How to organize contacts on iPhone: 2024 guide

Introduction

You know that sinking feeling when you open your iPhone contacts list and it feels like tumbling into a disorganized abyss? Names of people you barely remember, duplicates galore, missing information .

But wait! Before you go off the grid, there’s hope. With a bit of patience and a few strategic taps, you can learn how to organize contacts on iPhone and whip them into shape. The key is to approach it systematically. First we will go through how contacts work on iPhone and then talk about the best way to get them setup for success. Gone are the days of storing contacts on your SIM or on the phone itself. They are synchronised to cloud services and It’s down to you to decide where you want your contacts to live. Are you an iCloud loyalist or tied into Google’s ecosystem? Figuring out your contacts storage bucket is step one and we will help you with this. Then it’s Merge, delete and update until you have a lean, mean contacts machine.

Thats when the real fun begins. With a solid foundation in place, you can start exploring all the nifty ways your iPhone contacts can make your life easier and more organized. From contact lists to seamless syncing, there’s a whole world of contact wizardry to discover.

We recommend using the Contents below if you need to skip to relevant sections.

How Contacts work on an iPhone

If you’re new to iPhone or have never given much thought to how your contacts are stored and synced, it’s worth taking a moment to understand what’s happening behind the scenes.

Where do your iPhone contacts actually live in the modern smartphone era? The master copy of a contact is not stored on the device itself or on a SIM card like the old days. In fact you are not even given the option for local storage. Instead your iPhone keeps your contacts synced with a variety of cloud services. When you save a new contact on your iPhone, you’re actually creating an entry that syncs with services like iCloud, Gmail, or Outlook behind the scenes.

Your iPhone does keep a local copy of your contacts so you can access them when you’re offline. But this is just a temporary mirror of what’s in the cloud. The cloud service always has the master version of your contacts list.

Think of your iPhone’s Contacts app as a window into a contacts database that lives on Apple’s servers or those of other email providers. Any changes you make – adding a new contact, updating a phone number, deleting an old friend – are instantly synced up to the cloud and back down to any devices connected to the same account.

This cloud-first approach to contacts has some big advantages. It means your address book is always backed up and accessible from multiple devices. Even if you lose or break your iPhone, your contacts are safe and sound, ready to be synced to your replacement phone.

Default Account – What you need to know

Even though cloud services primarily handle the storage of your contacts, you still have control over where new entries are created on your iPhone are saved by default. This setting is referred to as your default contacts account.

If you do not have any additional accounts setup yet (such as Outlook Google etc) then your default account is automatically set to iCloud and you will not see a Default account option. When logging into your contacts settings by going to Contacts > Settings, it will look like this:

If you have multiple accounts setup on your iPhone, then selecting your default account is as easy as going to Settings > Contacts > Default Account. Here you’ll see a list of all the accounts you have set up on your iPhone for syncing contacts, such as iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, and others.

If you have iCloud selected, new entries will be synced to iCloud. If you have Gmail selected, new contacts will go to your Gmail Contacts.

It’s important to note that this default setting only applies to new records created on the iPhone itself. If you add a contact on iCloud.com or in Google Contacts on the web, it will stay in that account regardless of your iPhone default setting.

The default account setting is not retroactive. Existing entries won’t be moved to a new default account should you change it. They’ll stay linked to whichever account they were originally created in. While you can freely change your default contacts account at any time, it’s a good idea to give it some thought and pick the account that makes the most sense as your primary contacts “bucket”.

While it’s possible to sync your iPhone contacts with multiple accounts simultaneously, many recommend picking a single sync source and sticking with that consistently. This however is not always possible depending on your situation and we will cover this in a later section.

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Choosing Where to Sync Your iPhone Contacts: iCloud vs Google

Now that you understand how contacts work on iPhone and the importance of picking a default account to serve as the primary home for them, the next big decision is which cloud service to use for this purpose. For most iPhone users, it comes down to a choice between Apple’s iCloud and Google Contacts.

