How to delete unnecessary contacts from iPhone. How to delete one or all contacts from iPhone. Easily delete contacts from iPhone

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Since the main function of the iPhone is to receive and make calls, it, of course, provides the ability to conveniently create and store contacts. Over time, the phone book tends to fill up, and, as a rule, most of the numbers will never be in demand. And then the need arises to clean the phone book.

As the owner of an Apple gadget, you can be sure that there is more than one way to clean excess telephone numbers. We will consider all methods further.

Method 1: Manual removal

The simplest method, which involves deleting each number individually.


Method 2: Hard reset

If you are preparing a device for sale, for example, then in addition to the phone book, you will need to delete other data stored on the device. In this case, it is rational to use the hard reset function, which will delete all content and settings.

Earlier on the site we have already discussed in detail how you can erase data from a device, so we will not dwell on this issue.

Method 3: iCloud

Using cloud storage iCloud, you can quickly get rid of all the contacts on your device.

  1. To do this, open the settings. At the top of the window, click on your Apple ID account.
  2. Open section "iCloud".
  3. Move the toggle switch near the item "Contacts" to the active position. The system will clarify whether it is necessary to combine the numbers with those already saved on the device. Select an item "Unite».
  4. Now you will need to access the web version of iCloud. To do this, go to any browser on your computer. Log in by entering your address Email and password.
  5. Once in the iCloud cloud, select the section "Contacts".
  6. A list of numbers from your iPhone will be displayed on the screen. If you need to selectively delete contacts, select them while holding down the Shift. If you plan to delete all contacts, select them with a keyboard shortcut Ctrl+A.
  7. Once you've finished selecting, you can move on to deleting. To do this, click on the gear icon in the lower left corner, and then select "Delete".
  8. Confirm your intention to delete the selected contacts.

Method 4: iTunes

It is thanks to the iTunes program that you have the opportunity to control your Apple gadget from your computer. You can also use it to clear your phone book.

To clear iPhone memory, you can delete your entire phone book or just unnecessary contacts. At the same time, it is possible to remove only those numbers that were downloaded via iCloud. To successfully complete the operation, just view step by step instructions and repeat all the steps on your smartphone.

Deleting contacts on iPhone one by one

This method does not require any software or other manipulations - all actions are carried out using the standard functionality of a smartphone.

This method is only suitable if you need to delete several contacts. To completely clear the phone book, it is ineffective and can take quite a long time.


How to delete contacts? To do this, we go to the “Contacts” section in the phone menu.

Next, select the contact that needs to be deleted from the phone’s memory. To do this, simply click on it with one touch. After which the contact page itself will open, where extended information about the users is indicated. Find the “Edit” button (for English version), which is located in the upper right side of the screen:


Next, scroll down the screen to the very end, where there should be a “Delete contact” button, highlighted in red. Click on it, and the contact will be deleted from the phone’s memory:


If you want to selectively delete contacts from your smartphone, carefully check whether you opened the correct contact, because it will be impossible to restore the erased information.


How to delete all contacts at once via iTunes?

If you need to completely clear the contacts list on your iPhone, connect it to your computer and launch iTunes. Log in to your own account by entering your password and login.

After that, click on the button on the right top corner where your device icon is displayed:


Next, a window will open with information about your iPhone. After that, click on the “Information” button and wait for a new window to open. Find the item “Synchronize contacts” and select it with a checkmark. Scroll down and select “All contacts”:


After this, the system will give you a warning window that all contacts will be replaced and ask if we want to continue. Select the "Replace Information" button:


After completing all the above steps, contacts from your iPhone will be completely deleted. As a rule, this procedure takes no more than 5-7 minutes. If you clear the phone book manually, provided that it has 50 contacts, it can take from 20 minutes to half an hour.

How to delete contacts that were downloaded via iCloud?

iOS is a smart system that can import your friends' contacts from various social networks, but sometimes this overloads the phone book, leads to the creation of duplicates, etc. How to delete exactly those contacts that are automatically loaded by the system from iCloud?

To do this, go to the settings section of your phone and select your personal data:


Find iCloud in the list and click on it. A new screen will open, showing statistics on how full the storage is, as well as a list of applications whose data is synchronized with the storage. In this list, find the “Contacts” item:


And turn off the slider, it should turn gray. After this, the system will ask you what you want to do with those contacts that were synchronized before - delete or leave in the device memory. You must select delete. After this, all contacts that were transferred via iCloud will be completely deleted.

