Phone Keypad is Coming to the Apple Watch in watchOS 4

The Phone app on the Apple Watch will be getting a keypad in watchOS 4. This will make it easier to make a phone call from your wrist, if you are so inclined. You will no longer have to dial numbers using Siri. Granted, there probably aren’t many instances where you want to initiate a call from your Apple Watch, but with watchOS 4 you’ll have more options for doing so.

Here’s how the Phone app will work in watchOS 4. You can open the Phone app from the Dock, its complication, the honeycomb app cloud or list. Upon opening, you’ll see a list of options: Favorites, Recents, Contacts, Keypad, and Voicemail. Each option is pretty self-explanatory. If you tap Keypad, you’ll see all of the numbers laid out in large, easy to see and tap tiles. Start tapping numbers and a backspace/delete key and a GO button will appear. When you’ve inputted the phone number you wish to call, tap GO to make the call.

In addition to making phone calls, the keypad could come in handy in other situations. For example, you can use the keypad to input someone’s extension. When you call a business and you get a recording that says, “Press 1 for …” or whatever, you can navigate through the menu with ease. If you live or work in a building where you can buzz people in via phone, the keypad on your Apple Watch will come in handy.

In watchOS 4, you will still be able to make phone calls from the Apple Watch by tapping Favorites, Recents, or Contacts, and scrolling through those options. You can also always ask Siri to place a call for you.

I’ve been testing out the watchOS 4 beta since it was released after WWDC 2017. The watchOS 4 update will be available to all Apple Watch users for free sometime this fall.