So which one should you pick? The answer depends on which ecosystem and services you use most heavily. Let’s compare the key advantages of each:

Advantages of iCloud for Contact Sync:

Deeply integrated into iOS and enabled by default for key data like contacts, photos, calendar, etc. This tight integration and ease of setup drives high adoption.
Syncs seamlessly in the background across all your Apple devices signed into the same iCloud account – iPhone, iPad, Mac. Allows access even when offline.
Keeps you fully in the Apple ecosystem, which some users prefer for privacy reasons rather than storing personal data on Google’s servers.
Supports key contact features like contact groups, contact photos, etc.

Advantages of Google Contacts for Sync:

Allows you to leverage helpful Google services that rely on your contacts, such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps, etc. Syncing contacts enables tighter integration with these productivity tools.
Can be synced to virtually any device – iOS, Android, web browser. Provides flexibility if you use devices outside the Apple ecosystem.
Offers some advanced features through the Google Contacts web interface, like merging duplicates, restoring deleted entries, etc.
Google’s cloud reliability and data center footprint provides high availability and data protection.

Ultimately, the right choice comes down to where you prefer to center your digital life – around Apple services, Google services or another. If most of your data and digital activity revolves around Apple apps and devices, iCloud is likely the more seamless choice. But if you rely heavily on Google’s productivity suite and want maximum flexibility to access contacts on Android platforms, Google Contacts may serve you better.

Syncing contacts to multiple accounts

This can be done and you may have reasons why you want to do this such as Keeping work and personal contacts separate by syncing them with different accounts (e.g., work contacts with an Exchange or Google Workspace account, personal contacts with iCloud) or simply needing to integrate with all of the different productivity tools and services you rely on.

The idea of syncing contacts to multiple cloud destinations might sound messy and fragmented but from our experience the Iphone actually handles this well.

When you sync your contacts with multiple accounts, your iPhone keeps each contact list separate. This means that a contact saved to your Google account stays in your Google contacts list, and an entry saved to your iCloud account stays in your iCloud contacts list. Your iPhone does not automatically move or copy contacts between these lists, so you don’t have to worry about your contacts being duplicated across multiple accounts.

Here I have a few accounts added which I am syncing my contacts with.

To choose which accounts to sync with:

Go to Settings > Contacts > Accounts
Tap on each account (iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, etc.)
Use the “Contacts” toggle switch to turn contact syncing on or off for that account

In the Contacts app, you can view all your contacts together or choose to view entries from a specific account. When you view all contacts, your iPhone merges the details of contacts that exist in both lists, presenting a single, unified entry. This merged view ensures that you see all the relevant information without creating actual duplicates. Each merged contact includes a “Linked Contacts” section, where you can see and edit the information from each account separately.

Some Pitfalls of Syncing Contacts to multiple sources

Despite the fact that you can sync contacts from multiple lists, maintaining perfect consistency between cloud services such as iCloud and Google contacts is difficult due to subtle differences in how each service implements the vCard contact data standard and which fields and properties are supported. This can lead to duplicates and unexpected behaviour.

For example, if you have contacts synced to multiple Google accounts as well as iCloud, you may end up with multiplying duplicate contacts if the information isn’t exactly the same across the different accounts. Slight variations in a contact’s name, email, phone number or the display fields that are supported can cause the contact to be seen as distinct by each service, resulting in duplicates. Thankfully duplicates are easy to fix on iPhone as you will see.

Bringing Contacts into Your iPhone from Other Sources

Now that you’ve decided on your primary account, you may still have contacts living in other places that you want to bring into your unified iPhone address book, whether it be another email account, importing directly from a vCard file or synchronizing to a CardDAV account.

Adding Contacts From another account

This is super easy to do.

Go to Settings > Contacts > Add Account > Select the type of account from the list or if not listed chose ‘Other’ > Use your account credentials to start syncing to that account.

Setting up a CardDav account

If you’re looking for a flexible, open-source way to manage your contacts that gives you more control and independence, setting up a CardDAV account on your iPhone might be the perfect solution.

