Unable to merge duplicate contacts on iPhone

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Unable to merge duplicate contacts on iPhone

I tried to follow these steps in this thread I’m unable to merge duplicate contacts on… - Apple Community

I didn't get past #4 on this Step 1 - when I tap to turn off contacts on the email account, I get a warning that all contacts will be deleted from all devices. How do I proceed?

Step one

On iPhone/iPad

Go to settings>mail>accounts>tap any account and turn on contacts (repeat for all accounts).
Go to settings>Apple ID (your name at the top>iCloud>iCloud backup - turn on and select "back up now."
Go back to settings>Apple ID>iCloud>turn contacts off - choose to keep on device. Do not turn it back on yet!
Go to settings>mail>accounts>tap any account except iCloud - turn off contacts (repeat for all accounts).
Go to settings>mail>accounts>tap iCloud - turn on contacts. Stop here on the iPhone until you perform the Mac steps.

iPhone 11, iOS 16

Posted on Feb 13, 2023 9:59 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

melissa_m77

Community Specialist

Feb 14, 2023 5:35 PM in response to camscorner

Hello camscorner,

It sounds like you're having trouble merging duplicate contacts. Try the steps from: Get rid of duplicate contacts on iPhone - Apple Support

Resolve duplicate contacts

If you have more than one contact card with the same first and last name, you can merge the duplicate contacts.

1. Below My Card, tap Duplicates Found.

2. Tap individual contacts to review and merge them, or tap Merge All to merge all duplicate contacts.

Take care.

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Answer 2

karina184

Community Specialist

Feb 19, 2023 2:25 PM in response to camscorner

Hey camscorner,

At this point, we wouldn't suggest turning off the iCloud contacts to assist with merging. You mentioned that you previously attempted using these steps Get rid of duplicate contacts on iPhone - Apple Support but the merging would not proceed. If you try using a different network, does it still not proceed? Sometimes the issue may be related to the network. Also make sure you'e tried restarting the iPhone and try again: Restart your iPhone - Apple Support.

Keep us updated.

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Answer 3

camscorner Author

Level 1

54 points

Feb 17, 2023 5:34 AM in response to melissa_m77

What I am saying is when I click on Merge Contacts, it says Merging, then aborts and says Duplicates found. It does not work. So I tried the suggestions from another thread. I had a problem when I got to #4 above. Please see previous message. Obviously, I do not want to have to go through each contact manually.

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Answer 4

K_Wall44

Community Specialist

Feb 17, 2023 6:46 AM in response to camscorner

Hi camscorner,

Can you provide a screenshot of the complete message or tell us the complete message it shows when it states duplicates found? Is it telling you to resolve the duplicates first before it can be merged? If so, the steps we provided in the previous message will help you do so.

Best regards.

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Answer 5

camscorner Author

Level 1

54 points

Feb 19, 2023 9:09 AM in response to K_Wall44

Attached are the messages.

The 1st image shows there are 70 duplicates.
I click on View Duplicates and get the 2nd message - Merging contacts combine...
I then click on Merge Duplicates. Then the Merge All as shown in the 3rd image.
It shows the rotating circle with the message Merging duplicates.
After a few seconds, it stops (with no merge) and returns to the original message.

As I said in my original post here, I tried to follow the instructions shown in an earlier thread.When I got to step 4 in those instructions, when I tap to turn off contacts on the email account, I get a warning

that all contacts will be deleted from all devices. I did not want to proceed with the risk of losing all contacts.

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Unable to merge duplicate contacts on iPhone

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