can i replace all contacts on icloud?

Turn off iCloud syncing on your phone by going to Settings>iCloud and turning Contacts to Off. When prompted, choose to Keep on iPhone. On your Mac go to System Preferences>iCloud and turn uncheck Contacts. When prompted, choose Keep Contacts. Now go to icloud.com, sign into your iCloud account, click on Contacts, click on any single contact, press Control-A to select all contacts, press the Delete key to delete them. Do this for all contact groups until the contacts are all gone from iCloud. On your phone go back to Settings>iCloud and turn Contacts to On. When prompted, choose Merge. Do the same in System Preferences on your Mac.

When I try this, iCloud online stops responding. I have over 14,000 contacts due to my trying to merge my Google account contacts with Apple contacts. While I have laboriously corrected Google contacts, iCloud will not allow me to simply delete the 14,000 by "selecting all" and then "delete". ICloud simply stops responding.

Thanks in advance for any other suggestion. This one hasn't worked for me.

Be sure you devices are disconnected from the account before trying. Then, because of the sheer number you are trying to delete, you may need to delete them in smaller batches rather than all at once. Try selecting a range by clicking on one, scrolling down and Shift-Clicking on another, then press Delete. Repeat until they're gone.

Hi randers4.

No devices are connected to iCloud as I am only activating it now (because of the Contacts problem), and yes, I am deleting a batch at a time. But every time I try to delete a group larger than a few hundred, iCloud shuts down on me. (I did have over 16,000 contacts; I am down to just under 14,000 now!) It appears that my iCloud Contacts may be somehow corrupted as a few letters are missing. IOW, I have no contacts beginning in "D", "K", etc. When I click on those, the little wheel spins without stopping and I have to shut down the web page.

Thanks

Not sure what's causing it to reject deleting larger amounts but you should eventually be able to delete them all. If for some reason you can't, if you haven't exhausted the maximum 3 account you can create on your device, you could always abandon the problem account and create a new one.

Thanks, randers4, you've been helpful. However, I cannot abandon this account as I need the additional accounts for other household members. So if my Contacts are corrupted, is there anything I can do to reinstate this Application? i.e. delete and then reinstall Apple Contacts in my iCloud account?

If you can't delete them on icloud.com, which is where they actually reside, then there isn't anything else you can do, aside from contacting iCloud support to have them do it for you.

As for needing the additional accounts for other family members, if they have their own devices, you could create the additional account on one of them, then use it on your device.

Thanks, randers4

You're welcome. BTW, if you choose to create a new account on someone else's device, all you would need to do is have them go to Settings>iCloud and tap Delete Account. This will only delete their account and any synced data from their device, not from iCloud. It will be restored to their device when they sign back in. Then create the new account on their device, then delete the new account and sign back into the original account, restoring their data. Then you are free to sign into the new created account on your device and use it. Good luck.