How to selectively delete contacts using a special application?

Due to the fact that the iPhone is a rather limited device in terms of working with contacts and deleting them, developers release special applications to simplify the procedure for clearing contacts. One of these is Smart Merge. This application allows you not only to clear your contact book, but also to selectively delete contacts. Let's look at how to use it.

First you need to find and download the application on your phone. After downloading, click on the corresponding shortcut on the desktop of your smartphone. The application will start. Before you start, it will ask for access to your contacts - you must open it for Smart Merge.

After this it will open work panel applications where you must select “All contacts”:


After that, click on the pencil icon at the top right of the screen and select from the list all the contacts that you would like to delete:


Once selected, look for the trash can icon in the lower right corner and click on it. All selected contacts will be deleted from the phone memory:


You can also use various file managers, which also allow you to manage contacts. They are presented in various options. We will look at the method using iTools. To clean the contacts you need to:
  • Install the program on your PC and connect your iPhone to it;
  • In the working window, enter the following path: privatevarmobileLibraryAddressBook
  • Find files in the folder that opens sqlitedb And AddressBookImages.sqlitedb and delete them:


Reboot your smartphone and you’re done – all contacts are deleted.

The fastest and most reliable way

The simplest and in a fast way deleting contacts from iPhone is full reset phone. To do this, go to the settings and follow the following path: Basic - Reset - Erase content and settings:


Remember that this method involves deleting not only user data in your phone book, but also all files and settings.

Video assistant

In the following video you can clearly see how you can selectively delete contacts on iPhone, as well as how to quickly delete all contacts at once:


So, there are several ways to delete contacts from iPhone. They allow you to perform group, selective or complete clearing of the phone book. The choice of one method or another depends only on the personal needs of the user.

As you know, phone numbers that you write down in the iPhone are saved only in its memory and are not stored on the SIM card. To be honest, in our opinion, this is not entirely correct, but there is no way out. Therefore, in order not to lose contacts, you need them, for example, with Outlook.

If you just purchased, say, a brand new iPhone 4S, then you will not find any contact entries in it, except for one standard one. It’s a completely different matter when you purchase a device secondhand that has been used for a certain time. In this case, you will receive a phone that will contain the telephone numbers of the previous owner, and since you clearly have no use for them, you need to get rid of them. Theoretically, you can delete one contact at a time, but what to do if there are hundreds of them? Is there really no function that would allow you to immediately clean your phone? There is, but it is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and start in order.

Deleting individual phone numbers

  • To do this, you need to go to the “Phone” section on your iPhone, select “Contacts”, find the desired contact and click on it.
  • After this, you will see the details of the person whose number you want to delete. In the upper right corner there is a “Change” button - click on it, scroll down the page and click on the “Delete contact” button. Now you confirm the action and, voila, the number is no longer there.

Delete all contacts at once

If you decide to delete all phone numbers at once, then you will have to resort to a different way to solve this problem.

  • To do this, launch iTunes, connect the phone to the computer using a cable.
  • In iTunes, in the “Devices” section, select our gadget, then go to the “Information” tab.
  • Here you need to synchronize contacts with the “Windows Contact Book” or Outlook (don’t forget to check the box next to the selected item!), select “All contacts” just below. An important detail - it is necessary that the program with which your iPhone will be synchronized is empty, because only in this case will the phone be cleared of numbers.
  • Now we go down a little lower and in the “Replace the following information on this iPhone” field, check the box next to the “Contacts” item.
  • Now click on the “Apply” button. We wait until the procedure is completed (it can take up to several minutes) and, voila, your phone is cleared of information you don’t need.

It is worth noting that this operation is available for owners of devices such as iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S and 5.

Accumulated information sooner or later needs to be systematized. This rule fully applies to address book smartphone, the number of entries in which is constantly increasing. Over time, some stored data may no longer be relevant. Having disappeared from your sight, a person can change their phone number, email address or Skype login. In this case, it is useful to know how to delete all contacts from iPhone or perform selective editing.

The structure of the address book in iOS remains virtually unchanged with the release of latest versions operating system. The changes are cosmetic in nature, without affecting the main functions. Thanks to this, contact management for any iPhone model, be it 4S, 5, SE, 6, 7, 8 or X, is absolutely identical. You can work with them in a separate application or directly in the phone book.

