iPhone Contacts Duplicating Many Times via Outlook

I have almost all of my phone contacts being duplicated as many as 20 times.


In the notes section there is a comment that states:

This contact is read-only. To make changes, tap the link above to edit in Outlook


This note is repeated for as many contacts that have been duplicated


How do I stop this or fix it?

Posted on Apr 10, 2022 1:21 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 10, 2022 2:51 PM

You may have stored the same contacts in multiple email accounts.

Either remove the contacts from the rarely used email account or disable contacts from the rarely used mail account in the iOS Mail app.


Unlike some Android devices, contacts are neither stored locally on an iPhone nor in SIM. They are synced to an email account that you had Google, iCloud, AOL, Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo or any Other


6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 10, 2022 2:51 PM in response to Winpenny1

You may have stored the same contacts in multiple email accounts.

Either remove the contacts from the rarely used email account or disable contacts from the rarely used mail account in the iOS Mail app.


Unlike some Android devices, contacts are neither stored locally on an iPhone nor in SIM. They are synced to an email account that you had Google, iCloud, AOL, Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo or any Other


May 24, 2022 6:54 AM in response to SravanKrA

My employer (hospital) updates employee contacts to our Outlook which they linked to our iPhones. Ever since then, we all get many many duplicates as described at the top of this thread. I have many thousands of duplicates on my phone now and don't have time to go through them all the time to delete them. Is there a way to remove the 'loop' that continues to make them? (we need step by step instructions)

Thank you.

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iPhone Contacts Duplicating Many Times via Outlook

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