Why you should set up VIP contacts on your iPhone

May 16, 2022

By Kim Komando

Your iPhone is probably capable of so much more than you know. It has a pre-installed measuring app to help with projects around the house. There’s even a setting that will allow you to multitask during FaceTime calls. Tap or click here for 10 iPhone tricks you’ll use all the time.

Another feature you might not know about is you can set up VIP contacts. This can help you sort your most important emails from the rest. They also make accessing your favorite people on-the-fly super easy and convenient.

Family? Friends? Important colleagues and contacts? All great candidates for this innovative inbox-sorting iPhone feature. Read on to find out how to set up your VIP inbox.

How to set up VIPs on your iPhone

iPhone users can add up to 100 contacts to a special, preferential VIP List. Emails from anybody on this list prompt an alert, which means you’ll never miss a thing from any of them again.

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To add any contact to your iPhone VIP inbox, navigate to any message you’ve received from them in the Mail app. From inside the email, all you have to do is:

• Tap the name of the sender in the From field.
• One of the options in the following menu should be Add to VIP — tap this, and the sender’s name should now have a star next to it any time you see it in the app.

Can it be so easy? It is, and it’s just as easy to see everyone on your VIP list. Here’s how:

• Open the Mail app.
• From the main Mail screen, tap VIP.
• Here, you will see all your saved emails from each VIP contact.

Some iPhone users might not see the VIP option under Mailboxes by default. To configure the app so you can see it, tap Edit in the top-right corner of the UI. Ensure that VIP is selected, and you’ll see a blue checkmark next to it and you should be good to go.

If you don’t have an existing email from a contact who you want to be a VIP, there is another way to add them. Here’s how:

• Open the Mail app.
• From the main page, tap the information icon next to VIP. (NOTE: It’s a lowercase i inside a circle.)
• Tap Add VIP.
• Your entire list of contacts will appear. Either scroll through the list and tap on a name you want to make VIP or type their name in the search box at the top of the screen.

Removing a VIP contact

There are plenty of reasons you could change your mind and want to remove a person from the VIP list. For example, if you had a co-worker listed as a VIP and you get a new job.

Here’s how to remove someone from the VIP list:

• Open the Mail app on your iPhone.
• From the main page, tap the information icon next to VIP. (NOTE: It’s a lowercase i inside a circle.)
• Swipe left on the name of the VIP, then tap Delete to remove VIP status.

Honestly, it’s a great feature to have within the iOS ecosystem. It’s awesome for purely personal use, but it can also stand in as an invaluable iPhone secret for any professional with many VIPs to manage on a daily basis.

Why risk something vital getting filtered to the bottom of your inbox? You can even ask Siri to alert you as soon as a VIP message hits your inbox.

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