I have duplicate contacts in my iCloud account and on my computer

OK, so I finally talked to tech support on the phone and a nice helpful person talked me through the solution. It is evidently common for this to happen (also with calendars) when doing an iOS upgrade - duplication happens when setting up iCloud. The duplicates (including the new "card" group) are not mirrors, they are unique and should be removed. Best way is to go into iCloud, under Account Settings/Advanced you will see "Restore Contacts". Choose the backup date/time that was the last one before you upgraded iOS. All the duplicates go away and you are good.

Hope this helps, thanks tygb for your ideas.

Contacts are only synced ( mirrored ) between primary Mac and connected Macs when same Apple ID and password are signed in on the same network the Apple ID say should be example1@icloud.com

Once syncing is complete Sync contacts and calendars between your Mac and iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

If contacts are merged from any Mac address book If you see duplicate contacts after setting up iCloud Contacts - Apple Support , they will be erased from connected devices and iCloud.com

Note : there could be exchange accounts added in different Mac and in Mac system preferences > internet accounts users do add accounts with gmail , yahoo ...or other services Add contacts from iCloud, Google and more to Contacts on Mac - Apple Support

If Apple ID say example2@gmail.com was signed in across all Macs on the same network the syncing will not be pure , in these scenarios , the duplicate contacts have to be merged from an individual Mac .

( 1 ) hold shift key leave the first contact and click on contacts if they are duplicated and are in series from Mac address book , they are selected ( select contacts in very less number ) and click on delete key on the keyboard , selecting 5000 contacts is avoided , and this will delete the contacts from signed in devices Delete contacts in Contacts on Mac - Apple Support

( 2 ) Duplicate groups can't be selected , they can only be deleted individually Delete groups and Smart Groups in Contacts on Mac - Apple Support ( empty groups can also be deleted , take cursor on top menu bar edit > click on delete group .

( 3 ) The card is created on Mac Set up your My Card in Contacts on Mac - Apple Support

The card can be edited , it has no connection with duplicate contacts , card can also be deleted click on card in all contacts , take cursor on edit > delete card .

Create a folder in iCloud.com say duplicate contacts , drag and drop duplicate contacts from groups , All contacts ( accumulate the duplicate contacts in a single folder ) .

Use a Mac to sign in with Apple ID credentials .

if devices like iPhone / iPad / different Mac are signed in as example1@Cloud.com it is pure syncing you delete a contact from Mac it deletes from other signed in devices .

If different devices are signed with gmail / yahoo services ....you have to delete duplicate contacts from respective device .

Deleting contacts from Mac is preferred rather from an iphone , because the contacts that are deleted can be recovered before 30 days from iCloud.com

In iPhone if contacts are deleted they can't be recovered .

I have answered your question , if you want to continue please ask once more what you can't understand .

Not clear on what you are saying. Several of the links above just link back to an article that says to go to Apple support. It's not clear what I should do.

I just updated the iOS on my macbook pro, and all of a sudden I have duplicate contacts and groups showing up in my address book on icloud, my mac mini, macbook pro, and iphone. There are also two "All iCloud" items on the groups menu on the left (only one "All Contacts" though). I am afraid to just remove duplicates if this is a mirror and I could wind up removing everything.

Can someone please give me a step by step on what to do?

Thank you!

Thank you, this is helpful. I have tried this with two contacts on my desktop (MacMini) and it works across all devices (iCloud, MacMini, MacBook Pro and iPhone).

Three questions:

1) I have 5,000 contacts (most work related). So manual drag and drop is not an option. Is there an alternative? What happens if I use the "remove duplicates" function?

2) I also have duplicates of all groups, and most match each other. But I have THREE "iCloud" groups (on all devices), two of which are empty. Is it OK if I delete the empty groups?

3) Since my iOS upgrade, there is a new group called "card". This appears on the MacMini, iPhone and iCloud, but not on the MacBook Pro. When I click on it, it appears to have only one copy of each card, and appears to include all cards. Is it possible that I could delete this "card" group and it would delete all of the duplicates?

FYI, for anyone reading, this happened when I upgraded the iOS on my laptop from High Sierra to Big Sur. All of a sudden, two of everything, three of "iCloud" (two empty), and an extra "card" group. I do a lot of work with contacts so this is a problem.

Was this article Restore contacts, calendars, bookmarks and more using iCloud.com - Apple Support