iPhone Tip: Adding Additional Numbers in a Dialing String to Enter Extensions and Other Numbers

Many iPhone users often want an easy and convenient way to enter additional numbers after a call goes through. You might need to enter an extension to access a voicemail system or a user pin for a conference line.
Of course, once it’s time to enter the extra numbers you can use the touch-tone keypad on your iPhone’s touch screen to enter the additional numbers. Doing this is quite accessible using VoiceOver but it can be awkward or confusing for some users. Fortunately, if you regularly need to enter these numbers you can enter them as part of your dialing string in the Contacts app or in the Contacts tab in the Phone app.
Here’s how you do it. When you’re entering the phone number in the appropriate field, enter a comma or two after the last digit. To do this, press the shift key, which is below the number 7. Next, enter the comma, which will appear where the number 4 would normally be found. This inserts a two-second pause before the next number.
If you need to enter the pound key, press the shift key and then move to where the number 9 would be to locate the pound symbol.
One of the numbers that I use these characters with is the conference line where I host the phone meetings for the Philadelphia Computer Users’ Group for the Blind and Visually Impaired. With this number, I need to enter a six-digit code, followed by the pound key. Next, I need to enter the star key to enter a moderator pin, followed by the six-digit moderator pin number followed by the pound key. After a little experimentation to see how many commas I needed to insert, I can now tell Siri to “call Blind Philly Comp” and the number is called, along with the appropriate access codes at the right time.
I hope you find this tip useful.