Transfer contacts from one iPhone to another

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Level 1

11 points

Transfer contacts from one iPhone to another

I would like to transfer the contacts I have on my iPhone 4s to my wife's iPhone 4s but cannot find how to do it. I have read numerous articles on doing a transfer but they all talk about resetting the phone first which I don't want to do, and are usually for someone replacing an old iPhone with a newer one.

I also read an article on using iTunes to do the transfer and went into iTunes and the left side has almost everything but contacts listed. There is Music, Movies, TV shows, books etc etc but no contacts. I also went to backup however it asks what I want to sync the contacts with and one of them is Windows, however I don't want to sync them with my Windows contacts or any other contacts for that matter, I just want to make a copy of the ones on my iPhone and then copy them back onto my wife's iPhone. I thought this would be a pretty simple process but have now spent more time reading and trying different things than I likely would have been able to manually input them all by now, so would really appreciate if someone could tell me if I am missing the obvious and there is a simple way to accomplish this?

Thank you

iPhone 4S, iOS 8.3

Posted on May 2, 2015 1:15 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

SergZak

Level 6

10,326 points

May 2, 2015 2:36 PM in response to jackdup777

Another way (which is the way I personally use) is to download a free app called My Contacts Backup on the device you wish to get the contacts from. You run the app, it then compiles the contacts on the device into vCard or CSV (configurable in the app but it defaults to vCard) format. Afterwards, it will allow you to email the file (using the Mail app on your device) to yourself or any email address.

On the receiving device, you open/access the email account that the vCard file was emailed to, tap on the attached vCard file and the device will prompt you to install (replace or merge) the contacts on the device. The app will also allow an easy way to wipe out the contacts on the device (useful to prevent duplicates) as well before importing the contacts from the file. This feature is accessed by scrolling all the way down on the main app screen.

You can also archive this vCard file on your PC or just keep the attachment in your email.

I prefer this way of transferring contacts over using iCloud since the devices do not need to be using the same iCloud account. Give it a try.

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Answer 2

modular747

Level 6

19,656 points

May 2, 2015 2:49 PM in response to jackdup777

There is no way to transfer contacts directly from one phone to another. The easiest way is to share an iCloud account (or other cloud based account like Yahoo) and for both to sync contacts.

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Answer 3

jackdup777 Author

Level 1

11 points

May 2, 2015 2:42 PM in response to SergZak

Wow that worked great and took about 30 seconds including the time it took to download the app. Thanks very much.

Completely off topic but just wondered about upgrading to iOS 8.3. I read a bunch of posts that the front camera quit working after upgrading so was a little concerned given you can't go back once you upgrade. I also only have a 4s so really don't get all of the features of 8.3 and wondered if it slowed down the phone given the older technology it has.

Do you know if I do a complete backup of my phone before upgrading, if I was to upgrade, would doing a restore put me back to iOS 7 or does the backup only do your files?

Thanks again for your help

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Answer 4

jackdup777 Author

Level 1

11 points

May 2, 2015 2:47 PM in response to modular747

Thanks for the suggestion but did use the one below yours.

Just for future reference if I backed mine up or synced it to iCloud would all I have to do to put them on my wife's be to log into my iCloud account with her iPhone and it would automatically sync or copy them to her iPhone? How do you keep it from backing up her contacts to iCloud and wiping out mine?

Sorry for the silly questions but have no experience with iCloud or using the sync capabilities.

Thanks

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Answer 5

May 2, 2015 2:57 PM in response to jackdup777

Once you upgrade there is no going back. I've read a bunch of posts from people who say they were kidnapped by aliens. You can find anything on the Internet. I haven't had a problem with either camera on my 4S or my 6 with iOS 8.3. But in general you won't find many posts that say "I upgraded my iPhone and everything works perfectly." It's only the problems that get posted.

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Answer 6

SergZak

Level 6

10,326 points

May 2, 2015 3:55 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch wrote:

I've read a bunch of posts from people who say they were kidnapped by aliens. You can find anything on the Internet.

I'm typing this from Planet Claire...please save me. 😁

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Answer 7

jackdup777 Author

Level 1

11 points

May 2, 2015 4:11 PM in response to SergZak

Send me directions, I'm on my way.

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Answer 8

jackdup777 Author

Level 1

11 points

May 2, 2015 4:21 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

I understand what you are saying but the majority of these posts were either right here or on other tech support forums, not in the bizzaro world somewhere, and often resetting the phone solved the problem but not in all cases. I also realize, as you say, when the upgrade goes fine, you don't hear from people but I don't know that there is really anything in iOS 8.3 that would benefit me other than many apps are optimizing them for 8.3. I also don't know if they slow the phone down due to the older technology/processor and if so I wouldn't bother upgrading.

If by chance a 4s runs better or faster on iOS 8, which occasionally does happen, then I would likely upgrade.

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Answer 9

SergZak

Level 6

10,326 points

May 2, 2015 4:40 PM in response to jackdup777

Here's my take...if you are already on iOS 8.x, updating to 8.3 would likely benefit you as far as performance goes. iOS 8.2 and 8.3 are more optimized and will likely run smoother and more efficiently.

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Answer 10

May 2, 2015 4:42 PM in response to jackdup777

Every time there has been an update in almost 8 years there will be a flood of posts about problems. Not just for iPhones, for every computing device ever released. If you actually take them seriously you would never update any device. there are 700 million iPhones. Every day there will be hordes of people who have had a problem, and they will post about it. And there will always be someone else with either the same problem or a problem that they believe is the same (it usually isn't). With 700 million users there is no problem that has only been experienced once.

