Your contacts (phone numbers, email addresses, street addresses) are indispensable. In this comprehensive guide you'll learn how to manage your contacts safely, make a backup, and transfer them to a new phone without any problems.

Where are your contacts stored?

Contacts can be stored in different places. This is important to know:

In the cloud (best option)

Advantage: Always backed up, easy to transfer, accessible on all your devices.

Only on your phone (local)

Stored in your phone's own memory.

Risk: Phone broken or lost? Contacts gone!

On your SIM card (outdated)

An old method with limited space (often max. 250 contacts, name and number only).

Moving contacts to the cloud

Android: to Google Contacts

  1. Open the Contacts app
  2. Tap the menu (three lines or dots)
  3. Go to Settings
  4. Find Default account for new contacts
  5. Choose your Google account

Moving existing local contacts:

  1. Open Contacts → Settings
  2. Tap Import or Export
  3. Choose Import from phone or SIM card
  4. Select your Google account as the destination
  5. Choose all contacts and confirm

iPhone: to iCloud

  1. Go to Settings → [your name] → iCloud
  2. Turn on Contacts
  3. Choose Merge when asked

Importing SIM card contacts:

  1. Go to Settings → Contacts
  2. Tap Import SIM Contacts
  3. Choose iCloud as the destination

Adding a new contact

The right way

  1. Open the Contacts app
  2. Tap + or New contact
  3. Fill in the details
  4. Important: Check at the top that you are saving to Google or iCloud (not "Phone")
  5. Tap Save

Adding useful information

  • Photo: Easily see who is calling
  • Multiple numbers: Mobile, home, work
  • Email address: Send email directly from your contacts
  • Address: Navigation and birthday cards
  • Birthday: Get a reminder in your calendar
  • Note: "Neighbor on the right" or "Know from the tennis club"

Transferring contacts to a new phone

From Android to Android

If your contacts are stored in Google (check this first!):

  1. Turn on your new phone
  2. Sign in with the same Google account
  3. Wait until the phone has finished setting up
  4. Open Contacts: you'll see all your contacts!

No hassle, no cables, fully automatic.

From iPhone to iPhone

If your contacts are stored in iCloud:

  1. Turn on your new iPhone
  2. Choose Restore from iCloud Backup or simply sign in with your Apple ID
  3. Turn on iCloud Contacts
  4. Your contacts appear automatically

From Android to iPhone

  1. Make sure the contacts on your Android phone are stored in Google
  2. On your new iPhone: Settings → Contacts → Accounts
  3. Tap Add Account → Google
  4. Sign in with your Google account
  5. Turn on Contacts
  6. Your Google contacts appear on your iPhone

From iPhone to Android

  1. Make sure the contacts on your iPhone are stored in iCloud
  2. On your computer, go to icloud.com/contacts
  3. Select all contacts (Ctrl+A or Cmd+A)
  4. Click the gear icon → Export vCard
  5. Go to contacts.google.com
  6. Click Import → upload the vCard file
  7. Sign in to this Google account on your Android phone

Merging duplicate contacts

Android (Google Contacts)

  1. Open the Contacts app
  2. Go to the menu → Fix & manage
  3. Tap Merge duplicates
  4. Review the suggestions and confirm

iPhone

The iPhone has no automatic feature, but you can merge contacts manually:

  1. Open a contact
  2. Tap Edit
  3. Scroll down → Link Contacts
  4. Select the duplicate contact

On your computer

On contacts.google.com it is easier to clean up:

  1. Go to contacts.google.com
  2. Click Merge & fix on the left
  3. Review and confirm the suggestions

Sharing contacts

Sharing one contact

  1. Open the contact
  2. Tap Share or the three dots → Share
  3. Choose how: WhatsApp, email, SMS

Creating a contact card (vCard)

Handy for sharing your own details:

  1. Create a contact with your own details
  2. Open it and choose Share
  3. Send it as a business card

Making a backup

If your contacts are stored in Google or iCloud, you automatically have a backup. Check:

  • Android: Settings → Google → Backup → On
  • iPhone: Settings → [your name] → iCloud → iCloud Backup

Manual export

For extra peace of mind, you can export your contacts:

Save the file on your computer or in the cloud.

Common problems

A contact is missing on the new device

  • Check that you are signed in with the same account
  • Check that contact sync is turned on
  • Was the contact stored locally? Then you need to transfer it via export/import

Contacts have disappeared

  • Check the trash in Google Contacts (recoverable for 30 days)
  • Restore from an iCloud backup if one was made recently

With your contacts in the cloud, you never have to worry about losing important numbers again!

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