How to Bulk Delete Contacts on iPhone.how to delete multiple contacts on iphone,
Do you have a lot of outdated or duplicate contacts in your iPhone’s address book? You probably want to get rid of them. But, oddly enough, in the Contacts app – even after more than a dozen iOS iterations – there is no way to delete multiple contacts. Even removing a single contact is a chore!
Luckily, you can use alternative ways to bulk delete contacts on iPhone. Third party cleaning tools for contacts or your Mac or PC should help you with this.
Bulk Delete iPhone Contacts Using Third-Party Contact Cleanup Apps
It takes a few taps to remove an individual contact from the Contacts app on your iPhone. You have to select the entry, press Edit, scroll to the end, press Delete Contact and press Delete again to confirm.
This is tedious and impracticable if you have hundreds of contacts that you want to delete. Therefore, the fastest and most convenient way is to use a third party contact manager or cleanup tool.
A quick search in the iOS App Store reveals several apps that allow you to delete contacts in bulk. After testing, here are a couple of solid user ratings that helped us get the job done without fuss: delete contacts + and clean up contacts.
Warning: Contact cleaning tools require access to your contacts. If this confuses you, go to methods that assume using a PC or Mac.
Delete contacts +
Delete Contacts + not only allows you to bulk delete contacts, but also provides additional features (which cost $ 3.99) that allow you to merge or remove duplicate contacts. However, the free version should be more than enough for the task at hand.
After downloading and installing Delete Contacts + on iPhone, open the app and select the Backup option to back up your contact information. This should help you restore them later.
Then select the “All Contacts” option at the top of the screen. Or tap the Accounts option to view contacts by account protocol such as CardDAV or Exchange.
Then you have to set the switches next to the contacts you want to remove. Or tap All to select all and uncheck the boxes for the contacts you want to keep. When you have done this, click on “Delete”.
Alternatively, you can scroll down the main screen of the Delete Contacts + app and select a preset filter like No Name, No Phone, No Email, etc. to quickly filter and delete unneeded contacts.
Cleaning up contacts
Cleaning up contacts works in the same way as Delete contacts +. This helps reduce address book clutter for free, but hides features to merge, move, and export contacts for $ 1.99 per in-app purchase.
The app has a “Backups” tab where you can create a full backup of your iPhone contact information. Don’t forget to use it. Then you can switch to the Contacts tab and click All Contacts or Accounts to view your contacts. When you’re done selecting the items you want to delete, tap the trash can icon.
Bulk Delete iPhone Contacts Using the Contacts App on Mac
Unlike iPhone, the Contacts app on Mac lets you select and delete multiple contacts at once. If you sync your iCloud or third-party address book between both devices, any changes made on your Mac will also show up on your iPhone.
So, start by opening the Contacts app on your Mac (choose Launchpad> Contacts). Then select All Contacts or an address book (such as iCloud or Exchange) and Command-select your contacts.
Or use Shift + Up / Down arrow keys to auto-select multiple items. You can also select all items in the address book by pressing Command + A, and then deselect the items you want to keep by holding down the Command key.
Then press the Delete key. Or Control-click the selected items and choose Remove Cards. Finally, select “Delete” to remove all selected contacts.
Bulk Delete iPhone Contacts Using the Contacts Web App at iCloud.com
If you’re using a PC instead of a Mac (or have a Mac with a different Apple ID), you can bulk delete contacts using the Apple Contacts web app at iCloud.com. But this only applies to contacts that you sync via iCloud.
Start by signing in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID and select Contacts from the iCloud launcher. Then select the contacts you want to delete by holding down the Control or Command key.
Or press Control + A or Command + A to select all contacts. Then you can hold down the Control or Command key and deselect the items you want to keep. Finally, press the Delete key and select Delete to confirm.
If you also use third-party accounts like Gmail or Outlook to sync contacts, you can delete contacts in bulk using the appropriate web apps like Google Contacts or Outlook People and your changes will be reflected on iPhone.
Bulk Delete All iPhone Contacts From a Source Account
If you want to delete all contact data from a specific source (such as iCloud, Gmail, or Outlook), iPhone will automatically delete it when you disconnect from the Contacts app.
To do this, open the Settings app, tap Contacts and select Accounts. Then tap the appropriate account and turn off the switch next to contacts. Confirm by clicking Remove from My iPhone.
Dropping Off Contact
As you just saw, you have several ways to bulk delete contacts on iPhone. Just pick the method that works best for you and you can quickly clear the clutter and take control of the Contacts app.