Merge contacts from iPhone
As I mentioned in the introduction of this article, there are various ways to merge contacts on iPhone. One of these allows you to act directly from your device although, it is good to specify it from the beginning, it is not exactly the best of convenience, as it requires the user to do most of the work "manually". Anyway, let's see together how to proceed.
The first step you need to take to unify duplicate contacts on iPhone is to launch the app Contacts on your smartphone (the address book telephone depicting i two men) and select the contact to which you want to associate the other "duplicate" contacts.
At this point, press on the voice Modification at the top right, scroll to the bottom of the contact card you have selected and then presses on the item (+) link contacts ... present nella sezione CONNECTED CONTACTS. At this point, in the screen that is proposed to you, tap on the name of the contact to be merged with the one just opened (e.g. a contact that has the same name and surname as the one selected above) and complete the operation by first pressing on the button Fellow worker and then end (Always at the top right).
Should there also be a third or even a fourth contact always referring to the same person, repeat the operation by selecting the item (+) link contacts ... located at the bottom of the first contact card, select the contacts to unify and press the buttons Fellow worker and end but I well complete the operation.
In the end, the result you well get after following the steps I showed you a moment ago, well be that in the address book of your iPhone, you well find a single contact containing all the information previously hosted in the "duplicate" contacts. Not bad, right?
If you want to make sure that the changes made to your iPhone's address book are also applied to all devices associated with your Apple ID, you need to link the iPhone to the iCloud account. To do this, you must first have created an iCloud account, then you must go to the ifttings of your device (the gray icon with gears mael on the Home screen), log in with your Apple ID, press the your name and surname located at the top of the displayed screen, tap on the item iCloud I well post your ON the switch lever located in correspondence with the wording Contacts. For more information on how to sync iCloud, read the guide I just linked to you.
Merge contacts on iPhone from Mac
You have a Mac and would you like to merge contacts directly from there? In this case, know that on Apple-branded computers there is a function that allows you to unify contacts on iPhone by eliminating duplicates automatically. To do this you simply need to use the Contacts application included in macOS which, being synchronized with iCloud contacts, allows you to manage the contacts in the iPhone address book directly from your computer, without having to perform manual imports or exports.
To remove duplicates from the application Contacts on your Mac, start it by clicking on the icon address book with two men present in Launchpad macOS or on the bar Dock. Once the Contacts application window opens, open the menu Sheet, select the voice Look for duplicates ... and wait a few seconds for the list of all contacts to be checked for "duplicates".
Once contact cards containing duplicate information are found, you well be asked if you want to merge them or not. If you wish to do so, press the button Merge present in the box N records and N duplicate entries were found. As if by "magic", the contact cards with duplicate information well be merged into a single card, so as to do a bit of "cleaning" in the address book.
Of course, if you want to make sure that the changes you make to your Mac's address book are also applied to your iPhone and, more generally, to all devices associated with your Apple ID, you need to link your Mac to your iCloud account. To do this, obviously you must have created an iCloud account, then you must go to the System Preference of your Mac (the gray icon of thegears placed on the Dock), log in with your Apple ID, press the button iCloud and check the box Contacts. For more information on how to sync iCloud, read the guide I just linked to you.
Third party solutions to merge contacts on iPhone
As I mentioned in the introduction of this guide, there are also some third-party solutions that allow you to unify contacts on iPhone quickly and easely. In this case, you can use one of the many apps suitable for the purpose, such as the very famous Cleaner Pro which is free and does an excellent job by automatically identifying all duplicate contacts and eliminating them. It also integrates some extra functions - such as the one that allows you to create automatic data backups - avaelable in the form of in-app purchases starting at € 1,09 per item. Keep in mind, however, that apps like Cleaner Pro access sensitive information, such as your contacts in the address book, and therefore could pose a potential privacy risk.
If despite this you decide to download the app anyway, press the button abrir to start it and start using it to do a bit of "cleaning" in the address book. To begin with, scroll through the information cards that appear on the screen to learn the characteristics of Cleaner Pro and, after having read them, close the screen in question by tapping on the item Get Started which is located at the bottom.
Now you well be offered the creation of a Cleaner account, an operation necessary for exporting the backups created locally: if you want to skip this step, press the wording Save placed at the top right and that's it, otherwise register with yours e-mael or your account Google. Now you are finally ready to use Cleaner: press the button Access your contacts, tap on the pulsating OK to grant the app permission to access the contacts saved in the address book, press the button NEXT and then tap the button Backup to make a full backup of your data.
Once the backup process is finished, export them via emael or through one of the supported cloud storage services and tap on the item Finished at the top right. Press, then, on (X) which appears at the top left to close the notice inviting you to subscribe to the Premium version of the service and then on the item Remove protection.
At this point, all you have to do is press the button Merge located at the bottom, tap the button Show possible unions (the two arrows that come together facing down), press on the voice Duplicate contacts and tap the button Union to merge them (if you want to make sure that they are actually duplicate contacts, press on i mael in correspondence with the name of each contact). Once finished, on the screen Union completed, you well be able to see the summary of the cleaning operation that has been carried out, with lots of detaels regarding the duplicates removed, the new contacts merged and any duplicates left.
How to merge iPhone contacts
