Remove forced country line in contacts?

[benmrii]

Has anyone come across a way to remove the forced "Country" line in the iPad (and iPhone) address book? First we're force formatted into the antiquated (XXX) XXX-XXXX phone format, now it seems we're forced into adding another line to addresses that for many of us is unnecessary the vast majority of the time. I'm hoping there is a workaround.

Even when editing the addresses, or entering them initially, via the web-interface of MobileMe without any data in the Country field, the iPad (and iPhone) adds it.

To clarify, I am not asking how to change the country that is auto-populated (which for those needing to do this can be altered by going to Settings -> General -> International -> Region Format). I am asking how to remove any data from appearing in this line unless I specify a country. Thank you.

 

[Ashwood11]

First we're force formatted into the antiquated (XXX) XXX-XXXX phone format

What is antiquated about the phone format? I receive dozens of unwanted phone calls because the caller fails to include the area code and they reach personal phone instead of the commercial number they want. If they used this format it would save me time and money. Being I have a cell phone I pay for all of these calls.

In regards to the country issue, I tried swipping the field In the Contacts app to see if it would give a delete button and instead it gives a scrolling list of counties but no selection for leaving it blank. I did not know you could access this list in this way.

 

[benmrii]

What is antiquated about the phone format? I receive dozens of unwanted phone calls because the caller fails to include the area code and they reach personal phone instead of the commercial number they want. If they used this format it would save me time and money. Being I have a cell phone I pay for all of these calls.

Having the area code isn't antiquated, but forcing the format of the phone number so that the area code is in parenthesis vs. 212.555.1234 or 212-555-1234 has been ever since ten-digit dialing.

In regards to the country issue, I tried swipping the field In the Contacts app to see if it would give a delete button and instead it gives a scrolling list of counties but no selection for leaving it blank. I did not know you could access this list in this way.

Same. No options in Settings. I don't hold out much hope.

 

[elolaugesen]

Country forced

I live in the UK now and have addresses from Canada, Denmark, united kingdom and other places. They are now all from united kingdom..... Come on apple change this to make default blank unless we ask for a specific code.

That is like forcing salutation for names.

 

[Monora]

Contacts country settings

Just double tap the country you wish to be your default

 

[benmrii]

Just double tap the country you wish to be your default

Until one of those options is "Leave space blank" it remains an unnecessary address line that Apple has decided is better for all of us and therefore requires, much like the antiquated forced format for phone numbers without an option to change.

 

[Resist]

I've been searching for a solution to this as well. All my contacts are in the United States, so I don't need my contact listing this.

I discovered a round about way to fix this. I delete the country on my Macbook Pro's contact list and then a double address shows up via iCloud on my iPhone, so I delete the first address. Then the country will show up again on my computer's contact list. I have to delete it once more and then it also deletes in my iPhone contact list.

Apple really needs to let us decide if we want a country line on our contacts via our iPhone.

 

[Chuck2332]

I've been searching for a solution to this as well. All my contacts are in the United States, so I don't need my contact listing this.

I discovered a round about way to fix this. I delete the country on my Macbook Pro's contact list and then a double address shows up via iCloud on my iPhone, so I delete the first address. Then the country will show up again on my computer's contact list. I have to delete it once more and then it also deletes in my iPhone contact list.

Apple really needs to let us decide if we want a country line on our contacts via our iPhone.

[doublepost=1516843682][/doublepost]I have been able to edit country in my contacts on my MacBook and then it drops it off in my Iphone contacts

 

[AZhappyjack]

[doublepost=1516843682][/doublepost]I have been able to edit country in my contacts on my MacBook and then it drops it off in my Iphone contacts

Resurrecting a 5 ½ year old thread... and that's not even a record.

I'm sure the OP has moved on... he hasn't been here in well over 2 years.

 

[jetlag11]

This may be a 6+ year old thread but it's still a problem. iOS 12 - still can't add a contact without a country field. There are really two populations, people with international contacts and people with no (or just a few) other-country-contacts. The first group always needs the country field; the latter, hardly ever. It is a mystery why Apple, normally so concerned with design elegance, is so sloppy in the contacts app.

 

[benmrii]

This may be a 6+ year old thread but it's still a problem... It is a mystery why Apple, normally so concerned with design elegance, is so sloppy in the contacts app.

Sadly that has been the trend over the years since this I posted this, and well beyond contacts.

 

[mofunk]

If you travel outside your state or area you will need the 10 digit number. I've seen people who just have the 7 digit number in their phones, have to enter a area code every time they're outside the city and/or state. Your carrier would respond with "the number you are trying to reach is not available" lol I wouldn't want to have that option omitted cause you never know.

Usually I will enter the name first in my Contacts, next the phone number the way it is in the region and then address. If its US I start with the area code, if its the UK I start with the +1 which will generate a different sequence.

I can add fields without adding a Country. Some people may like that field. Remember iTunes and Contacts are treated like a Database. Contacts works seamlessly with Pages. So if you are creating mass mailing, you can add each Data field to your letter, mailing, etc. So much better than MS Office.

 

[benmrii]

It hardly matters at this point, especially since the same point was already clarified, but if you look again the point is not that 10 digit is forced, but that its format is. In a time when 10 digit phone numbers are essentially necessary, even locally in many populous areas, Apple forcing the use of an antiquated format is frustrating. That was true 2,760 days ago when I posted this, and is even more so today.

 

[VickiSorensen]

Is anyone aware of a 3rd party app that fixes this? I don’t want to see the country on my Contacts either. When I was syncing contacts with Outlook, I could just leave country field blank and it would populate a null value for the Country field on the iPhone Contact with the sync. Now that Apple is de-supporting Outlook sync, I don’t have a way to not have a value in the address Country field. Any other third party app that populates iPhone contacts that forces a null value in the field? Agee with users here - Apple should allow you to choose a blank value as the vast majority of US-based users have (duh) US-based contacts. Should be able to add a country on an exception bases, where needed, but not force “United States” into every Contact address.

 

[AutomaticApple]

Is anyone aware of a 3rd party app that fixes this? I don’t want to see the country on my Contacts either. When I was syncing contacts with Outlook, I could just leave country field blank and it would populate a null value for the Country field on the iPhone Contact with the sync. Now that Apple is de-supporting Outlook sync, I don’t have a way to not have a value in the address Country field. Any other third party app that populates iPhone contacts that forces a null value in the field? Agee with users here - Apple should allow you to choose a blank value as the vast majority of US-based users have (duh) US-based contacts. Should be able to add a country on an exception bases, where needed, but not force “United States” into every Contact address.

Maybe in iOS 15?

 

[psat]

Sadly that has been the trend over the years since this I posted this, and well beyond contacts.

And, twelve years (minus one month) on, it is still a maddening issue that I liken to a dead-end in a maze: is there really no other way out of this box?

There is something even more offensive than the sloppy design commented on by jetlag11 in 2019, and that is mindless design.

 

[AZhappyjack]

Clearly a "first world" problem. I'm not a huge fan of the country thing, but in the grand scheme of things, it's a nit.

 

[mac-mike]

Well, I’ve discovered that on MacOS 12.6.5 (Monterey) if I pull up a Contact which contains the Country entry, clicking edit, I can delete the contents of the Country field. The change syncs to my Contacts on iOS 16.5 (meaning the Country is gone from the Contact record on iPhone & Mac). It’s perhaps the only instance where the Mac version provides more user control than the iOS version.