CardDAV is an open standard protocol that allows you to sync your contacts with a centralized server, ensuring they’re always up-to-date across all your devices. Whether you use iOS, Android, Windows, or macOS, CardDAV works seamlessly as long as you have a compatible client app.

There are several reasons why you might choose CardDAV over relying on big tech companies like Apple, Google, or Microsoft for contact management:

You use a self-hosted or open-source contact management system that supports CardDAV, like Nextcloud or Baïkal, giving you complete control over your data.
Your workplace or school provides a CardDAV server for centrally managing contacts across the organization, making it easy to access shared contacts.
You prefer an open, platform-agnostic protocol that isn’t tied to a single company’s ecosystem, giving you the freedom to choose your devices and services.

Tip: For a detailed look at how the CardDav protocol can help with organizing contacts check out our Guide to contact synchronization with CardDav.

Setting up a CardDAV account on your iPhone is straightforward and unlocks the benefits of centralized contact management, real-time syncing, and cross-platform access. Let’s walk through the steps to get started.

Open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap “Contacts”
Tap “Accounts” then “Add Account”
From the list of account types, choose “Other”
Under “Contacts” tap “Add CardDAV Account”
Enter your CardDAV account information, including the server address, username, and password
Tap “Next” to verify the account and start syncing your contacts

Importing Contacts from a vCard fie

If you have contacts exported as a vCard file (.vcf), you can easily import them directly into your iPhone’s Contacts app: Make sure the vCard file is accessible on your iPhone (emailed to yourself, in your Files app, etc.)

Tap on the vCard file to open a preview
Tap the share icon in the top right corner
From the share sheet, select “Contacts”
Choose “Add All Contacts” to import every contact in the file, or tap individual contacts to select them, then tap “Add Selected Contacts”

The imported contacts will be added to your chosen default contacts account (iCloud, Gmail, etc.).

You may find it easier to Import vCard contacts to your phone via iCloud.

Tip: Read our full guide on exporting CSV contacts to vCard here.

Syncing Multiple iPhones as a Business user

If you’re a small business struggling to keep contacts in sync across multiple accounts and devices, a dedicated contact management solution like Contactzilla can help. Contactzilla offers features like:

Centralized contact storage accessible from any device
Duplicate detection and merging
Custom fields and tags for granular organization
Team collaboration and access controls
Integration with popular business tools

Learn more about how Contactzilla can simplify contact management for your small business.

Delete Contacts on Iphone

When you delete a contact on your iPhone, it’s important to understand what happens behind the scenes. If the contact is saved only on your device, deleting it will permanently remove it from your iPhone. However, if the contact is synced with an email account like iCloud or Google, deleting it on your iPhone will also delete it from all other devices signed into that same account. This is because the deletion syncs across all connected devices to keep your contacts list consistent.

The quickest way to delete a single contact is to;

Open the contacts app
Hold you’re finger down on a contact
From the context menu that opens chose ‘Delete contact’.

The other way of deleting is surprisingly laborious:

To delete a single contact on your iPhone:

Open the Contacts app
Tap on the contact you want to delete
Tap “Edit” in the top right corner
Scroll down and tap “Delete Contact”
Confirm by tapping “Delete Contact” again

Deleting Multiple Contacts at Once

Prior to iOS 16, deleting multiple contacts at the same time wasn’t possible directly on the iPhone. You had to either delete them one by one on your device, or use iCloud.com on a computer to select and delete more than one.

However, with the introduction of iOS 16, Apple added a new feature that allows you to delete multiple entries simultaneously right from your iPhone. It’s easy to do if the contacts you want to delete are Adjacent to each other. Here’s how:

Open the Contacts app
Use two fingers to tap and hold on one contact
While still holding, drag your two fingers up or down to select additional adjacent contacts you want to delete
Lift your fingers, then do a long single finger press on any of the highlighted contacts to bring up a menu
Tap “Delete X Contacts” in the menu, then confirm by tapping “Delete Contacts”

It is surprisingly difficult to add non-adjacent contacts to your selection using this double finger method (until you know how). If you remove your fingers and then double finger press on a contact further down the list you lose your original selection. There is a bizarre work around. You can double finger press non-adjacent contacts and drag up to select an additional multi-select then back down to the contact you want and that one will be added to your original selection. The act of sliding up to another and back down maintains that single selection and adds it to the current selection.

