Australia.

In Contacts on the iPhone all phone numbers are formatted correctly and any new number added gets the correct formatting automatically.

On the iPad all phone numbers are unformatted: just a string of digits with no spaces.

Things I've tried:

Power the iPad off and on again.
Reset the iPad
Turn off Contacts iCloud sync, deleting the contacts from the iPad, then re-syncing them from iCloud
Signing out of iCloud, deleting everything from the iPad, then signing in again
Changing the region to Austria (next in the list!) then back to Australia

None of this has worked and still all the iPad's Contacts' phone numbers remain unformatted and any new number added gets no formatting. I notice that the 'Region Format Example' doesn't contain a phone number. Is the phone number format set elsewhere? If so, I haven't found it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Steve = : ^ )

iPad Pro, iOS 10.0.2, 4G; 128 GB

Posted on Sep 27, 2016 11:16 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Erroll Author

Level 2

191 points

Dec 13, 2017 1:04 PM in response to Betsyq

You need to fit a SIM card to override the Apple SIM card that came installed in your iPad Pro. Get one from your phone provider. You don't actually have to enable the SIM or open a phone account or anything; just fit the SIM.

I'm in Australia. I got a SIM delivered to me for $2 and, as soon as I installed it, the formatting changed from US to Australian.

Steve = : ^ )

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Answer 2

Arcody

Level 1

19 points

Dec 13, 2017 12:59 PM in response to Erroll

Steve:

Fantastic! I spent 2 days on the phone with 2 separate good people in Sacramento trying to get this thing to format phone numbers properly; restore, erase, set up as new, restore, erase, back up to another computer, restore, erase, try from iCloud instead of iTunes. Nothing worked. They told me it was a hardware problem so I took the iPad back and bought another one. Same issue.

Then I ran across this one and only response to my question, and turns out it was the answer. I went up the street to my local AT&T store and they handed my a micro SIM card. I installed it when I got home, and Voila! All of my contacts now look like themselves again.

Thank you for the leg work, and sorry you had to lead the pack.

Russell

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Answer 3

Betsyq

Level 1

4 points

Dec 13, 2017 7:00 AM in response to Arcody

Hi, I'm having the same problem with a new iPad 9.7 I just purchased. But you are talking a language I don't understand. Could someone help be better understand what I need to do to format phone # and addresses correctly? The default country for adding a new address is Netherlands. Once I change it to USA format is fine, but that's a pain when adding a bunch of contacts. Would so much appreciate your help!

Betsy

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Answer 4

Erroll Author

Level 2

191 points

Sep 28, 2016 2:49 PM in response to Erroll

I can add to the list of things I've tried:

In iTunes, restored the iPad as new iPad and, without restoring any data from iCloud, opened Contacts, added a new contact and added a phone number, and the phone number had no formatting.

I have no idea what I can do next, other than return the iPad as faulty.

Steve = : ^ )

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Answer 5

Erroll Author

Level 2

191 points

Oct 16, 2016 7:44 PM in response to Erroll

For anyone who finds this thread after a search, I can now report that this is a problem caused by the Apple SIM that's embedded in the 9.7" iPad Pro (and as yet, no other device). The SIM defaults to either US or UK and formats phone numbers accordingly.

The solution is it fit a local SIM. This overrides the embedded SIM, and phone numbers are correctly formatted for the locale. This works even with Mobile Data set to 'Off'. I think this is bad design, and there should be an option to defeat the embedded SIM without having to buy and fit a local one.

Thanks for the replies,

Steve = : ^ )

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