Apple is constantly increasing the autonomy of the iPhone, reducing its dependence on the computer and iTunes. Each a new version The program gets rid of unnecessary functions that can be performed on the smartphone itself. To this day, iTunes is not needed to update the firmware, control software and contact synchronization. All this is done over the air using wireless networks.

Individual removal

For user safety and protection from erroneous actions, iOS does not have the ability to mass delete address book entries. You cannot select several subscribers at once and completely erase them in one motion. This rule works regardless of whether you are holding the 4th or 10th iPhone in your hands. The need to clear the list of duplicates is often caused by Viber, WhatsApp messengers or social network clients who have access to the address book.

  1. In order to clear the saved list of subscribers, we use the single deletion mode. We open the card that we are going to remove from the list. Click on the button indicated by the arrow.
  1. Let's scroll through several screens on which you can view all the records related to the subscriber. At the very bottom there is a button highlighted with a frame. Click on it to erase data.
  1. We confirm the decision by using the corresponding pop-up menu item. Remote contact will be automatically erased from the main area and favorites. The number will only be saved in the black list if it was previously placed there.

It will be impossible to cancel this action in case of an error and return the contact.

Complete removal

You can completely delete all data associated with your account from your phone only if you disable synchronization. You can find the necessary parameters in two places.

  1. Open the settings and go to the marked item.
  1. Using the preview, we look at which account mentions the “Contacts” item. By default, the storage that is set as the primary storage for synchronization is placed at the top of the list.
  1. If you use several accounts, open the duplicate ones first. We move the marked switch to the “Off” position.
  1. The same operation performed in the master record will require confirmation. To delete the entire address book, select the specified pop-up menu item.

iCloud Settings

Most users use only a proprietary phone number to store phone numbers. cloud service Apple. In this case, you can choose more quick method erasing.

  1. Open the main settings page. At the top of the screen, in the area indicated by a frame, are iCloud management options. Click on it to enter the main menu.

Over a long time of using a phone, it can accumulate a lot of telephone contacts, which sooner or later you want to get rid of. Apple devices have several ways to remove them all. They are divided into standard ones - using functions natively present on the iPhone and iPad, and additional ones - using third-party programs that require a jailbroken device.

How to delete all contacts from iPad and iPhone 4, 4s, 5, 5s, 6, 6s

The first method is suitable for deleting contacts one by one, since you will have to repeat the same steps for each number over and over again.

Manual removal

To delete each number separately without using third party programs, follow these steps:

  • Open the Contacts app.
  • Select the one you need from the list and click on it to open detailed information.
  • Click the “Change” button to open the settings.
  • Scroll down and click on the red rectangle that says “Delete contact.”
  • Press the red button again to confirm the action.

Quickly clear the list of numbers through the device settings

This method will allow without third party programs and the presence of the Internet, erase contacts completely immediately. But be careful, using this method will also erase all files and applications on the device, and the settings will be reset to factory settings. Use this instruction only as a last resort or after creating backup copy all data.

  • Open the phone settings.
  • Go to the “Basic” section.
  • Open the “Reset” section.
  • Click the “Erase content and settings” button and confirm the action.

Cleaning via iTunes

This method also applies to the standard ones, since we only need the official Apple app- iTunes:

  • Let's open your account iTunes via a computer, having previously connected the devices via a USB adapter.
  • Click on the iPhone icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
  • Move to the “Information” section.
  • We activate the “Synchronize contacts with Windows Contacs” function and check the box next to the words “All contacts”.
  • Go to the “Add-ons” section and check the “Contacts” subsection. Click the “Apply” button.
  • A notification will appear stating that the numbers will be lost because the iTunes settings have changed. Confirm the action and wait for the process to complete.

Removal via iCloud

If you have enabled device synchronization with the ICloud service, then when you disable it, the numbers will be deleted:

Via Erase Contacts

Erase Contacts – third party application, which will allow you to clear the list of numbers with one click. You can download it through the unofficial Cydia store after jailbreaking your device:

Using ITools

ITools - file manager for Apple devices, which will allow us to dig into the system folders, and this, in turn, will help us edit the contact list:
We connect the device to the computer.



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