At first glance, a simple procedure cleaning the phone book on iPhone should not raise any questions. However, most users have a question how to delete all contacts from iPhone at once. It turns out that such a banal operation on this device has its own characteristics. If you limit yourself to just your phone, you cannot delete all contacts. You can delete one at a time, but this is not an option if there are many contacts. Therefore, you need to use iTunes. Just in case, I will describe both options for deleting contacts.
How to delete a contact on iPhone
To delete contact from the phone book:
1.Open the Contacts application.
2.Select a contact.
3.Click the "Change" button.
4.Click the “Delete contact” button, it’s at the very bottom.
5.Confirm deletion. Done, the contact is deleted.
Delete all contacts from iPhone
So that at once:
1.Connect it using a cable to your computer (where iTunes must be installed).
2.Select it in the list of devices and go to the “Information” tab.
3. Check the box next to “Synchronize contacts with” and select a program with an empty contacts directory (Google Contacts, Outlook, etc.). And also select “All contacts” just below.
4.Scroll down the page and in the “Add-ons” chapter, check the box next to “Contacts”.
5.Click the “Apply” button at the bottom right and confirm the synchronization by clicking “Replace information” in the notification window that appears. After this synchronization is completed, all contacts from the iPhone will be deleted. Done - the contacts directory is empty.
When sometimes the device is not purchased from official distributor, or vice versa, old iPhone gives way in your life to a newly acquired device, in such cases the question of clearing the smartphone of the information contained in it necessarily arises. In one case (when an iPhone is purchased second-hand), you are not eager to use what your predecessor used; in the other, you are not happy about the prospect of leaving your personal data as an inheritance.
And as you know, phone numbers and subscriber data that is recorded and stored on the phone is one of the most important and protected pieces of personal information (after photographs). Therefore, the question: how to delete contacts from iPhone is probably in the top 10 among device users.
And in this article we will carefully study everything possible methods deleting contacts from your smartphone's address book.
The device supports several ways to get rid of contacts on our beloved iPhone 4S. We can clear the device's memory by sending items to the trash one at a time, or we can delete all contacts at once.
In our story, we will explore the capabilities that iPhone 4 supports, so to speak, from birth (built-in).
Standard removal one at a time #1
This method helps to get rid of one, separately selected contact:
- Activate the Contacts application on the main screen;
- Then select the unnecessary subscriber;
- Click on the “Edit/Change” icon (upper corner, right);
- Scroll to the very bottom and click the “Delete contact” button;
- Confirm your choice.
Standard removal one at a time #2
There is another method when contacts can be deleted selectively. This requires that the contacts on your phone be synced with iCloud.
- Go to the iCloud web interface;
- Use your Apple ID and password to log in;
- Click on the “Contacts” tab;
- We select a candidate for removal;
- We synchronize with the iPhone by clicking on the “Gear” icon on the screen at the bottom/left;
- Select “Update contacts”;
You don't need to do anything else. Unnecessary information on your phone will be deleted automatically.
Standard removal - all at once #1
Note, this method should be used only if you are 100% sure that you no longer plan to use this smartphone! Since this method has the ultimate goal - a completely empty iPhone 4, without any information (it is advisable to first create a backup copy).
- In “Settings” go to “General”;
- Click the “Reset” sub-item;
- Click “Erase content and settings” (if the device is password-protected, enter the password) and confirm the deletion.
Now a pristine iPhone 4S can once again be filled with the data that was previously stored on it, only by connecting to iTunes and restoring from a backup.
Standard removal - all at once #2
Through iTunes, you can not only restore data, but also wholesale contacts from your iPhone 4S right away. To do this, connect the iPhone to a computer or laptop using a USB cable. If iTunes is not installed, you need a media player and launch it. We connect the iPhone and wait until it is detected in iTunes. Then we perform the following manipulations:
- Select the device by clicking on the icon with its image in the side menu;
- Go to the “Details / Information” tab;
- Put a tick in the “Synchronize contacts with:” field, and just below click on “All contacts”;
- Scroll down and in the “Advanced” section, check the “Contacts” box;
- We start the process using “Apply”;
- A warning window appears on the screen with information that all contacts located on the iPhone 4S will be deleted. We confirm the action.
Deleting Contacts from iPhone Using iTunes
After synchronization is complete, the empty iPhone 4S can be disconnected from the PC. The goal has been achieved.
Removing contacts using a rake
I can’t imagine who and why the methods described above may not satisfy. If only they seem too simple to someone. For such mega-advanced users, I will briefly mention two “difficult” ways to delete contacts.
One of them is possible only if there is an established Jailbreak on the device. Notorious Cydia offers an application called Erase contacts. After installing it on iPhone 4, an icon will appear on the screen Erase contacts(standard “Contacts” icon crossed out with a red cross). By clicking on this icon, the user instantly deletes all phones and other data from the address book.
