How to Add Speed Dial Icons to iPhone’s Home Screen

iPhone developer Nate True worked out a clever way to add speed dial functionality to the iPhone using the Web Clips feature introduced in firmware update 1.1.3.

This method for adding speed dial to iPhone is 100% legit — that is, Jailbreaking your iPhone is NOT required.

Read on for the very simple step-by-step instructions:

Adding Speed Dial to iPhone

1. Open Safari on your iPhone and, in the URL field, type:

http://(the phone number).tel.QLNK.net

2. You’ll get a “Call” popup. Touch Cancel.

3. Finally, tap “+” at the bottom of the screen and touch “Add to Home Screen”. Name your Web Clip and you’re done.

Now return to the home screen and you’ll see the new speed dial icon. Tap it and it requests a page on the developer’s server, which prompts the call.

For those concerned about privacy, the developer promises:

I assure you I will not use this data AT ALL FOR ANY REASON. It is entirely possible to put a similar script on your own web server, which will do the same thing without sending me any information; that course of action is recommended if you are at all concerned about your privacy.

How to Add a Photo to the Speed Dial Icon

If instead of the phone icon, you’d like to use a photo instead, add ?picurl=http://path.to/photo to the above-mentioned URL, like so:

http://(the phone number).tel.QLNK.net?picurl=http://path.to/photo

I uploaded a 40 x 40 pixel headshot of my contact to PhotoBucket and used the direct link to the image.

iPhone Speed Dial Cool, But Not Exactly Speedy

Nate True’s method is not exactly speed dial since you have to touch twice to call — once on the icon and again to hit the Call button.

Double-tapping your Home button to access your Favorite contacts is just as fast. Nevertheless, it’s a neat trick I thought I’d share. Thanks, Nate!