This up down slide motion ends up being the equivalent of shift+clicking multiple contacts.

While this new iOS 16 feature is handy, you may still find it easier to manage bulk contact deletions on iCloud or the web interface for whichever cloud service you sync to. On iCloud you can select multiple contacts using standard computer multi-select methods (Shift-click for a range, Ctrl/Cmd-click for individuals) and delete them all at once.

Merging Contacts

Duplicate contacts are a common annoyance for iPhone users. They clutter up your contact list, make it harder to find who you’re looking for. If you sync your contacts with multiple accounts like iCloud, Google and more` sometimes the syncing process can create duplicates instead of matching up the existing entries.

Luckily your iPhone has built-in tools to help you find, merge, and eliminate those duplicates with just a few taps.

When you merge contacts, your iPhone intelligently combines the information from the duplicate entries into a single, unified contact card. So all those duplicate John Smiths become one John Smith with all the relevant details.

Open the Contacts app on your iPhone. If you’re using iOS 16 or later, look for the “Duplicates Found” message at the top of your contacts list. You may need to be in your ‘All Contacts’ list to see duplicates. Tap View duplicates.
Review the duplicate contacts that your iPhone has detected. You can tap on each set of duplicates to see the individual contact cards and decide which information you want to keep.
If you’re happy with the suggested merges, tap “Merge All” to combine all the duplicate contacts into single, unified contact cards. This will keep the most complete information from each duplicate.

If you prefer to merge contacts selectively, tap the arrow next to a contact in the list

You can now view where the duplicates have come from and Merge them together with the ‘Merge’ button.

Creating Contact Lists

Streamline your contacts with iPhone contact lists – With the ability to create multiple lists, you can slice and dice your contacts in a way that makes sense for your life. Here are a few ways contact lists can make your life easier:

Keep your work colleagues in one list and your friends and family in another.
Need to email your entire team about a project update? With a team contact list, you can send that email in just a couple of taps, no individual addressing required.
Having a BBQ and want to invite all your neighbors? Make a “Neighbors” list and you can quickly share the event details with just the right people.

The beauty of contact lists is that they let you organize your contacts in a way that works for you. Whether you’re segmenting by work and personal, creating lists for specific events or projects, or just keeping your favorites at your fingertips, lists turn your contacts from a cluttered drawer into a well-organized filing system.

Create a Contact List

Open the Contacts app
Tap “Lists” in the top left corner
Tap “Add List” in the top right corner
Choose the cloud service that you want to add the list to and select it.
Enter a name for your list, then tap “Done”

Add Contacts to a List

Open the list you want to add contacts to
Tap “Add Contacts”
Select the contacts you want to add:Tap individual contacts to select them
Tap “Done” to add the selected contacts to the list

Manage Lists and Contacts

Edit a list name: In Lists view, tap “Edit”, then tap a list name to change it
Delete a list: In Lists view, swipe left on a list and tap “Delete”
Remove a contact from a list: Open the list, swipe left on the contact, tap “Remove”

Send a message or email to a Contact List

Email a list: In Lists view, tap the list, then tap the mail icon in the top right

Message a list: In Lists view, long-press the list, then tap “Message All”

Sorting Your iPhone Contacts: The Basics and Beyond

Picture this: You’re scrolling through your iPhone contacts, looking for that new acquaintance you met at last week’s conference. Was their last name Smith? Smythe? Smee? You could be scrolling for days.If only there was a way to sort your contacts to make them easier to find. Well, good news – there is! Sort of.

