iPhone running iOS 17 has a new Contact Poster feature that displays gorgeous full-screen caller images when you make or receive a phone or FaceTime call. In this tutorial, we will tell you everything about setting up and using Contact Poster to personalize phone calls for yourself and your family members & friends.
Note: Currently, iOS 17 is in developer beta, and you can get it using our easy tutorial.
Secondly, the ability to set Contact Poster isn’t available in the Contacts app on iPad running iPadOS 17 and Mac with macOS Sonoma.
Contact Photo & Poster
Let’s start with the basics.
Before iOS 17
The ability to set a contact photo is nothing new and has existed for many years.
You go to the iPhone Contacts or Phone app, edit a person’s contact and add a photo to their contact card. From now on, when this person calls, a small circular contact picture appears on the screen.
Note: If you use a high-quality image as the contact photo and set your iPhone to display call banners on the full screen, the incoming call screen shows the contact picture on the entire screen when your iPhone is not on the Lock Screen.
The new Contact Poster feature in iOS 17
The Contact Poster feature on iPhone allows the following:
- You can choose which photo your friends and family see when you call them. On the same note, you get to see full-screen pictures when people who have chosen to share their Contact Posters call you.
- The above option requires both the caller and the receiver to have an iPhone running iOS 17. So, what about your friends and family members who use an Android phone or an iPhone with iOS 16 or earlier? In that case, you can manually add the Contact Poster for that saved contact. And after that, when they call you or when you call them, your iPhone running iOS 17 will display their beautiful Contact Poster image.
I’ve explained the steps for both below.
Set up your Contact Poster
Follow these steps to configure your Contact Poster that your friends and family members using iOS 17 will see when you call them:
1) Open the Phone app on your iPhone running iOS 17.
2) Make sure you’re in the Recents tab. From here, tap Edit > Name & Photo.
Note: You can also open the Contacts app, tap your contact card (My Card) from the top, and then tap Contact Photo & Poster. If you’ve not created your contact card, learn how to do that first.
3) Enter your first and last names if these fields are blank.
4) After that, tap Edit.
5) Here, you may see more than one vertical Contact Poster placeholders. You can customize an existing one (Customize > Poster) or tap the blue plus button (+) or the Create New button to make a new poster. I’m selecting the option to create a new poster.
6) Now, you have to choose your poster. You can use your Camera to take a picture on the spot, pick one from Photos, use a Memoji as your Contact Poster, or go minimalistic with a Monogram. I’m picking the Photos option as that’s the most fun. But you can use Memoji or Monogram if you have privacy concerns (more on this below).
7) Select the picture you want to use as your Contact Poster.
8) Now you can customize your photo:
- First, pinch to crop if needed.
- Use two fingers to drag and reposition the image to your liking.
- Swipe left (and right) to pick a photo style. The options here are: Natural, Gradient Backdrop, Seamless Background, Seamless Background Mono (I like it), Overprint, Studio, Black & White, Color Backdrop, Duotone, and Color Wash. You can choose a style color or background color for several of these styles. For Black & White and Studio styles, you can choose a dark or light background.
- Tap the three dots icon to enable or disable the Depth Effect (for applicable photos).
- Finally, if you change your mind and want to use a different image, tap the photo icon and pick another.
9) Next, you can customize the font and color of your name by tapping the current name box. After editing, hit the X button to return.
10) With all personalization to your liking, tap the Done button.
11) Now tap Continue.
12) Tap Update.
13) Make sure the toggle for Name & Photo Sharing is green. After that, you can choose to share your Contact Poster automatically with all your contacts or set it to Always Ask. Since I have limited friends, family, and acquaintances in my contacts book, I’ve chosen to share it will all my contacts.
14) Finally, tap Done.
You’ve successfully created your Contact Poster. From now on, assuming you selected to share your Contact Poster with your contacts – when you call one of your contacts, they will see your picture (or Memoji or Monogram) – the one you set using the above steps.
What to do if your friends can’t see your Contact Poster during phone and FaceTime calls?
1) Make sure you both have an iPhone running iOS 17. This won’t work if one of you has an Android phone or iPhone on iOS 16 or earlier.
2) Go to Phone app > Recents > Edit > Name & Photo. Here, make sure Name & Photo Sharing is turned on and you have selected Contacts Only. Next, ensure your friend’s phone number is saved to your iPhone contacts.
Note: If you’ve chosen Always Ask, you’ll be prompted to do so before your Contact Poster is shared. Make sure you allow that.
3) Ask your friend to open your saved contact, tap Contact Photo & Poster, and set it to Latest Photo Update Automatically.
5) Ask your friend to ensure he has not saved your phone number more than once using other names. In short, ask him to take care of duplicate contacts on his iPhone.
Contact Poster and NameDrop
With the NameDrop feature on iOS 17, you can hold your iPhone near someone else’s iPhone or Apple Watch, and you both can instantly share your contact details, like phone number and email, along with your Contact Posters.
In other words, Contact Posters are also shared via NameDrop in addition to phone numbers and email addresses.
Privacy concerns with Contact Posters
You can share your Contact Posters with all people in your contacts or always share them on a per-case basis.
If you choose to share it with all your contacts, that means it’s also shared with some distant friends, extended family members, and people whose numbers you’ve saved but may not be comfortable having them see your picture. So, make sure you:
- Clean your iPhone contacts lists and remove unwanted numbers.
- Don’t share your Contact Poster with all contacts, and set it to Always Ask.
- Use an appropriate picture as Contact Poster, keeping in mind that others get to see it.
- Use a Memoji or Monogram as your Contact Poster.
Now, let’s talk about you seeing other people’s Contact Posters.
iOS 17 has Communication Safety and Sensitive Content Warning features. With this, if someone uses a nude or sensitive picture as their Contact Poster and you get a call from them, their Contact Picture may be blurred and not visible to you for your safety.
Sensitive Content Warning also blurs such images and videos during AirDrop, Messages, FaceTime, and other third-party apps. It displays “This may be sensitive” over the blurred photo or video thumbnail. You can choose not to see it or tap Show if you decide otherwise.
Set Contact Posters for people in your contacts list
My wife has an Android phone. As a result, if I want to see her picture when she calls me or when I call her, I can go to my iPhone Contacts, find her contact and add a Contact Poster. This also works for people like my Mom, who has an iPhone that’s not compatible with iOS 17, or my editor, who has not yet updated his iPhone to iOS 17.
Here’s how to add a Contact Poster to a saved contact on your iPhone:
1) Open the Contacts app or the Phone app and tap Contacts.
2) Tap the name of your friend or family member for whom you want to add a Contact Poster.
3) Tap Edit.
4) Now:
- If you have an existing contact photo for this person, tap Edit. Next, tap Customize and select Poster. Or tap the blue plus button (+) to create a new poster.
- And if a picture isn’t added for this contact, tap Add Photo > Photos > select a photo > Choose > Next.
5) Now, you’re on the screen that allows you to choose Contact Poster. Tap Photos (or Memoji, Monogram, Camera).
6) Select an image, edit it with style, and tap Done > Continue > Update > Done. It’s similar to what I’ve explained under the previous heading (steps 8 and later).
You know you have set up the Contact Poster successfully if you see it on the top:
From now on, when this person calls you, or you call them, your iPhone will display their full-screen Contact Poster.
Note: You will have to change the default call banner style and switch to full-screen calls if you want to see Contact Posters when your iPhone is on the Home Screen or inside an app.