Is there any way to copy your contacts to the sim?

1. iOS would create two entries if a single contact has two numbers, one for each. Like all other phones do.
2. Numbers disgarded will be determined by alphabetical order. Like they would for every phone that also has this limitation privided they selected the industry standard Copy All option. Otherwise they can pick and choose from their contact list which ones they want to copy if they have more than the maximum allowed phone numbers that can be stored on a sim card. Which is also an industry standard option.
3. Average consumers will have to learn how sim card storage works via google for instance or opening the manual instructions on the iPhone or by speaking to their carrier who are more than happy to explain to the customer that by putting the contacts on their sim card they can use their servers to push these numbers to a new sim in the event their current one becomes faulty for whatever reason and they decided to get another manufacturers phone as a consequence.
4. He/she will think "Well, atleast I managed to keep whopping huge 500 phone numbers. Saved myself a few hours there."

Next question?

PS. Apart from facebook fanatics who don't actually know 90% of the people they friended, do you know anyone with more than 500 phone numbers? Like most I know alot of people, and like a lot of other people I work for a pretty big company and have a company phone... I haven't managed to hit that magic number yet on either of the phones and I can't think of anyone who I know that has. No doubt there might be people out there with more than 500 phone numbers in their contact list but then they find themselves in the same boat as every other person on the entire planet that uses these sim cards in a commerically available phone.

They haven't lost out on anything by gaining this feature by not being able to create an exact replica of the iPhone Contact list, but they will gain something by seeing it introduced because I am willing to say that the iPhone is the only smartphone/mobilephone on the market within the last decade missing this feature.

I would also like to point out that out of all the topics created in this section of the forum within the last 24 hours this is one of the most viewed by visitors and thus this question has stoked interest in knowing how to get this feature working... except they learnt harshly that it doesn't exist on their phone. I would imagine there were a couple of "Eh?!" moments when they found that out. As for what they thought when they saw someone doing everything he could to stop it from coming to iPhone, I cannot say. Because like them I cannot understand why such a feature would be so vigorously opposed, especial;ly when that sim contact list can be transferred between different carriers when using a PAC code to transfer your old number to a new contract with a different company.

Im afraid you can't. The iPhone does use the SIM card for storage, however if you already have contacts on your SIM card the iPhone can import contacts from a SIM card, but cannot write to a SIM card. Contacts are "backed up" on your computer, in whatever app you use for that purpose (e.g. Address Book, Outlook).

Apple hasn't 'forgotten'. It's just not possible technically.

No SIM card can store the wealth of contact information a smartphone can store. Multiple numbers, contact photos, postal addresses, emails, websites, and notes per contact.

If copying contact data to a SIM you'd lose all but one number and name per contact. Then people would complain that the phone doesn't copy data to the SIM properly.

What do you mean it is not possible from a technical point of view?

It has been possible since the days of 2G being introduced in the time antiquity, ofcourse it is possible. People don't want to store pictures or what other data there is held in Apple's version of the contact address book, they just want to store the contacts name and phone numbers. As this is entirely possible and has been for the best part of ten years or more with all other mobile phone and smart phone manufacturers it would be possible with the iPhone if Apple had simply just remembered that people want to use this type of functionality.

If Apple genuinly didn't forget then they made a pretty big error in assuming it's customers do not want to use one of the most basic and most regularly used features in mobile and smart phones.

ProjectVRD wrote:

People don't want to store pictures or what other data there is held in Apple's version of the contact address book, they just want to store the contacts name and phone numbers.

I don't? I don't want to store email addresses, contact photos? I don't want to store street address? Web addresses? LiveProfile pins? Birthdays? And here I thought I did want to store those things. Silly me. Thank you for setting me straight! 😉

Show me any phone and SIM card combination that can store all the data an iPhone (or most other smartphone) can store, and I'll gladly stand corrected.

I'm talking about multiple numbers of multiple types, multiple email addresses, multiple home/work addresses, multiple web addresses, geocodes, notes, birthdays, family relationships, and photos PER CONTACT.

I didn't say that and nor did the OP ask for that.

The OP asked how to transfer contact information on to his simcard, like that on all other smart and basic mobile phones. The contact name and the contact number. This is something we both know has been a standard and ever present feature on all other phones since the 1990's.

Apple can introduce this feature, only the information needed to be stored can be stored on the sim. iOS will be flexible enough to strip both the irrelevent and the non-compliant information from the transfer, such as email, photo's etc...

