How to Transfer Contacts From Your Computer to Your iPhone

By Jay White

February 11, 2015   •   Fact checked by Dumb Little Man

Whether you are getting a new iPhone, resetting your old one, or setting up the first one you have ever had, contacts are one of the most important things that you can add. Many people make the mistake of entering them one by one. This can take hours, and comes with a high risk of transposing numbers, skipping important people, and simply wasting a lot of unnecessary time. Apple has tried to make it easy to add contacts. Whether you have saved them from an old iphone onto your computer, or you are moving contacts from an email account, or you have them in a system like outlook, there are many easy ways to do a sync that will only take you a few minutes.

1. Moving Contacts from an Email Account into your iPhone

Go to settings, and tap mail, contacts, calendar. From there, touch the “add account” button. Select the correct email service from the list. This could be outlook, google, yahoo, hotmail, aol, or something else. Next, enter your name and login information so that apple can sync with that program. Once this account is added in, slide the contacts bar to the green position, and your contacts from your email account will sync into your phone.

2. Moving Contacts from Your Computer to Your iPhone

Plug your iPhone into Itunes, and wait until it boots up your phone’s information. Once all syncs are done and the phone is ready to be adjusted manually, then go to the menu bar. Look for the advanced setting. Under the advanced menu settings, look for the option that tells you to replace information on the phone during the sync. There is a box that tells you that it will replace whatever items you check on the next sync from the ones in your computer’s itunes file. Check the box for contacts, then force another sync. This should replace the contacts through itunes. This method is best if you backed up your old iphone on your computer, bought a new one, and want the old contacts on it.

3. If you have contacts in a different computer format, go to the info tab, and let itunes know the format in which the contacts are synced. Check all the contact types that apply, and then hit the button marked apply to allow them to be converted into apple friendly contacts. From here, go back to itunes to install onto your phone.

Jay White

I started Dumb Little Man many years ago so great authors, writers and bloggers could share their life "hacks" and tips for success with everyone. I hope you find something you like!

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