Default Contacts Account Keeps Changing

Question

Default Contacts Account Keeps Changing

This has been a problem for maybe a decade. iCloud should be the default contact account/contact list even when a new account gets added, unless I'm asked. iOS should ask to change the default contact account before doing so. I'm not sure what the triggering event is but periodically over the last 12 years my default contact account gets switched to be my work one. Maybe when I get a new phone and have to add my work information to it but it also seems to happen when updating iOS too sometimes. Then all my new contacts from that point forward get saved over on that work contact account instead of iCloud. Then I have to periodically identify them and I think adding them to an iCloud account list I created is the right clean up steps for the problem. I hope that's the right clean up because otherwise I'm going to lose a lot of contacts when I eventually one day get a different job or retire. I know how to fix the problem each time it happens by changing the default contact account, but anyone have any idea why iOS keeps changing the default?

iPhone 14 Pro Max

Posted on Nov 6, 2023 5:08 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 6, 2023 5:23 PM in response to lightsecondsaway

If you have a company MS Exchange email account on your phone, or your account is managed under MDM, by allowing the company account you authorize the company IT department to set many of the parameters and security settings on your phone. And also, legally, all content on the phone is owned by the business. That is why many people carry a separate personal phone and don’t mix personal and business content.

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Answer 2

Dec 21, 2023 10:24 AM in response to lightsecondsaway

lightsecondsaway wrote:

They are not an administrator on my phone. Having a Microsoft exchange account on my phone from my company doesn’t give them control over most of the settings on my phone. It limits their ability to do things basically to the exchange account, I’m told.

I’m sorry, but it does give them control over security settings. You don’t have to believe me, but it is the only reasonable explanation, as no one else has this problem.

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Answer 3

Dec 21, 2023 7:49 AM in response to lightsecondsaway

Any business account gives the administrator control of many settings on your phone, whether they use it knowingly or just accept the defaults in the Apple Configurator app.

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Answer 4

Nov 7, 2023 7:56 AM in response to lightsecondsaway

I have two MS Exchange accounts, and neither of them change my default contacts, so most likely they are doing it, although they may not realize they are.

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Answer 5

Nov 6, 2023 8:03 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

I'll check with my work but I doubt they are doing it unless they are forced to. Like it's tied to something they're trying to do but there's no way to do it except by being primary default contact account. They also don't own my content. It's in our terms that they own the company content on my device but not my content. Some courts have found this to be the case too regardless of the company terms, which is positive. I do have an MS exchange.

Thank you for responding.

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Answer 6

Dec 21, 2023 6:56 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

They said they have the same setup for MS Exchange across android and iPhone. They are certain it’s not on their side. Which accounts are listed first in your iOS default account settings, please? Mine lists my exchange at the top and then iCloud below it.

I’m looking on the internet for how a company sets the default account if they don’t have control over my phone because my company doesn’t and am not seeing it so I suspect that might not be what’s happening.

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Answer 7

Dec 21, 2023 10:06 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

They are not an administrator on my phone. Having a Microsoft exchange account on my phone from my company doesn’t give them control over most of the settings on my phone. It limits their ability to do things basically to the exchange account, I’m told.

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Answer 8

Dec 21, 2023 10:38 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

That’s very kind of you to apologize, but you really don’t need to.

There are in fact other people who have had this problem.

Changing the default account contact list, s setting that isn’t locked down, doesn’t sound like it makes sense.

Yes, they have limited control around things like password length for security, but that is about it.

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Default Contacts Account Keeps Changing

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