How to Backup Contacts on iPhone
September 22, 2019
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iPhones are a big part of our everyday lives. Whether it’s for work or play, they are increasingly part of everything that we do. As our iPhones are so well-used, it’s an unfortunate reality that many will be lost or damaged at some point. Some may even be stolen.
If you break or lose your iPhone without backing up your contacts book, you could lose contact details of colleagues, potential business leads, cherished friends or even family members. In 2015, more than two million iPhone owners reported having their devices stolen, so it’s important to back up your contacts on iPhone devices regularly.
On the flip side, even if you’re simply planning on upgrading to the newest device such as the iPhone XS or XR, it’s a good idea to back up the contacts stored on your existing iPhone. This will help to streamline the migration of your contacts book to your new handset.
Fortunately, there are several ways to backup and transfer your iPhone contacts to an external source:
How to backup contacts on iPhone using iCloud
iCloud is Apple’s cloud storage service, which allows you to store iPhone contacts, videos, photos, documents and other information with an active Apple ID.
There are two ways to transfer contacts from an iPhone to an iCloud account:
Making a full backup of your iPhone to iCloud
Step 1:
Backup your iPhone’s contents to iCloud by locating the “Settings” app.
Step 2:
Hit “iCloud” and then tap the “iCloud Backup” button.
Step 3:
If the “iCloud Backup” button was in the off position, move it to the on position. This will give iCloud permission to take all of your iPhone content into the cloud.
Note: For those who need to restore contacts, if you choose to backup using your iCloud account, you’ll need to migrate the entire contents of your backup to your new iPhone. This could overwrite files and important data already saved to your device.
Synchronizing your iPhone contacts to iCloud
Step 1:
Connect your iPhone to a secure Wi-Fi network.
Step 2:
Head to the “Settings” app on your iPhone and hit the “Apple ID” button
Step 3:
Select “iCloud” and tap on the “Contacts” button to turn on the synchronization feature.
Step 4:
The device will ask what you wish to do with existing local contacts stored on your iPhone device. Choose “Merge” to sync contacts immediately from your device to your iCloud
How to backup contacts on iPhone using iTunes
If you have iTunes software installed on your Mac or Macbook, you can also backup contacts on your iPhone to your computer via iTunes:
Step 1:
Load up the iTunes software on your Mac or Macbook.
Step 2:
Connect your iPhone to your Mac or Macbook via USB or Bluetooth, so that it recognizes the device in iTunes.
Step 3:
Select your iPhone device when visible on iTunes and hit “Back Up Now”. Sit and wait for your iPhone to import all of your data and settings onto your Mac or Macbook, stored within iTunes.
Note: As with iCloud backups, if you wish to restore your contacts from an iTunes account, you’ll need to migrate the entire contents of your backup to your iPhone. This could overwrite files and important data already saved to your device.
How to backup contacts on iPhone using Easy Backup
Easy Backup is an app designed to backup contacts stored on an iPhone. If that’s the case, all you need is to download the app to your device and follow step one below.
You may also wish to use it to restore lost contacts or to restore a backup from an old iPhone to a new iPhone. In that instance, once you have downloaded and installed the Easy Backup app on both devices, there are just two simple steps to follow.
Step 1 – Backup
Load up the app on the old device and tap “Backup now” and then “Tap to Upload”. This stores your contacts in a cloud-based backup.
One-tap iPhone contacts synchronization with Easy Backup
Step 2 – Restore
On the new iPhone, go to “My backups”. From here you can select the backup you just created on the old device.
Locate your local and cloud backups for your iPhone contacts
Then all you have to do is tap to download to restore any contact easily.
By downloading the backup and restoring it, you transfer the contacts to your new device
If you prefer the idea of backing up your iPhone contacts using an app, rather than connecting your iPhone to a Mac or Macbook and having to remember your Apple ID, you can download the Easy Backup app from the App Store.
It’s available in one of 15 languages, so whichever part of the world you’re from, you’ll be able to backup your iPhone contacts when you need to.
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