In macOS, Apple includes a feature that allows you to establish relationships for different contacts, which makes getting in touch with the people close to you much more personable.
The Contacts app's relationships feature goes hand in hand with Siri, so rather than asking it to "Text Hannah," you can say "Text my sister" and the voice-activated assistant will know that Hannah is your sister.
The following steps show you how to create contact relationships using Siri or by adding them manually in the Contacts app. If you own additional Apple devices, the cool thing is that you only have to do this once and iCloud will sync the changes you make across all of them.
How to Create a Contact Relationship on macOS
- First, activate Siri. You can do this on your Mac by clicking the Siri icon in the Dock, clicking the Siri menu bar icon, or using a keyboard shortcut. You can also say simply "Hey Siri" handsfree if your Mac supports the function.
- Say the name of the contact and your relationship with them, such as "Hannah is my sister." (If you have two sisters, you can help Siri distinguish them by saying "Hannah is my older sister," for example.)
- When Siri asks if you want it to remember the relationship, answer "Yes" or click the Yes button in the Siri panel.
Add a Relationship Manually in the Contacts App
If you want, you can manually add relationships in the Contacts app instead. Here's how.
- Open the Contacts app.
- Select your personal contact card.
- Click the plus (+) button at the bottom left of the card and select More Fields -> Related Name.
- Enter the name of the contact you want to establish a relationship with.
- Click the relation field next to the contact's name and select the relationship you want to establish with them. (Select Custom to define a relationship not offered in the list.)
- Click Done.
Remember, you can establish as many relationships as you want using the above methods, so long as the person exists in your contacts.
