How to Delete Duplicate Contacts on iPhone

How to Delete Duplicate Contacts on iPhone

The easiest way is to use Contacts on your Mac

What to Know
iPhone: Contacts > tap contact > Edit > Delete Contact > Delete Contact.
Mac: Contacts > Card > Look for Duplicates > sync address book to iPhone.
iCloud.com: Contacts > click duplicate contact > Edit > Delete Contact > Delete.

This article explains why duplicate contacts happen and then offers three ways to delete your them and keep your address book in sync across your devices.

Why Do I Have So Many Duplicate Contacts on My iPhone?

There are lots of reasons your pre-installed iPhone Contacts app is stuffed with multiple entries for the same people. Some of the most common reasons include:

You entered information for the same person more than once.
You took the iPhone’s suggestion to add someone to your address book and they were already saved as a contact, but the iPhone added them separately.
You may have combined multiple address books at some point and not fully combined duplicate entries for the same people.
You may sync contact from multiple sources into your iPhone and have separate listings for the same person in each app.
Can I Delete Multiple Contacts on My iPhone?

Deleting duplicates directly on your iPhone is easy—but it’s also pretty tedious. That’s because you have to delete each contact individually. If you have dozens of duplicate contacts, you’ll need to repeat these steps for every single contact.

Unfortunately, the pre-installed Contacts app doesn’t offer a feature to scan your contacts, find the doubles, and give you an easy way to resolve them. There are a number of third-party apps you can get at the App Store for this.

But, if you just want to delete duplicate contacts on iPhone without any other apps, follow these steps:

In the Contacts app, tap the contact you want to delete.

Tap Edit.

Scroll to the bottom and tap Delete Contact.

In the pop-up, tap Delete Contact.

Repeat this for every duplicate contact you need to remove. If you sync your contacts with other devices via iCloud, every contact you delete on the iPhone will automatically be removed from your other devices.

How Do I Eliminate Duplicate Contacts? 

While the iPhone may not have a way to automatically find and remove duplicate contacts, the Contacts app pre-installed on a Mac does. And, if you sync your contacts between your iPhone and Mac, removing duplicate contacts on the Mac will update your iPhone, too. Here’s what to do:

In the Mac Contacts app, click Card in the menu bar.

Click Look for Duplicates.

The Contacts app will scan all of your contacts. When it finds duplicates, click Merge to combine them and delete old unneeded ones.

If you want to merge contacts with the same name but different other information, check the box before clicking Merge. This is tricky because you could have two different people with the same name in your address book and this will combine them into one.

If you sync your iPhone and Mac via iCloud, just wait a few minutes and the change will sync to your iPhone. If you don’t use iCloud, you can sync the Mac and iPhone via USB to get the some update.

iCloud Can Delete Contacts, Too

If you are sitting at your desktop computer now anyway, leave your phone where it is and follow these steps to delete a contact via iCloud’s interface. You, of course, need to sync your devices via iCloud for this to work.

Log into iCloud.com and click Contacts.

Click the duplicate contact.

Click Edit.

Click Delete Contact and then the Delete confirmation as well.

FAQ

How do I transfer contacts from iPhone to iPhone?
To share a single contact, open it in your Phone app, and then select Share Contact. This option will be below the person’s address, birthday, and other information. To copy all of your contacts, for example, when you’re setting up a new iPhone, back up the first phone to iCloud (go to Settings > your name > iCloud > iCloud Backup), and then set up the new phone with that backup. Along with contacts, you’ll also transfer pictures, apps, and other information.

How do I find deleted contacts on an iPhone?
Once you delete a contact, it’s gone unless you don’t mind a little time travel. If you’re quick, you can restore your iPhone from an old backup, which will include every contact that was present when you made that backup.

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