How to delete Read-only Contact on iPhone

I can see that when I add a new contact to write in whatsapp and I try to deleted it, the iphone present the error message tha you say. But if I delete the messege on whatsapp and y try to delete the contact it is deteleted correctly

Close Contacts app. then

Settings, your name, iCloud

Turn off Contacts

Say yes delete contacts from device

Restart the phone

Open Contacts app. It should be empty.

(If Contacts not empty then you have contacts stored elsewhere and it needs to be addressed -come back)

Assuming they are empty, turn Contacts back on in iCloud settings as above

Try again.

So, I found a solution.

There’s several hundred “Me toos,” and more than this one thread containing complaints recently. Clearly this IS a new bug, and I concur it was introduced in 15

This is how I fixed it after observing the behavior:

1. open the affected contact, remove ALL fields so there’s no data left (no phone, no name, no email, etc. - clear EVERY field)
2. you will not be able to hit “Done,” until there’s at least some info somewhere, so I put three blank spaces in the field for “Notes” and then was able to hit “Done.”
3. close out Contacts, and reopen it - if you did like me, you’ll have a ton of “No names” at the bottom of your contacts
4. you should now be able to successfully remove these Contacts that you could not before

Sincerely,

Someone who works in software QA for decades…

[Edited by Moderator]

I am also having the same problem. If I add a co tact and then try to immediately delete it I get the same error. I turned off contacts for all of my email accounts, so only contact are on in my iCloud account. I have also turned off contacts in iCloud and deleted all contact from iPhone (contacts are then completely empty). After turning back on and letting phone contact populate I still have the contact I want to delete and receive the same error. I have never had this problem prior to iOS 15. Is there a way to delete this contact?

If you turned off all the accounts (check!) and you still have contacts then they are also on the iphone's memory. You will have to delete them once you have checked that they are also on the email accounts

It's a manual process.

Sign into each email accounts on a computer browser and print off the contacts.

If the above did not work then use a computer to sign into iCloud.com and enter Contacts

Or use Mac contacts app

Try to delete it there.

If that fails try the more complex process that has some risks.

In iCloud.com or in the Mac Contacts, select all contacts and "export as vcf"

(This is a good backup strategy anyway and should be done regularly)

Look at the resultant folder of vcards and make sure they are all there.

Delete the bad one from the folder

Clear all your contacts from iCloud or the Mac contacts app.

Import the modified folder of vcards

NB this will add all the vcards to whatever is there so make sure you have cleared all existing contacts first.

This means that you have your contacts saved in multiple accounts. Try to deactivate the multiple and leave one open. Go to settings go to contacts go to accounts. You will see the multiple accounts turn off contacts unwanted account and leave the main account opened. Close the app and launch the contact icon again and try to delete. This apply to those who have multiple email accounts. I hope this helps!

I have tried logging into iCloud online and deleting contacts. After doing so I am able to re-enable contacts on my phone and delete.

As a test I kept contact disable on my phone iCloud account, and reverified contacts were off on all other accounts). Then I added a contact and tried to delete, but kept getting same error. In order to delete I had to turn back on contacts, merge contacts, log into iCloud on desktop and delete, then turn off/on contacts on phone in order to delete. Why are all contacts read-only even if it is on a single device and/or I disable contacts in iCloud? This is quite cumbersome.

Hey, I had the same problem for the past few days and managed to delete the contact throughout my computer.

Simply by login in my iCloud account > Contacts > Selecting the contact I wanted to delete > Delete contact.

I tried many different things, but this one worked.

Hope it can help someone else as well.

I don’t know if this is an update issue, but prior to iOS 15 I also didn’t have this problem. Previously I was able to have contacts on for multiple accounts and was able to delete with no problem. Even after turning off all co tact’s on all accounts I still can’t delete. I have to log in online to delete and that doesn’t always work while testing either. Even if I turn off contacts on all accounts on my phone and simply store the contact on my phone it will not delete. I have to turn back on, merge contacts, rinse and repeat until it deletes. Wish there was a better way.

Export all your iCloud contacts to vcf folder (or similarly if you are on a different provider to csv file)

Having an offline backup is essential anyway.

Then clear out the lot and re-import from the folder (or file.)

We don't know a solution because the rpoblem is not known to us yet. We are only users like you

Users here very rarely tell us what email address they are using to host their contacts.

Personally I don't have this problem using iCloud contacts.

Workarounds were offered earlier on in this thread

Delete it from WhatsApp it should solve the problem!! Also put in the number and see if u haven’t double saved it, like first with one name then the order!! Delete the first name you save it then go on WhatsApp and delete the contact as well it should fix it

I was not able to delete some contacts from either of my iOS devices (iPad / iPhone), but I was able to delete them from my MacBook Pro (MacOS). Once deleted from MacOS, as the contacts are synched through iCloud on all devices, they were deleted from my iOS devices as well.