And finally, deleting files from the file system. In my opinion, just mentioning this method is more than enough. We remember what the article is about. Write comments and ask your questions.
Did you buy your iPhone secondhand or just want to delete all your contacts before selling? Then you need to completely empty your phone book. How to delete contacts from iPhone and what is needed for this? Despite the fact that Apple specialists are doing everything possible to make life easier for users, some methods smack of serious labor and time costs. Let's figure out how to clear the phone book on iPhone 4s, 5s, 6s and other versions.
In order to delete all contacts from an iPhone, we can use the phone book functionality. And here a giant crutch created by Apple specialists will be waiting for us. In any other phone, we can go to the contact’s context menu and select “Delete”. The guys from Apple are clearly not looking for easy ways, so the button to delete the selected contact is very far away.
So, how to delete the selected contact? To do this, you need to go to the phone book, select the desired contact and display information about this telephone recording. At the top of the menu that opens, find the “Edit” button and click it. We get to the next menu, go down to the very bottom, and only here we find the treasured red delete contact button. Agree, everything could be done much simpler.
Also alarming is the fact that we cannot select several contacts at once and send them to the trash as is done in operating system Android - here you can select all contacts with one touch. And one more touch will be needed to delete the entire phone book.
Bulk deletion of contacts
As you already understand, there are obvious problems with the good old manual deletion of contacts in iOS. Then how to delete all contacts at once on an iPhone? This is where we will find real freedom, since there are quite a few ways to delete contacts en masse.
The first method is to use the iTunes application:
- We launch the program;
- We connect the iPhone and wait until it is detected;
- Go to the device information section;
- Check the box “Sync Contacts”, and just below, in the “Advanced” section, check the box for deleting contacts;
- Click on the “Apply” button and confirm your intentions.
After a few seconds, all contacts will be deleted.
The next method is to synchronize contacts with an empty phone book. In this case we will need again iTunes app. We go to the same section with information and select synchronization with an empty contact book, for example, with Outlook that is not used on the computer. After synchronization starts, all contacts from the phone book on the iPhone will be deleted.
Don’t forget to check the “Contacts” checkbox on the “Advanced” (or “Advanced”) tab so that synchronization will delete all entries from the current phone book on your iPhone.
Another way is to disable contact synchronization with iCloud - go to the settings on your smartphone and disable contact synchronization. After this, iPhone will offer to delete existing contacts. You can similarly delete any other contacts from other accounts.
But the most drastic way is to completely erase all data using the reset function - go to the corresponding menu, select “Erase content and settings” and confirm your intentions. After this, not only contacts, but also all user data will disappear from the device..
The last method is the fastest - it allows you to quickly return the device to its original form, when there are no contact data and user files in it.
Removal using Jailbreak
Have you jailbroken your iPhone? Then you have two more ways to delete contact information from your smartphone. The first method is to delete contacts by making changes to the device's file system. To do this, you need to download one of the file managers, install it on your computer and get into the file system - the phone book on the iPhone is stored at privatevarmobileLibraryAddressBook.
Next, we delete files with the *.sqlitedb extension and enjoy the empty phone book. The second method is to install on iPhone third party software for working with contacts. As we know, Initially, there is no ability to install programs from third-party sources. But if you have already carried out the Jailbreak procedure, then you get the opportunity to install the software from anywhere - find a program for working with contacts, install and run it, and then delete all or part of the contacts.
Remember that the Jailbreak procedure results in complete loss of warranty - you do this procedure at your own peril and risk.
Hi all! Even such a simple operation as deleting contacts from the phone book on the iPhone can still raise some questions and cause some difficulties. No, it’s quite easy to get rid of one number - it can be done standard means phone. Selected - deleted. Elementary!
But what if you need to remove all phone numbers at once? Or do a selective deletion (for example, remove 50 from 100)? Selecting and washing one at a time is very long, tedious, boring, and generally gets boring quickly. Is there a solution to this problem? Of course! In this article I will tell and show you how to do all these operations in almost two clicks!
Intrigued? Maybe there will be more :) Let's go!
Deleting one contact
It’s still worth starting with standard methods, so to speak, without wisdom. In fact, I won’t describe anything in particular; I’ll give fairly brief instructions.
Let's go to standard application“Contacts” and select any name.
On the right top corner click on change. Scroll the screen to the end and click delete.
That's all! Agree, it’s very simple. However, if you have notebook There are quite a few phone numbers, and you need to get rid of them all at once, then read on!
Erase the entire address book on iPhone
Entire contacts can be deleted by full reset() – that is, erase all content and settings. Yes, not only they will be “destroyed,” but absolutely all information. A rather radical way to solve the problem, but it has a right to exist.