Not sure why you are trying to suggest that photo's and other stuff would go over when analysing my posts, I haven't alluded to that. The only point I am making is what I have explained here, our sims can then be used in any future smart phone from another manufacturer with the most important details needed for a telephone, the telephone numbers.

Would you not agree that this is a good, if not simple and basic, feature?

Not really Meg, having all that stuff on a simcard would be wonderful. But it is just isn't technically feasible yet because of the storage capacity on simcards, you are confusing what is possible and has been in place already with what you ideally want in a perfect world. So if the storage capacity allows for only 250/500 contact names and contact phone numbers then people will happily accept that if it allows you to transfer the basic contact information to another phone when upgrade to another manufacturer.

So let's stay within the realms of realism here and the equipment we have at hand, I would love to have true holographic display on an iPhone 5 within the next couple of years. But just because I say Retina Display is the best we can hope for doesn't mean I don't want true hoplographics, I am just stating what the current quo is with technology.

Additonally, I would expect a more mature response from someone who is Level 6 if I am honest with you. Julian has actually managed to keep civil although I think he was misunderstanding me with regards to what information I was saying the iPhone can transfer over to the simcard. But your snide remarks helps nobody in any way, it adds nothing constructive to conversation.

Apple can introduce this feature, only the information needed to be stored can be stored on the sim. iOS will be flexible enough to strip both the irrelevent and the non-compliant information from the transfer, such as email, photo's etc...

Every contact in my iPhone has at least a home and a work number (plus all the other info). If the SIM card only stores the contact name and one number, how will iOS decide which phone number to keep (and transfer to the SIM) and which phone numbers to discard?

How will the average consumer (who know's little about the storage capabilities of a SIM card) understand what happened to the vast majority of the contact information he asked the iPhone to copy to his SIM? Who is he going to blame when he sticks the SIM in another phone and finds the numbers he needs aren't there after all?

1. Right, so when importing these contacts to another phone, you end up with loads of duplicated contacts plus loads of missing information that was on the original phone. Very helpful.

2. Hmm... Yes, I would love the user-friendly option of painstakingly going through hundreds of phone numbers manually one-by-one choosing which ones I want to keep (all of them ideally) and which ones I want to lose (none of them in actual fact).

3. Average consumers won't learn though will they? These forums alone are all the proof you need that average consumers don't bother to use Google or User Manuals to find answers to simple questions, and certainly not the technicalities of SIM storage.

4. No, He/she will think "Oh no, I've just lost hundreds of numbers, addresses, emails, notes and have hundreds of duplicated contacts! Why didn't it copy everything to the SIM?".

You seem to be under the misguided impression that people only store a name and one or two numbers in their phones per contact. That simply isn't true. Why would anyone actively choose to discard the majority of data (postal addresses, email addresses, web addresses, social media addresses, notes, company names etc,) in their contact list that they have painstakingly collected over a long period? It's ridiculous to suggest anyone would be happy to lose all that data.

iPhone is the only smartphone/mobilephone on the market within the last decade missing this feature.

Every smartphone, and almost every mobile phone of the "last decade" has the ability to sync contact data with a computer. Only really old, really basic phones actually use the SIM card to store contact data in use and cannot transfer that data to a computer.

By far the easiest solution is to sync contacts with the contact manager on your computer (which, if you already have an iPhone, you'll already be doing), and then sync the other phone with the data on the computer.

That would take a matter of seconds, won't lose any contact data, won't require tedious manual choices, and also provides a backup of the phone data on your computer.

I'm not opposed to such a feature in principal at all. However, the technical limitations of SIM cards mean that it is just not possible to transfer all the contact data a modern phone can store to a SIM card. SIM storage is becoming less used as time goes on. In fact, software SIMs are being discussed as a possibility in the future.

History has shown that Apple rarely implements features that either don't work 100% as users expect or are likely to confuse less technical users, especially when a fully-featured alternative that doesn't lose data already exists.

I see on these forums everyday complaints from users that have lost data because they failed to backup, failed to follow instructions, or failed to understand how things work. If Apple added a feature which actively discards a big chunk of users contact data when doing its intended function, people would would quickly fill these forums with even more angry posts blaming Apple for the technical limitations of a SIM.

Wow. This is for want of a better word... amazing. You seem to believe all phones would access Apple's prefered method for storing contact information on a computer and copy it, but the reality is Julian this is far from the case. You have no idea that Andriod, Windows and Symbian phones do not access the cloud and that not everybody uses Microsoft Outlook because of the cost of purchasing it. The best free option would be something like GMail but amazingly iPhone doesn't have the option to back your contacts up to Gmail... I know, I checked... just now. That would have been free, but no... not allowed.

