How to transfer contacts to your Apple iPhone

If you have contacts on your old phone that you want to transfer over to your new iPhone, worry not! By using Apple's iCloud service it's possible to import vCard files and sync their contacts directly to your handset.

Getting a new phone is an exciting experience – but it comes with a few downsides. Chief among these is the process of importing contacts from your previous device. The exact process varies depending on which device you're coming from, but whatever phone you currently use we've got you covered.

• Importing contacts from an iPhone
• Importing contacts from an Android phone
• Importing contacts from a BlackBerry
• Importing contacts from a Windows phone
• Manually add and edit contacts on your iPhone

These transfer methods rely on using Apple's iCloud service. If you have already set up your new iPhone you can turn on iCloud services by going to Settings> iCloud and signing in with your Apple ID and password. Once you're signed in to iCloud, synchronised contacts will start to download to your new iPhone instantly.

If your contacts are on your SIM card, the first time you turn on your iPhone with the new SIM inserted they will be detected, and the iPhone will offer to import them for you.

Importing contacts from an iPhone

If you have previously been using an iPhone, then Apple's iCloud online sync service makes transferring your contacts and other data almost effortless! If your old handset has been set up to use iCloud, then using the same Apple ID on your iPhone will bring your contacts, calendar and other data straight across to your new phone without the need for any further action.

If you didn't have iCloud configured on your old iPhone, then that's the first thing we'll need to set up. Your old iPhone will need to be connected to the internet via a Wi-Fi network or an active SIM card in order that we can copy the data from your handset into iCloud.

On your old iPhone:

1. Locate and tap on the Settings icon.
2. Scroll down and tap on iCloud.
3. If you see your address in the top line, that means you're signed in to iCloud on your old iPhone. If not, sign in with the same Apple ID that you have used on your new iPhone.
4. To get your contacts and other data into iCloud:
   1. If you're signing in, simply select the option to Merge your Data.
   2. If you're already signed in, turn on the correct switches to enable contacts and any other data you choose to synchronise with iCloud, and merge the data where prompted.

Make sure that you are signed into the same iCloud account on your new iPhone, and once the online service has been updated from your old iPhone, your contacts and data will be pushed through to your new device automatically!

Importing contacts from an Android phone

Your Android handset has the ability to export its contacts in to a vCard file, the exact type of file which iCloud is able to manage and absorb. Once your contacts are in iCloud it's just a matter of waiting for the data to finish synchronising to your iPhone, but if you're unsure how to reach this stage then read our steps below to find out more!

If your contacts are not in the Google account on your old Android handset, we'll need to get them there in order to transfer them to your iPhone, so you'll need to work from step 1 below. If your contacts are already in your Google account, you can skip through to step 10.

To migrate your contacts from your old Android phone into your Google account:

1. From the home screen or the Apps tray, open the Contacts app.
2. Tap the Menu or More icon.
3. Tap Settings.
4. You may see an option to copy or move your contacts directly to your Google account. If so, Tap this and confirm your Google account to complete the merge, then click this link to skip through to step 10. If you don't see this option, you will need to export them to either the memory or SD card. Tap Import/Export to start this process.

5. To move your contacts, tap Export.
6. Choose where to export your contacts to by tapping on the correct location.
7. You may need to choose which contacts to export, and you may also have to confirm the action before proceeding.
8. Your handset will advise when your contacts are being moved.

If you've moved your contacts to your memory or SIM card, you then need to import them to your Google account. Re-do the above steps, but select Import rather than Export where appropriate. When being asked where to import your contacts to, choose the Google account instead of the handset itself, and your contacts will upload.

Now that your contacts are in your Google account, we can extract this information and put it into the iCloud account so that it syncs through to your iPhone.

10. On your PC, head over to Google's contacts page and sign in with your Google email address and password.
11. In the menu, tap More, followed by Export. You may be directed to the old contacts page to complete this, so follow the prompt and then click More then Export on the old contacts page.
12. Make sure that the all contacts radio box is ticked, as well as vCard format. Press export to download your contacts to your computer.
13. From your computer's web browser, visit the iCloud website and sign in using your Apple ID and password.
14. Click on the Contacts square to see a list of all your contacts currently residing in your iCloud address book.
15. Press the Settings icon in the bottom-left corner of the Contacts page. This looks like a cog or gear.
16. From the menu which appears, click on the import vCard button and browse to your downloads folder. After picking your vCard to import and pressing OK, your contacts will start to appear in iCloud! Within minutes, your iPhone will start to show the same contacts too.

importing contacts from a blackberry

To manage your BlackBerry contacts we first need to move them to your computer. In order to do this, you must first download and install the BlackBerry Desktop Software. When the software is installed, follow the instructions below to continue!

1. Connect your BlackBerry to your computer using a microUSB cable and wait for BlackBerry Desktop Software to recognise the phone.
2. Click on Organizer in the left-hand panel of the software and tick the Contacts box.
3. When asked to choose the sync direction, choose one way to your computer only.
4. Under Contacts account, make sure Windows contacts is selected. Press OK to continue.
5. Press Sync Organizer in the bottom right-hand corner of the software to move your BlackBerry contacts to your Windows address book.

