How to Back up iPhone Contacts to iCloud or Your Computer Quickly

The contacts on your iPhone store not only the name and phone number but more details, such as email, address, etc. Therefore, it is one of the most important data. However, Apple does not allow users to write anything on the SIM card from an iPhone or iPad. In other words, the Contacts app is the only place to keep the information on your device. To avoid data loss, you'd better back up the contacts on your iPhone following our tutorial.

iPhone Contacts Backup

Way 1. How to Backup iPhone Contacts to iTunes

You can save contacts from an iPhone to a computer using iTunes or Finder, but it is difficult to restore them to your device. More importantly, iTunes only creates a backup for your entire device but not saves the contacts independently. From this point, we recommend FoneLab iOS Data Backup & Restore. It won't re-encode your iPhone contacts. Plus, the concise design streamlines the workflow and enables beginners to find what they want easily.

Aiseesoft iOS Data Backup and Restore

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FoneLab iOS Data Backup & Restore - Best Contact Backup Tool

  • Back up contacts on an iPhone or iPad with one click.
  • Keep the original condition of your iPhone contacts.
  • Protect contact backup with a password.
  • Restore contacts to your iPhone without interrupting existing data.
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How to Archive Contacts on Your iPhone

Step 1.
Connect to your iPhone

Install the best iPhone contact backup software on your PC. There is another version for macOS. When you wish to save contacts from your iPhone to your PC, launch the software, and connect your device to the same PC with a Lightning cable. Click the iOS Data Backup button to move on.

iOS Data Backup Restore Main Interface
Step 2.
Select the data type

On the next window, you will be asked to make a Standard backup or an Encrypted backup. If you select the latter, write down a password. Click the Start button to enter the data type window. Make sure to check the box next to Contacts.

Select File Type
Step 3.
Archive iPhone contacts

Once you are done with data type selection, click on the Next button to begin saving contacts on your iPhone to the computer.

Backup Completed

When you want to see or restore the contacts, choose the Restore iOS Data option, select the contact backup file, and you can preview the contacts, and restore them to your iPhone or computer.

Way 2. How to Backup Contacts on iPhone Using iCloud

iCloud is the easiest way to save iPhone contacts without a computer. It backs up your contacts to cloud servers through an internet connection. Each user can get 5GB of free storage in iCloud, but Apple offers a variety of plans to expand the storage capacity. The cloud service makes contact backup simple.

However, the only way to retrieve your contacts is to restore the iCloud backup. It means that you have to erase your device and then restore it during the setup process. If you don't mind, here are the steps below.

Contact iCloud
Step 1.
Make sure to connect your iPhone to internet connectivity. You'd better use a Wi-Fi network.
Step 2.
Run the Settings app from the home screen, and tap on the profile. Then head to the iCloud tab and check the storage left at the top of the screen.
Step 3.
If there is enough space, toggle on the Contacts option on the list. Then tap the iCloud Backup button, and turn it on. Next, iCloud will archive your iPhone contacts immediately.

Once you turn on iCloud Backup, it will back up any changes to your iPhone contacts automatically. To save the changes manually, tap the Back Up Now button instead.

Way 3. How to Send Contacts from iPhone to Mac with AirDrop

Another way to back up your iPhone contacts is Gmail. So that you can access these contacts on any device with a browser or the Gmail app. The downside is that you cannot merge or restore these contacts to your iPhone. This way requires a Gmail account. If you do not have one, sign up for one for free.

Backup Gmail
Step 1.
Open the Settings app on your iPhone, scroll down, and choose Accounts & Passwords or Mail.
Step 2.
Tap Accounts, and press the Add Account button. Choose the email provider. Here we select Google and enter the email address and password.
Step 3.
Then tap Gmail, and choose your email address. Then toggle on Contacts. After a while, you can access your Gmail account, and check if the iPhone contacts are saved successfully.

Google provides 15GB of free storage to each account. After backup, you can access your account on any device and view your iPhone contacts. However, you cannot restore them to the Contacts app anymore.

Way 4. How Can I Backup My iPhone Contacts to Email (Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, etc.)

Will I lose my contacts if I restore my iPhone?

Restoring an iPhone will completely remove your settings and personal information, including contacts, photos, call history, and more. So, you'd better make a backup for your entire device before restoring your iPhone.

Can I transfer entire iPhone contacts via SIM card?

No, you cannot write iPhone contacts to a SIM card directly. The alternative solution is syncing iPhone contacts to iCloud, and then transferring them to an Android phone. Here you can copy the contacts to a SIM card.

Can I AirDrop all my contacts?

AirDrop is not a good choice to sync all contacts. On the source iPhone, open the Contacts app, select a contact, tap Share Contact, press AirDrop, and select the target iOS device. This feature can only sync one contact per time.

Conclusion

Now, you should understand how to back up contacts on your iPhone to a computer, iCloud, or email account. iCloud is a simple way to do the job without extra hardware. A Gmail account enables you to access iPhone contacts anywhere. FoneLab iOS Data Backup & Restore is a flexible option to save and restore your iPhone contacts. If you encounter other problems, please feel free to contact us by leaving a message below this post.

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