However, just like you have completely ignored everything I have been trying to say so that you save your own face with what can only be described as writing drivel... I do not expect you will take a back seat on this to understand that there is the Apple way, and then there is everybody elses way, and that these are not the same. It is all to obvious that you wish all other companies would bow to the way that Apple works, unfortunately for you however that will not happen but again, I expect you will not accept the brute and harsh reality.

All of your numbered replies were already answered in the miriad of posts I have made already, however you know very well what they say... do not feed the troll. And as such, I will finish feeding you.We shall end this in the knowledge that you regurgitate rubbish and are wrong in your views of how the world works outside of Apple.

You have no idea that Andriod, Windows and Symbian phones do not access the cloud and that not everybody uses Microsoft Outlook because of the cost of purchasing it.

I'm pretty sure Android phones have cloud access with a Gmail account for starters.

And Outlook is not the only supported address book app with Windows. The Windows address book used by Outlook Express with XP and used by Windows Mail with Vista and Windows 7 called Windows Contacts is also supported for syncing contacts, which is included by Microsoft with Windows.

The best free option would be something like GMail but amazingly iPhone doesn't have the option to back your contacts up to Gmail... I know, I checked... just now. That would have been free, but no... not allowed.

Not sure what or how you checked, but it is possible to access a Gmail account as an Exchange account with the iOS Mail app, which provides Push access for received messages, and over the air syncing for Google contacts and calendar events.

Microsoft did as they always do - copying others, and followed Google's lead by supporting accessing a Hotmail account as an Exchange account with the iOS Mail app, which provides Push access for received messages, and over the air syncing for Hotmail contacts and calendar events.

Not sure what this is called if not accessing the cloud in regards to contact info, and more than likely Microsoft also supports accessing a Hotmail account as an Exchange account with a Windows smart phone.

It is you who seems not to have a grasp of how other phones work and seem completely unable to understand anything I say to you, and want to interpret what I say completely differently. SIM storage is not an Apple issue.

I have owned dozens of different phones from loads of different manufacturers, and even written sync solutions for hundreds of Sony Ericsson phones, so I'm quite sure I know more about this subject than you.

Regardless, you carry on waiting for the ability to store a tiny subset of your iPhone contact data on your SIM, while the rest of us use our phones designed for the 21st century in a 21st century manner.

Allan, cloud is a term. iCloud is service. Andriod phones have no acces to iCloud which is what Apple wants you to use.

Additionally, iPhone does not allow you to back up contacts to Gmail and you can go check yourself. You would have to do a workaround via Exchange as you correctly stated but then you have to pay $5 per month to Microsoft for the privelege. So that is not a viable option neither. I have already explained myself that sim cards don't hold all the contact details and that is not the issue of this topic as the topic only refers to transferring contact information to sim cards which the OP was looking to do, like he can on all other phones. It might mean a user would lose some information but... it is a free way to transfer names and numbers across different manufacturers devices.

So would you suggest to a potential iPhone buyer that they follow these options? I am pretty sure they will ask why there isn't any easier way for this to happen. What this Julian guy cannot see is that Apple's method is a closed method which refuses to open up. It would be great as well if Apple allowed us to sync our contacts directly to GMail as all the contact data would move over, but that is also not what this topic is about due to the fact we are talking about sim card transfers.

Seriously now, go and check out Exchange:

http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/en-us/pricing-exchange-online-email.aspx

And try to add a new GMail account (or modify an existing one if you have one set up on iPhone already) and see that there is no contacts option to synchronise. This guy Julian refuses to believe that people might not want another Apple phone when their contract runs out. He thinks the Apple way is perfect for everyone when it isn't, very few consumers will relish the idea of using Exchange considering it is a paid service.

iPhone's have been able to sync/backup contacts with Gmail accounts for years.

http://support.google.com/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138740

Syncing contact data with a computer is not "Apple's closed method". Every dumb phone I've owned in the past 10 years (Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung etc.) has been able to sync with both Macs and Windows. I've been doing this for years, long before Apple released the first iPhone.

You really need to educate yourself about what is possible. Once your contacts are synced to your computer you can EASILY sync them with virtually any other phone, whether that be Blackberry, Android, Windows, Sony Ericsson, Nokia or whatever, WITHOUT losing data.

You are NOT tying yourself to Apple by syncing contacts with a computer. Please educate yourself before making yourself look even more silly.