Why are My Contacts Duplicated on My iPhone and How to Fix It?

Do you have duplicate contacts on your iPhone and wonder how it happened? While this problem can get your nerves frozen, it is worth knowing that this is a common issue amongst myriads of iPhone users. Duplicate contacts take up a significant amount of space and make it tiresome to scroll through such a large list. Your first line of defense could be to delete them one by one. However, this is tiresome and time-consuming. Fortunately, this article expounds on how you can fix duplicate contacts on your iPhone with ease and speed.

In the meantime, don’t forget that using a personal CRM is the best way to manage your contacts and build your professional network effectively. You can read more about the benefits a pCRM can offer to every professional, here.

Causes of Duplicate Contacts on iPhone

First, let us look at possible causes of duplicate contacts on the iPhone.

iCloud Problem

In rare situations, iCloud can duplicate your contacts because of an iCloud service problem. Therefore, just log in to your iCloud account and see whether there are duplicate contacts. If yes, you will have to contact Apple Support to get the issue solved.

Third-Party Apps

It is possible that third-party apps with access to your contact list can create duplicate entries. This can happen if the app’s syncing process is not managed correctly or if there are conflicts between the app’s data and your existing contacts.

Problems During Contact Merging

Sometimes, merging contacts on your phone can cause duplicate entries because they aren’t merged properly. This can happen if you haven’t merged the contacts correctly or if there are conflicts in your contact information.

Microsoft Exchange Servers Issues

iCloud doesn’t change the data synced with Microsoft Exchange servers. Therefore, you might find yourself having duplicate contacts on your iPhone. Unless you set one of them to sync with your iPhone, the chances of having duplicate contacts are high.

Backup Restoration Problems

If you are restoring your iPhone from a backup, duplicate contacts are likely to appear. This can happen if your backup contains information about duplicate contacts or if there are conflicts between the backup contacts and the contacts on your current device.

Syncing both iTunes and iCloud

If your device is set up to sync with both iTunes and iCloud, the issue of duplicate contacts can occur. This problem is only possible if you are using versions of iTunes before iTunes 11. The solution here is simple, just upgrade your iTunes to the latest version.

How to Fix Duplicate Contacts Issue on your iPhone

To stop asking, “why are my contacts duplicated on my iPhone” you need to ensure that your contacts application is fed with a contact list from one source. Choose either iCloud, Microsoft Exchange, or Google. There are several ways to do this.

Method 1: Clean up your contacts automatically

Step 1: Upgrade your iPhone to iOS 16.

Step 2: Open your iPhone and navigate to the “Contacts” app.

Step 3: Tap ‘View Duplicates’

Step 4: Tap on contacts individually to review and merge them, or tap ‘Merge All’.

Method 2: Clean up your contacts via iCloud

Step 1: Visit the iCloud website and sign in.

Step 2: Click on ‘Contacts’

Step 3: Select duplicate contacts.

Step 4: Click on the ‘Settings’ icon.

Step 5: Click ‘Merge’.

Method 3: Link contacts manually using the built-in contact merge feature

Step 1: Open your iPhone and navigate to the “Contacts” app.

Step 2: Scroll down on your contact list to find duplicate contacts.

Step 3: Tap on a duplicate contact.

Step 4: Once you have opened it, tap ‘Edit’.

Step 5: Tap ‘Link Contacts’.

Step 6: Choose the other contact entry you want to link to the duplicate.

Step 7: Tap ‘Link’.

Method 4: Disable syncing

Step 1: With your iPhone open, head to the “Settings” section.

Step 2: Scroll down to find the “Contacts” option.

Step 3: Now turn off the syncing option for every source that is connected to your contact and account. Only allow one source.

Wrap Up

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