If you still need to save the rest of the information, you will either have to select and “weed out” each phone number separately (a rather labor-intensive task), or use the method described below.
How to delete multiple contacts at once from iPhone?
Unfortunately, using standard methods You won't be able to do this on your phone (which, in my opinion, is quite strange). But we have a smartphone in our hands! This means you can expand its functions using special application. In fact, there are quite a lot of programs that allow you to increase the functionality of the phone book (including deleting several selected contacts). One of them I can recommend is Groups.
Free program, which allows you to do almost all possible operations with the phone book on the iPhone. Including:
- Creating groups.
- Selecting contacts (for example, duplicates) and then deleting them.
- Sorts numbers in the phone book by various attributes (company, e-mail, address).
Important! After installation, you will be asked to provide the application with access to the phone book; of course, for correct operation, be sure to click “allow”.
I would like to note this point - all the methods for deleting contacts on an iPhone described in the article are suitable for any model. It doesn’t matter what you have in your hands – the “entry” iPhone 4(s), 5(s), 6(plus) or the “advanced” iPhone XS. These operations are valid for any of them.
Finally, a little advice, if the contacts are not deleted (or rather, they immediately appear again after erasing), this means that you have synchronization enabled (saving backup copies) V cloud storage iCloud. What to do? You just need to turn off synchronization. Believe me, there is nothing complicated about it - (with pictures, blackjack and... everything you need)!
P.S.S. Questions? Clarifications? Personal experience? Feel free to write in the comments!
When the phone book in the iPhone is “bursting at the seams” and is still filled with useless contacts, its owner, of course, has no time for jokes. He will either have to come to terms with the discomfort arising from this chaos of data, or roll up his sleeves and still restore order to his own device (that is, delete contacts from the iPhone).
If you know how to fight laziness and choose the second option, then check out different ways clear your contact information list and get to work cleaning up.
Method No. 1: selective removal using the standard function
1. Open the “Contacts” section.
2. Tap on the contact you want to get rid of.
3. In the “Data” panel, activate “Edit” (the button in the upper right corner).
4. Under the list of contact information, click “Delete Contact.”
Method number 2: cleaning icloud.com
On this Apple service you can quickly remove a large number of contacts practically at the touch of a button.
1. On a PC or laptop, go to icloud.com using your Apple ID (identifier).
2. From the tiled menu, select Contacts.
3. In the section submenu, click “All contacts”.
4. In the next column, in the list, select the names of subscribers whose phone numbers, ICQ, email you no longer want to see on your iPhone:
- if you need to delete one contact, left-click on it;
- if a group of contacts located next to each other in the list, hold down the Shift key and click on the first and last name (after which all the names of the designated group will be highlighted);
- if there are a lot of contacts, but selectively, hold down the “CTRL” key and select the names of the interlocutors whose data you want to remove.
5. Once selected, press “DELETE” (Del key) to activate cleaning.
6. In the lower left corner, click the “gear” icon.
7. In the opened context menu options, select “Update Contacts” to sync the changes with your phone.
Method #3: Delete all contacts in iTunes
This “cleaning” option is especially suitable for users who want to quickly “reset” the data in the phone book. And at the same time, don’t bother yourself with the question, but you can delete contacts from the iPhone using its built-in functions.
1. Download the iTunes manager from the offsite and install it on your computer.
3. Connect iPhone to PC via USB cable.
4. When the manager detects a connected device, a corresponding icon (a miniature image of a smartphone) will appear on its panel. Left click on it.
5. Then go to the Info section.
6. Check the box next to the “Sync Contacts” option.
7. Enable the “All contacts” add-on.
8. In the “Advanced” settings block, in the list of elements “Replace information on this...” (Replace information on this...), check the “Contacts” checkbox.
9. Click on the “Apply” button.
10. An additional window will open with a warning message about synchronization activation. To confirm this action, click Replace Information.
Method No. 4: cleaning with the Erase Contacts utility
The Erase Contacts application is available in Cydia - an alternative software store for the iOS shell - in the BigBoss section (installed in the software client by default).
- Open Cydia panel on iPhone.
- In the search line, enter - Erase Contacts.
- Click the block with the name of the utility in the search results.
- To install the tweak, first tap “Modify” and then “Install”.
- To completely clear your contact database, click the “Erase Contacts” icon on your smartphone’s desktop.
Method No. 5: deleting contact database files in iTools
(Advanced users only!)
1. Install iTools and iTunes on your PC (without the Apple file application iTools manager does not work!).
3. Go to the “File System” tab ( File system).
4. Open the directory:
private → var → mobile → Library → AddressBook
5. In the AddressBook folder, delete the AddressBookImages.sqlitedb and AddressBook.sqlitedb files.
6. Reboot.
Let your iPhone's phone book always contain only helpful information.
How to delete all content from iPhone