TheGriffmeister
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Setting a default Group for new iCloud contacts in iOS 7

Hi there. I'm sure there's a simple solution here but it's always evaded me.

 

I've got my Contacts in iCloud. Works great, synching, etc. Very happy. iPhone 5 and 4, both iOS 7, Mac OSX Mountain Lion. All good.

 

Default account for new Contacts is iCloud... But you can't specify a group in iCloud?...

 

So, when adding a contact on my phone (hitting the plus and entering details) the result always goes to my iCloud 'top level'. But me and my wife share iCloud contacts and have 'His' and 'Her' groups of our own frequently used numbers set up.

 

The result is that the contact doesn't appear in either of our lists. We have to turn off our Groups and select 'All iCloud' (ie, the mash of 'his' contacts and 'her' contacts) to see it again. And there's no way to move it into a personal subgroup from the phone.

 

The only fix is to go home, open Contacts on my Mac and remember which new ones were added on phones and drag them into the 'his' and 'her' groups. (There's not even a quick way to see from the All Contacts list which names are new or which are already in which group so it really is from memory...)

 

Yes. The answer is to have different iCloud accounts for myself and my wife but it's great being able to share a single address book and if I add a number for a restaurant etc, she gets it too. And if her Mom changes numbers... Friends move... I have to phone her workmate, etc. It's great having one book that covers every eventuality.

 

Just weird that you can't admin groups (or even set a default group for new entries) on the phone itselft.

 

Had hoped for a fix in iOS 7 but no such luck - new contacts go to our big 'iCloud' list, rather than my personal 'His' sub-group (and there's no way to move them from the phone).

 

Anyone any ideas? Or similar problems that you've worked around?

iPhone 5, iOS 7

Posted on Sep 22, 2013 2:41 AM

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Q: Setting a default Group for new iCloud contacts in iOS 7

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  • by Dewdman42,

    Dewdman42 Dewdman42 May 9, 2014 7:26 PM in response to TheGriffmeister
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 9, 2014 7:26 PM in response to TheGriffmeister

    I am in a similar boat as you except I am just trying to seperate my personal contacts from business contacts and find it really kind of silly the way it currently is.  There doesn't appear to be any way to set a default group for when you add new contacts.  New contacts always go to "no group".  So you have to remember to go  manually move contacts into either personal or business on the mac, so that I can leave the iphone on "personal" most of the time and only see my personal contacts. 

     

    I guess there is a way to create more than one "Account" possibly, and then have a default account set to one or the other, but you can't easily move contacts between those two accounts later, especially on the iphone.

     

    anyway, agree with you, the groups feature is pretty much useless to me becuae on the iphone where I do the majority of my contact adding, new contacts always go to no group, so I have to leave the iphone all "show all contacts" anyway in order to see the contacts I recently added.

  • by Finder alum,

    Finder alum Finder alum May 25, 2015 10:05 PM in response to TheGriffmeister
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 25, 2015 10:05 PM in response to TheGriffmeister

    This isn't a full solution, but it's probably enough to make your whole day: if you first view a particular group on your phone, then adding a new contact causes it to be entered *in that group*:

    http://appletoolbox.com/2014/05/create-group-contacts-iphone-ipad-icloud/

     

    Also, if you sync to iTunes over a USB cable (or Wi-Fi), there's a checkbox for which group to put unassigned contacts into.

     

    However, I'm not sure how to do this with iCloud, and I'm still looking for that answer.

  • by imugly,

    imugly imugly Aug 17, 2015 4:09 AM in response to Finder alum
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 17, 2015 4:09 AM in response to Finder alum

    Hi, I notice that if you open Contact app, and create new Contact from there, you will be able to add the new contact to the Group which is being selected at that time. BUT we always create Contact from Phone app , then the new Contact always created in All Phone or All Icloud regardless specific group is selected to display in Phone App. This is ridiculous from Apple. Does anyone have any solution for this ? Thanks.

  • by imugly,

    imugly imugly Aug 17, 2015 4:11 AM in response to TheGriffmeister
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 17, 2015 4:11 AM in response to TheGriffmeister

    Hi TheGriffmeister, do you have any workaround for this silly Apple Contact ? Thanks

  • by DainBramage1,

    DainBramage1 DainBramage1 Sep 1, 2016 11:25 AM in response to Finder alum
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Sep 1, 2016 11:25 AM in response to Finder alum

    THANK YOU... works great!! As for doing it in iCloud, if you do the same thing there (select whichever group you want to add a contact to, click "+", choose New Contact), it will add the contact to the selected group.

     

    Would still like to be able to set a default group for new contacts, but until then, this'll do!

  • by DainBramage1,

    DainBramage1 DainBramage1 Sep 1, 2016 11:27 AM in response to imugly
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Sep 1, 2016 11:27 AM in response to imugly

    It's not ideal, but if you are still looking for a solution, see Finder App's 5/25/15 response.