How can I access my contacts from an iPhone backup without my iPhone?

JJust log into www.icloud.com on a PC or Mac and boom. All your contacts.

wow. iexplore can browse the existing backups without the iphone. you can check photos, calendar, contacts, etc from the file backup directly from the application. amazing.

Thank you so much. I found most other "answers" were either unnecessarily confusing or trying to trick you in to download some unknown (very likely crooked) websites. Yours was short and to the point; and above all, the right answer. Just to let you know it really helped resolve the issue, and to sincerely thank you. God Bless you!

Danny

"All contact information from your iphone is stored in you itunes backup.."

gdgmacguy .....HOW is bluebeard6 wrong?? When a phone is sync'd to a computer through iTunes, the files are stored in the backup directory of the hard drive. The suggestion given by Apple is for the purpose of avoiding data loss is in the event the phone and/or computer malfunctions (Contacts are not stored on the SIM card as with many "dumb-phones")..

The programs he spoke of only read the iTunes backup files (a SQL database), then convert it to a readable format (such as *.csv). I regularly convert my contacts, call log, SMS/MMS messages (along with saving a copy of my bill which has an itemized call log), and the original iTunes backup files as evidence for an upcoming child custody hearing.

I have been doing this since 2009 on the 3GS, 4S, and 6. So I can tell you it is possible....bluebeard6 was correct and you would have known this, if you would use your favorite search engine and query, "Export iTunes backup to CSV _______" (fill in the blank space with appropriate computer OS).

I disagree with several of the responses made here.

I did a regular backup of my iPhone 6 2 months ago. I wipe/erased the device completely- then got a replacement device from the store- and I did a restore from the backup- I had ALL of My Contacts-

and I never "sync" them to my computers contacts not ever. I also never sung them to any cloud nor email service.

Don't worry the contacts are there in this crazy little backup files in your folder for your device usually found in

user > Library > application Support > Mobile Sync > Backup > the folder with a long numeric/hex value

how to extract them easily I don't know- but i do know that if you did Not encrypt your IOS device backup with a specific password- you can open most files with Textedit.app or Preview.app and see everything.

Hope this helps

You'd really need to pay attention to the dates on the posts you are disagreeing with. This thread has gone on since 2012, so a lot of territory (technologically speaking) has been covered.

What may have been a correct answer for the way that the iOS was functioning in 2012 may be totally irrelevant today.

Please pay close attention to the date, the context, the type of device being used, the issue being experienced, the iOS being run, whether iCloud even exists, etc. before responding. it all is relative....

GB

THIS WORKS !!! thanks for posting so helpful - pulled up all my contacts and absolutely free 🙂

Thanks a lot buddy :-)

I did manage to export all my iphone contacts to CSV with your help.

i dont like your name

Daytonstock wrote:

i dont like your name

Well, since this person posted over 5 years ago, your point seems a bit moot....

GB

how do it do it