How to Back Up Your iPhone Contacts
Many people have lost contacts in the past, usually when they have gotten a new phone. I recently had a problem with my contacts and needed to back up my Gmail contacts and move them to iCloud. The process was pretty easy, especially creating the backup. You can do it anytime, right from the Contacts app on your iPhone.
Creating a backup for your contacts can be a good idea when:
- You are worried about losing contacts, especially if you are getting a new phone.
- You want to save contacts for someone else, such as an elderly family member.
- You want to move contacts; for example, you can move contacts from Gmail to iCloud.
How to backup your iPhone contacts
Creating a backup of your contacts involves creating a VCF (vCard file) with all the contacts information. This type of file is universal and can be used on both Apple and Android devices. To create a VCF file with your contacts:
- On your iPhone, open the Contacts app.
- Tap Lists in the upper-left corner of the screen.
- You may see one or more lists.
- You can choose any list to create a backup.
- You may use the All Contacts list to back up all contacts, or you can back up each list individually.
- Long press (tap and hold) on the contacts list you want to back up, then tap Export.
- Now you can customize the fields that are saved if you wish. Tap Done in the upper-right corner of the screen.
- Now, a Share Sheet will open. To save your contacts, tap on Save to Files. Choose the folder where you want to save the VCF file and tap Save in the upper-right corner. Alternatively, you could send the contacts file to someone or email them to yourself.
- The file will have a name like All iCloud.vcf.
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