The fastest way to mark something as a favorite
On iPhone, a favorite is a star or heart icon you tap to save something you use often — a contact, a website, a song, a photo, or an app. The exact steps depend on what you're saving, but the principle is the same: find the item, tap the star or heart, and it moves to a dedicated favorites section you can reach without scrolling.
The most common favorites are contacts in your Phone app and websites in Safari. Both use a star icon. Some apps like Apple Music use a heart instead. The location of the icon changes, but once you tap it, the item stays saved until you tap it again to remove it.
Key Takeaways
- In the Phone app, open a contact and tap the star icon at the top to add them to favorites; they'll appear at the top of your contacts list.
- In Safari, tap the share button (the square with an arrow), then tap "Add Bookmark" or "Add to Favorites" to save a website.
- In Apple Music, tap the heart icon next to a song or album to mark it as a favorite and add it to your library.
- Favorites are stored on your iPhone only unless you turn on iCloud syncing in Settings, which copies them across your devices.
Adding a contact to your favorites in the Phone app
Open the Phone app and go to the Contacts tab at the bottom. Search for or scroll to the person you want to favorite. Tap their name to open their contact card. At the top of the card, you'll see a star icon — tap it once. The star fills in and turns solid, which means the contact is now saved as a favorite.
Your favorite contacts appear at the very top of your Contacts list, above the alphabetical list. This is useful if you call or text the same few people every day. To remove someone from favorites, open their contact again and tap the filled star to empty it.
Saving a website as a favorite in Safari
Open Safari and navigate to the website you want to save. At the bottom of the screen, tap the share button — it looks like a square with an arrow pointing up and to the right. A menu slides up from the bottom showing several options. Tap "Add Bookmark" to save the page, or on some iPhone models, you may see "Add to Favorites" as a separate option.
If you tap "Add Bookmark," a dialog box appears asking where to save it. You can choose "Favorites" from the dropdown menu at the top. The website is then saved and appears in your Favorites folder in Safari. To see your favorites, tap the book icon at the bottom of Safari, then tap the "Favorites" tab. You can also access favorites from the address bar — when you tap it, your favorites appear at the top.
Marking songs and albums as favorites in Apple Music
Open Apple Music and find a song or album you like. Next to the title, you'll see a heart icon. Tap it once and it fills in with red, meaning the item is now a favorite. Favorited songs and albums are saved to your library and appear in a dedicated section you can reach from the Library tab.
To find your favorite songs, open Apple Music, tap the Library tab at the bottom, and look for a "Loved" or "Favorites" section. The exact name depends on your iPhone model and iOS version. You can also create a playlist of only your favorite songs by tapping the three dots next to the heart icon and selecting "Add to Playlist."
Using iCloud to sync favorites across devices
By default, favorites you create on one iPhone stay only on that iPhone. If you own multiple Apple devices and want your favorites to appear on all of them, you need to turn on iCloud syncing. Open Settings on your iPhone, tap your name at the top, then tap iCloud. Scroll down and look for toggles for the apps you use — Safari, Contacts, Music, and Photos all have separate iCloud sync options.
Turn on the toggle for any app whose favorites you want to sync. Your iPhone will upload your favorites to iCloud, and they'll automatically appear on your iPad, Mac, or other iPhones signed into the same Apple ID. If you turn off syncing later, your favorites stay on each device but stop updating across devices.
Why favorites don't always appear where you expect them
Sometimes you tap the star or heart but don't see the item in your favorites section right away. This usually happens because the app hasn't refreshed yet. Close the app completely by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, wait a few seconds, and open it again. The favorite should now appear.
Another reason is that some apps store favorites in different places. In Photos, for example, you mark a photo as a favorite by tapping the heart, but the favorites appear in the Albums tab under "Favorites," not in the main photo grid. Check the app's menu or tabs to find where favorites are stored — it's usually labeled "Favorites," "Loved," "Bookmarks," or "Library."
Removing favorites and organizing them
To remove a favorite, open the item again and tap the filled star or heart icon. It empties out and the item is no longer a favorite. In some apps like Safari, you can also swipe left on a favorite in the Favorites list and tap "Delete" to remove it from that section.
Most iPhone apps don't let you reorder favorites by dragging them around. The order is usually automatic — contacts appear in the order you added them, websites appear alphabetically, and songs appear in the order they were added to your library. If you need a specific order, some apps like Safari let you create folders within Bookmarks to organize favorites by category.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I favorite an app from the home screen?
No, the home screen doesn't have a built-in favorite system. Instead, you can organize apps into folders or move the ones you use most to the first page of your home screen. Some people also use the Dock at the bottom of the home screen to keep their most-used apps visible at all times.
What's the difference between a bookmark and a favorite in Safari?
A bookmark is any saved website. A favorite is a special type of bookmark that appears at the top of Safari and in the address bar for quick access. When you save a website, you choose whether to save it as a favorite or in a regular folder.
Do favorites take up storage space on my iPhone?
No. Favorites are just pointers to contacts, websites, or songs — they don't store the actual data. A favorite contact uses almost no space, and a favorite website uses only a tiny amount for the bookmark information.
Why can't I favorite something in an app?
Not all apps have a favorite feature. Older apps or less common apps may not include this option. If you don't see a star or heart icon, the app may not support favorites. You can check the app's settings or help section to confirm.
If I delete a contact, does it stay in my favorites?
No. If you delete a contact from your phone, it's removed from your favorites list as well. The favorite is just a link to the contact — once the contact is gone, the favorite disappears too.