My 4S doesn't run any worse on 8.3 than it did on earlier versions, but it isn't, and never was, as fast as my 5S or my 6.

The chief benefit of updating is the fact that 8.3 fixes some critical security issues.

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Answer 11

SergZak

Level 6

10,326 points

May 2, 2015 5:00 PM in response to jackdup777

jackdup777 wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion but did use the one below yours.

Just for future reference if I backed mine up or synced it to iCloud would all I have to do to put them on my wife's be to log into my iCloud account with her iPhone and it would automatically sync or copy them to her iPhone?

If you use the same Apple ID for contacts, everything you do/change on one device will affect the other...unless you first sync the contacts, then sign out of that Apple ID or disable the syncing of contacts on one device (or even both).

You may be better off having them on different Apple IDs and using the manual method (using the app I suggested) and periodically backing up and merging the contacts. Personally, I don't trust having all my eggs in one basket (one Apple ID) and having everything in "the cloud"...I've been doing this stuff (PCs, electronics, gadgets, etc) since ~1980 so I'm set in the physical, tangible means of backing up and keeping my data safe. Others will of course disagree but do what you're personally comfortable with.

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Answer 12

jackdup777 Author

Level 1

11 points

May 2, 2015 5:12 PM in response to SergZak

I'm currently using iOS 7xx so thus the apprehension of upgrading when there is no way back. I have used computers long enough to know upgrades often add new features but also are optimized for the processor of the day, and although they still run on the older systems/phones, often there is performance loss and using the older devices, which were once enjoyed, now are very frustrating. I am happy with the 4s and it suits my needs just fine so don't want to spoil the experience but upgrading to something that will slow it down.

On the other hand occasionally the upgrade can improve the performance. Microsoft Vista was a poor OS and upgrading to Windows 7 improved the performance of my older laptop and made it much more enjoyable to use again.

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Answer 13

jackdup777 Author

Level 1

11 points

May 2, 2015 5:30 PM in response to SergZak

SergZak wrote:

jackdup777 wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion but did use the one below yours.

Just for future reference if I backed mine up or synced it to iCloud would all I have to do to put them on my wife's be to log into my iCloud account with her iPhone and it would automatically sync or copy them to her iPhone?

If you use the same Apple ID for contacts, everything you do/change on one device will affect the other...unless you first sync the contacts, then sign out of that Apple ID or disable the syncing of contacts on one device (or even both).

You may be better off having them on different Apple IDs and using the manual method (using the app I suggested) and periodically backing up and merging the contacts. Personally, I don't trust having all my eggs in one basket (one Apple ID) and having everything in "the cloud"...I've been doing this stuff (PCs, electronics, gadgets, etc) since ~1980 so I'm set in the physical, tangible means of backing up and keeping my data safe. Others will of course disagree but do what you're personally comfortable with.

I would not leave both phones with the same ID, would have just logged in with my wife's in order to transfer my contacts from iCloud to her phone and then would have gone back to her own ID.

I understand the importance of backups but must say I find the process of backing up Apple products a little more involved or complicated. I have been doing this for a long time as well. I bought my first Apple II+ in 1981 and an Apple III in 1982, and in 1985 my first PC. I would have liked a hard drive for the Apple as I used it for a bookkeeping service but at $5,000 for a 5 MB it was out of my price range. I got a 10 MB in my PC in 1985 and it was $1,800, which was an amazingly good deal at the time. I would have loved a Mac back then but again was way out of my price range, plus the monitor was quite small and there were no programs for bookkeeping which was the main use I had at that time.

I don't really have anything on either my iPhone or iPad that would really bother me if I lost it other than my pictures which I backup regularily to my PC as well as an external hard drive. I also use RAID-1 on my PC so if one drive fails I have a mirrored copy on the other. I was being lazy not wanting to retype all of my contacts onto my wife's phone, so using the app you suggested worked great.

Thanks again.

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Answer 14

SergZak

Level 6

10,326 points

May 2, 2015 5:35 PM in response to jackdup777

I didn't realize you were still on iOS 7. If you don't need the compatibility to run iOS 8 apps, I would stay right where you are on iOS 7 until you eventually *do* require iOS 8 to run the apps you want.

I myself started with an Atari 800 (with a cassette drive at first) and an Apple IIe...with a Duo Disc drive...good times. 🙂

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Answer 15

jackdup777 Author

Level 1

11 points

May 3, 2015 3:20 PM in response to SergZak

SergZak wrote:

I didn't realize you were still on iOS 7. If you don't need the compatibility to run iOS 8 apps, I would stay right where you are on iOS 7 until you eventually *do* require iOS 8 to run the apps you want.

Thanks, I'll probably do that. I don't have a lot of apps I use on a regular basis so will leave things as the are for now.

SergZak wrote:

I myself started with an Atari 800 (with a cassette drive at first) and an Apple IIe...with a Duo Disc drive...good times. 🙂

I had a IIE as well and it was a big step up at that time anyway. I always had two disk drives as I needed one for the accounting software I used and one for the data disks. Back then 5 1/4 blank disks were $5.40 each. Later I took a IIC on trade for a PC and I actually still have it I the original boxes.

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