Sort order by First or Last Name

Your iPhone does give you some basic sorting options for your contacts. You can choose to sort by first name or last name. Groundbreaking, we know. Here’s how:

Open Settings
Scroll down and tap “Contacts”
Tap “Sort Order”
Choose either “First, Last” or “Last, First”

You can also choose whether you want your contacts displayed with their first name first (“John Smith”) or last name first (“Smith, John”) by tapping “Display Order” and selecting your preference.These options can be handy if you’re used to thinking of people by their first or last names. But what if you’re looking for that contact you just added and can’t remember their name at all?

The Missing Feature: Sorting by Creation Date

If you are using Google Contacts on Android or the web version there is a very handy ‘Viewed Recently’ and ‘Added recently’ feature. Sadly, the native iPhone Contacts app lacks the ability to sort your contacts by the date they were added. It seems like such a basic, useful feature – after all, most of us are more likely to be looking for contacts we added recently. Especially if we added someone at an event and can no longer recall them. While Apple may have overlooked this feature, there are some simple third-party solutions. The most basic that works flawlessly is Contacts – Last entries & search

Download Contacts – Last entries & search from the App store.
Open the App and the allow it access to ‘Contacts’ using the dialog box that appears.
In the top right corner click ‘Name’
It will then toggle to the only other sorting option which is ‘Creation Date’

Aha! So thats what their name was!

Make Your Contacts Stand Out with Custom Ringtones and Text Tones

Custom ringtones and text tones allow you to identify your important contacts without even looking at your phone. With a few simple steps, you can assign unique sounds to your most important contacts, making it easy to recognize who’s calling or texting you immediately.

Here’s how to set a custom ringtone or text tone for a contact:

Open the Contacts app and tap the person you want to customize
Tap “Edit” in the top right corner
Tap “Ringtone” or “Text Tone”
Choose a tone from the list of default options, or tap “Tone Store” to purchase a new one
Tap “Done” to save your changes

Pro tip: You can set custom vibration patterns for contacts too. In the ringtone edit screen, tap “Haptics” and select a pattern or even create your own by hitting ‘Create New Vibration’. Perfect for knowing who’s calling when your phone is silenced.

Stay Focused with Do Not Disturb While Allowing Important Calls

Do Not Disturb (DND) and Focus modes are game-changers for productivity, silencing notifications and distractions so you can stay in the zone. But what about those crucial calls you don’t want to miss, even when DND is on? Your iPhone has you covered.

One option is to allow calls from your Favorites list to bypass DND:

Go to Settings > Focus > Do Not Disturb
Tap People
Tap “Allow Calls From” and make sure “Favourites” is selected

Now, calls from contacts marked as Favorites will ring through even with DND active. Perfect for ensuring your favourites can always reach you.

Setting Contacts as Favorites on iPhone

let’s make sure you know how to designate contacts as favorites in the first place.

To add a contact to your Favorites:

Open the Contacts app on your iPhone
Tap the contact you want to add to Favorites
Scroll down and tap “Add to Favorites”
Choose the default contact method – you can pick “Call”, “Message”, “Video”, or “Mail”
If the contact has multiple numbers or email addresses, select the one you want to use

That’s it! Your contact will now show up in the Favorites list in the Phone app for quick access. You can tap their name to instantly connect with them via your chosen method.

Create Custom ‘Allowed calls’ list instead of using Favourites

But what if your Favorites include people you’d rather not be disturbed by? You can create a custom “Allowed Calls” list instead:

Go to Settings > Focus > Do Not Disturb
Tap People
Tap “Allow Calls From” and change to “Allowed people only”
Tap “Add Contacts” and select the people whose calls can bypass DND > Then press Done.

This lets you curate a specific list of contacts who can reach you in DND mode, separate from your Favorites. Ideal for allowing only work colleagues or family to get through when needed.

Add Nicknames for contacts

Do you have a contact whose full name just doesn’t roll off the tongue? Or maybe you have a special nickname for your best friend or significant other. Your iPhone lets you add nicknames to any contact, making communication feel a bit more personal. Nicknames are especially handy when using voice commands, as they’re often shorter and simpler for Siri to recognize than full names.