6. Now that your contacts are stored inside Windows contacts we can sync this data to your iPhone through the iTunes program. if you haven't already, install iTunes from Apple's download page, making sure that your iPhone is not connected to your computer while you install the software.
7. If iTunes is now installed on your computer, connect your iPhone via the supplied USB cable and click on the Info tab at the top of the summary page.
8. Now that you're on the Info tab you will see a tickbox to sync your contacts. Check that iTunes is set to synchronise with your Windows contacts, tick the box and press Sync in the bottom left corner of iTunes.
9. Your contacts will now appear on your iPhone! If you've signed in to iCloud on your handset, your contacts will now start backing up to Apple's cloud storage service.

Importing contacts from a windows phone

To move contacts from a Windows Mobile handset to your iPhone, we need to first move the contacts in to your Windows Contacts program on your computer. This is a fairly straightforward process and to find out more, read on!

1. You should already have a Microsoft account (a Windows Live or Hotmail account) set up on your Windows Phone. These contacts will be saved to the Outlook.com service by default, so on your computer open the Outlook.com People page and sign in with your Microsoft account email address and password when prompted.
2. Once you can see your contacts list, select the contacts you wish to export by ticking the boxes (or tick the All box at the top) then click Manage at the top of the page and choose Export for Outlook.com and other services from the drop down menu. Your contacts will download as a .csv file to your computer, usually to your Downloads folder.
3. Close (or minimise) your internet browser, as you won't need it any more.

Now that you've exported your contacts from your Microsoft account, you'll need to import them to your computer, then sync them to your iPhone. The steps will vary slightly, depending on whether your computer is a Mac or a Windows PC.

Importing and syncing contacts on a Mac:

1. On your Mac, open the Contacts app either through the Dock or the Applications menu.
2. On the Menu bar, click File then click Import.
3. Locate the OutlookContacts.csv file youve just downloaded (it should be in your Downloads folder) and click it to highlight it, then click Open.
4. A new window will open showing your contacts. The first contact contains column headers used to identify the information in the contacts, so tick the box labeled Ignore first card to avoid importing it.
5. Click OK and your contacts will be imported to your Mac.

If you are using your iCloud account to sync between your Mac and your iPhone, then the contacts will appear on your handset very shortly. If you have set up your iPhone to sync by connecting it to your Mac and using iTunes, you'll need to do this to get your newly imported contacts onto your iPhone.

Importing and syncing using a Windows PC:

1. On your PC, click on the start menu and open Contacts.
2. From the top of the Contacts window, press Import and choose CSV as your preferred file format. Press Import to continue.
3. Click the Browse button to locate your downloaded copy of your Outlook.com contacts. Once you've found it, click it then select Next to start importing the contacts into your computer's address book.
4. Now that your contacts are stored inside Windows contacts we can sync this data to your iPhone through the iTunes program. if you haven't already, install iTunes from Apple's download page.
5. If iTunes is now installed on your computer, connect your iPhone via the supplied USB cable and click on the Info tab at the top of the summary page.
6. Now that you're on the Info tab you will see a tickbox to sync your contacts. Check that iTunes is set to synchronise with your Windows contacts, tick the box and press Sync in the bottom corner of iTunes.
7. Your contacts will now appear on your iPhone! If you've signed in to iCloud on your handset, your contacts will now start backing up to Apple's cloud storage service.

Manually add and edit contacts on your iphone

We've looked at importing your contacts from your previous handset, but once you start using your handset you'll want to add contacts as you go, and edit or delete the information on those you already have. Don't worry, we've got that covered too.

Adding a new contact

To add a new contact to your iPhone:

1. Tap on the Contacts app on your Home screen (if you can't see it on your home screen, it may be in the Extras folder).
2. You'll see any existing contacts on your screen. To add a new contact, tap the blue + in the top right-hand corner.
3. Enter the name of your new contact in the fields provided at the top of the screen.
   To add a phone number, tap add phone. Tap where it says Phone to enter the number, and you can change the label home to an alternative by tapping it and picking your choice from a list.
   To add an email address tap add email, and as you scroll down further you can see fields to enter a range of rich contact data such as their address, birthday, and even set custom ringtones and message tones for that contact.
4. When you're happy with the information you've entered for your new contact, tap Done in the top right-hand corner to save the contact.
5. Tap All Contacts in the top left-hand corner to go back to your contact list.

Once you've saved your contact, tap + to add another, or tap the Home button to return to your home screen.

Editing an iPhone contact

Editing a contact on your iPhone is not dissimilar to adding a new one, just accessed in a slightly differently.

To edit a contact:

1. Open the Contacts app from the home screen (or from the Extras folder, if it's in there).
2. Scroll down and tap the contact you wish to edit, in order to open it.
3. In the top right-hand corner, tap Edit.
4. You can now edit the contact's fields as described above, adding or changing the information as required. If you wish to delete any information from a contact, tap the red circle icon to the left of the field and then tap Delete on the right of the line.

If you wish to delete a contact completely, open the contact for editing as described above, then scroll to the bottom and tap Delete Contact.

any problems?

So there you have it - a simple, step-by-step guide to transferring all your contacts to your new iPhone. However, if you're having problems with any of the above steps, we're here to help! Let us know your issue in the comments box below and we'll get back to you as quickly as we can.

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