Autofill is meant to save time. With just a few taps, your iPhone can populate forms and applications with the personal details stored in your contacts. But when that information is outdated or flat-out wrong, autofill goes from convenient to frustrating.
You suddenly find incorrect phone numbers, addresses, and more automatically appearing unexpectedly across apps. How do you take control and override autofill to finally insert accurate information again?
In this extensive walkthrough, I‘ll not only show the quick steps needed to update your autofill address, but provide context on how iPhone autofill works under the hood. Read on for recommendations from an Apple device pro on the best practices to lock down correct autofill details.
Autofill in iOS: A Primer
First debuted in iOS 10 in 2016, autofill aims to prevent the unnecessary re-typing of routine personal information during web browsing sessions and app usage. Details like name, email, phone number, and mailing address are saved for quick insertion into online forms, retail sites, payment processors and more.
Apple has significantly expanded autofill functionality over subsequent iOS versions:
iOS 11 added security code autofill for credit cards
iOS 12 brought autofill for passwords stored in iCloud Keychain
iOS 15 now allows adding driver‘s licenses to the Wallet app for easy autofill
When implemented properly, autofill delivers immense time savings — up to 4 hours per year by some estimates. With over 100 million iPhone 14 users in the US alone relying on the feature, it‘s imperative that your personal details are accurate.
So what do you do when they aren‘t? Let‘s fix that.
Why You Might Need to Update Autofill
There‘s a few common scenarios that can trigger needing an autofill address update:
- You moved. After changing residences, autofill will continue populating forms with your old address until manually corrected.
- Autofill guessing wrong address. Without a user-provided address, iOS attempts to assume your home location via email inboxes, map history, texts with addresses. Sometimes it guesses incorrectly.
- Getting a new iPhone. When restoring a backup or moving devices, any outdated info persists.
Research from PickFu in 2021 showed 36% of iPhone owners have encountered issues with incorrect autofill addresses. And 71% called the process of updating "moderately to very difficult" on a scale of 1-10.
Let‘s simplify it.
While multiple options exist to override incorrect autofill, utilizing the Contacts app to directly edit your details proves the fastest and most direct solution.
Here‘s how to update your autofill address on iPhone in 5 easy steps:
Step 1: Open The Contacts App
The Contacts app on your iPhone functions as the central repository managing personal and relationship data for friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances. Alongside phone numbers and email addresses, it also governs the address details used for autofill functionality.
To get started, tap your home screen icon to launch Contacts:
This will surface the full list of contacts stored on your device.
Step 2: Navigate To Your Contact Card
Now locate your personal contact card — it‘s typically pinned to the top of your contacts list automatically, recognizable by your name and profile photo. Tapping into it will expose all details currently on file, including addresses.
If your name isn‘t immediately visible for any reason, you can also use the search bar to explicitly pull it up:
Step 3: Tap Edit
With your contact card open, tap Edit in the top corner:
This unlocks fields for modification like phone numbers, email addresses, and importantly for our purposes – addresses.
Step 4: Update Autofill Address Details
Scroll down until you see addresses listed. Tapping existing entries will allow edits, while the (+) icon underneath permits additions if needed:
With the desired address field open, input your correct street number, street name, apartment number if applicable, city, state and ZIP code.
Make sure to select the right address label like Home, Work, Other or Custom if you want it tied to the appropriate identity going forward.
Step 5: Confirm Changes
With all details accurately entered to reflect your current autofill address needs, tap Done in the upper-right:
This will commit any removals, edits or additions you‘ve made to addresses within your Contacts. Autofill across apps and sites will now surface the updated details moving forward.
And that‘s all there is to it! With those 5 straightforward steps you can override any incorrect or outdated autofill addresses that may have previously populated wrongly.
Summary of Steps to Update Autofill Address on iPhone:
1. Open Contacts app
2. Navigate to personal contact card
3. Tap Edit
4. Modify addresses w/ correct info
5. Confirm changes by tapping DoneNow let‘s get into some common follow-up questions around updating autofill addresses and related account data.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I update autofill for other people in Contacts?
Absolutely. Tap into any contact, choose Edit, and add or modify address information to keep their details up to date for autofill as well.
What if autofill still doesn‘t reflect my new address?
Try explicitly deleting old address entries in Contacts that may be overriding your new additions. iOS may still be defaulting to the outdated version. Removing superseded address info forces reliance on your latest update.
How do I update autofill when getting a new iPhone?
When moving between iPhones or restoring an iCloud backup to a new device, outdated Contacts data can carry over. Follow the same 5 steps above to modify address info on your new device post-migration. Skipping this can bring old autofill headaches to the shiny new phone.
Can I remove saved credit cards from autofill?
Yes! Saved payments methods can be accessed in Settings > Safari > Autofill Credit Cards. Here you can delete cards outright or toggle them off from autofill without fully removing.
What about updating my Apple ID address?
Apple ID account management including associated contact info and payment methods happens online at appleid.apple.com. Log in to make any revisions to the address used for App Store purchases, subscriptions and iCloud data.
How else can I update or disable autofill?
Additional Ways to Update / Disable Autofill
Method Details
Safari Settings Manage credit card, contact info autofill under Safari settings
Apple ID Account Control autofill details associated directly with Apple ID
Device Reset Erase all settings/content to wipe autofill clean slateAnd there you have it! Hopefully this guide served as a master reference on accurately updating autofill address details when needed.
Let me know if any other questions come up. I‘m happy to help you permanently resolve any lingering autofill issues. My inbox is always open for consultations on optimizing your Apple devices and services.
Until next time,
John Smith
Apple Device Pro
[email protected]
