How To Get Your Contacts From One Iphone To Another

You can transfer all your contacts from one iPhone to another with iCloud, allowing you to use a new device without losing any important contact info.
Using an iCloud backup, you can transfer your contacts even if your older iPhone is lost or no longer working.
If you have both iPhones, you can also connect them both to the same Apple ID and merge their contacts.
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The smoothest way to transfer contacts from one iPhone to another is to bring the phones into a cell phone store and ask the person behind the desk to do it for you.

But that approach, while reliable, is time consuming. And besides, you're more than capable of transferring your iPhone contacts yourself. All you need to do is use your iCloud account.

Before anything, though, you should make sure to back up your device frequently. If you have backups, a lost phone won't mean lost contacts (or pictures, messages, calendars, and more).

Here's how to transfer contacts between iPhones, in two ways.

How to transfer iPhone contacts to a new iPhone using iCloud syncing

If you have both your old iPhone and your new phone and both are working, then it's easy to load the contacts onto the new phone. Just make sure you're somewhere with a stable Wi-Fi network when you do so.

1. Connect both phones to the Wi-Fi network and log into the same Apple ID account on both.

2. On the old phone, open the Settings app, then tap on your Apple ID profile (your name and picture at the top of the Settings page).

3. Tap the iCloud tab.

4. Tap Contacts, and when the pop-up reading "What would you like to do with existing local contacts on your iPhone?" appears, select "Merge."

If the toggle button is already switched on, then your contacts are already saved to iCloud, and they should appear on any device that's connected to your Apple ID.

5. Now open the contacts window on the new phone and drag down to have it refresh; the contacts should appear quickly.

How to transfer iPhone contacts to a new iPhone using an iCloud backup

If iCloud syncing didn't work, or if you don't have your old phone anymore (or it's not working properly), you can use the contacts backed up to your iCloud account to load contact information onto a new iPhone.

To do this, however, you'll need to have backed them up beforehand.

For the record, this method also works fine if the old phone is operable and is right there with you.

1. Turn on the new iPhone and follow the steps to join a Wi-Fi network.

2. Log into your Apple ID using the same email and password you used with your old phone.

3. When the "Apps and Data" screen loads, tap "Restore from iCloud Backup."

4. Choose the most recent backup, and your contacts — along with everything else on the backup — will automatically be loaded onto your new phone.

Note that if you've already set up the newer phone, or if it's not a brand new iPhone, you can erase all the data on the phone and then restore it using an iCloud backup.

Whichever way you do it, it can't be undone, unless you have another backup to load onto the phone.

Related coverage from Tech Reference:

How to change your iCloud password on your iPhone to protect your privacy
How to manage your iCloud storage on a Mac computer and buy additional gigabytes
How to log into iCloud on your iPhone with an Apple ID, to access and manage your iCloud account
How to print contacts from your iPhone using iCloud, to have physical copies whenever you need them
How to add contacts to your iPhone in 3 different ways

Steven John

Freelance Writer

Steven John is a freelance writer living near New York City by way of 12 years in Los Angeles, four in Boston, and the first 18 near DC. When not writing or spending time with his wife and kids, he can occasionally be found climbing mountains. His writing is spread across the web, and his books can be found at www.stevenjohnbooks.com.