Open the Contacts app and select the contact you want to give a nickname
Tap “Edit” in the top right corner
Scroll down and tap “add field”
Select “Nickname” from the list of additional fields
Enter the nickname you want to use for this contact
Tap “Done” to save your changes

Now, when you start typing that nickname in the search bar of the Contacts app, the Messages app, or the Mail app, your contact will pop right up. You can also use the nickname with Siri commands, like “Hey Siri, call [nickname].”

Add pronouns

With the release of iOS 17, Apple introduced a widely requested feature to the Contacts app – the ability to add pronoun fields to contact cards.

And here are concise step-by-step instructions for adding pronouns to a contact in iOS 17:

Open the Contacts app on your iPhone
Tap “My Card” at the top to add pronouns to your own contact, or select another contact to add their pronouns
Tap “Edit”, then tap “Add Pronouns”
Select your language and enter the appropriate subject, object, and possessive pronouns (e.g. he/him/his, she/her/hers, they/them/theirs)
You can add pronouns in multiple languages by tapping “Add Pronouns” again
Tap “Done” to save the changes

A few key things to note:

When you share your contact card, your pronouns are not shared by default. You can choose to include them if desired.
When sharing another person’s contact information, their pronouns are never shared to protect their privacy.
The pronouns you add are only used on your device by supported Apple apps. They are not shared with Apple or third-party developers.

So in summary, iOS 17 makes it easy to respectfully store and use people’s pronoun preferences through a dedicated, privacy-centric field in the Contacts app. It’s a small but meaningful step towards inclusivity.

Conclusion

And there you have it – the complete guide to taming your iPhone contacts. We’ve covered a lot of ground here, from understanding how contacts are stored and synced, to choosing your primary contacts bucket, to keeping your list lean and organized with some handy power user tips.

The most important thing is to find a system that works for you and stick with it. Whether you’re an iCloud aficionado or a Google guru, the key is consistency. A little bit of regular contact maintenance goes a long way in keeping your iPhone address book in tip-top shape.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you categorize contacts on an iPad?

You can categorize contacts on an iPad by creating lists. To do this, open the Contacts app, tap “Lists” in the top left, then tap “Add List”. Name your list, add contacts to it, and you’ll have a categorized group of contacts for easy access and group communication.

How to Organize contacts on iPhone quickly?

To tidy up iPhone contacts:

Merge duplicate contacts
Delete old or unwanted contacts
Organize contacts into lists
Ensure contacts are syncing to your preferred cloud account (iCloud, Google, etc.)
Add missing info like photos and nicknames
Regularly cleaning up and organizing your contacts keeps your address book efficient and up-to-date.

How can I share multiple contacts at once?

To share multiple contacts at once on iPhone:Open the Contacts app

Use two fingers to tap and hold one contact
Drag your fingers to select additional contacts
Lift your fingers, then tap “Share”
Choose your sharing method (e.g., Messages, Mail, AirDrop)
Send the selected contacts

Is there a way to lock sensitive contacts for privacy?

While the iPhone lacks a built-in way to lock individual contacts, you can protect sensitive information by:

Using Screen Time to restrict access to the Contacts app
Storing contact details in a password-protected Note
Using third-party apps like Folder Lock to encrypt selected contacts

What’s the best method to backup iPhone contacts securely?

The two best options for keeping iPhone contacts securely synced are iCloud and Google Contacts. iCloud integrates seamlessly with Apple devices, while Google Contacts offers cross-platform flexibility. Experts recommend choosing one primary contacts service to avoid sync issues. Contacts are kept updated across devices automatically.

How do I sort contacts by first name on an iPhone?

To sort iPhone contacts by first name:

Open the Settings app
Scroll down and tap “Contacts”
Tap “Sort Order”
Select “First, Last”

Your contacts will now be sorted alphabetically by first name. You can also choose “Last, First” to sort by last name instead.