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Some of my contacts have duplicated more than 40 times. I have tried deleting individually, in multiples. I have tried merging as well. They delete momentarily then all reappear. I have a mac, ipad and iphone.

Some of my contacts have duplicated more than 40 times. I have tried deleting individually, in multiples. I have tried merging as well. They delete momentarily then all reappear. I have a mac, ipad and iphone.


iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 12.4

Posted on Jun 25, 2022 5:22 AM

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Posted on Jun 26, 2022 4:34 AM

Thank you but this did not work as all the duplicates would be deleted and then almost immediately re-populate. I found a video on YouTube that had me sign-in to icloud on my Mac and go to contacts there. I was able to highlight the duplicates from there and click on the gear in the bottom left corner to delete. This deleted the duplicates from my Mac and also my iphone and ipad.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 26, 2022 4:34 AM in response to tygb

Thank you but this did not work as all the duplicates would be deleted and then almost immediately re-populate. I found a video on YouTube that had me sign-in to icloud on my Mac and go to contacts there. I was able to highlight the duplicates from there and click on the gear in the bottom left corner to delete. This deleted the duplicates from my Mac and also my iphone and ipad.

Jun 25, 2022 8:55 AM in response to ada197

Contacts can be duplicated , but they don't multiply ( repeat ) forty times or more .

If you have signed in with same Apple ID and password on the same network in Mac and iPhone or other apple devices the contacts on each device will get synced , if the same contacts are in devices they will be seen as duplicates ( as if you had already created contacts in Mac and the same are in iPhone ) .

To avoid it , disconnect the desired device by just signing out from Apple ID account , then delete the duplicate contacts in each device .

Second method .

When Apple ID is signed in Mac and application contact is turned on Set up iCloud features on Mac – Apple Support

If you select duplicate contacts from Mac and delete them , automatically they will be deleted from iCloud.com

The duplicates contacts ( they will be under iCloud section > in All iCloud ) are shown in Mac address book as well as in iCloud.com if these duplicate contacts are selected from Mac address book use command and A keys and click on command and delete key they will be deleted condition they must be in series and not randomly placed , as important contacts will also be deleted .

If they are randomly placed select important contacts that are not to be deleted in on my Mac section , just select use command and A keys , copy use command and C keys and paste use command and V keys .

The duplicate contacts can also be in various groups in iCloud.com Create a group of contacts on iCloud.com - Apple Support created and they will be shown in All contacts of Mac address book ( see the first option ) .

You need to find out duplicate contacts of address book search from various groups , All contacts , All iCloud and another way is create a group name as say duplicate contacts1 find out all duplicates and club in this folder and finally delete this folder it will be removed from address book / iCloud.com

The Iphone / iPad are synced , the duplicate contacts will be deleted .


Some of my contacts have duplicated more than 40 times. I have tried deleting individually, in multiples. I have tried merging as well. They delete momentarily then all reappear. I have a mac, ipad and iphone.

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