How do I delete every single contact off my phone at once

By Dominic, 26 June, 2023

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

So if some of you may or may not know I used to use WhatsApp and I accumulated lots of contacts through WhatsApp
But thinking about it now I just have way too many that don’t have iMessage, and iCloud emails can’t talk to iMessage
In fact devices that only use email addresses can’t talk to devices without iMessage
not to mention some of my mums contacts including taxi drivers doctors and all of that managed to get onto my phone
How can I delete all 670 of my contacts in once because I don’t want to go to my contacts app and delete all of them one by one by one by one, that will give me an absolute headache
So is there a way that I can delete them all at once quick simple and easy

Options

Comments

By Siobhan on Friday, June 23, 2023 - 21:19

Delete absolutely everything, set up as new and start putting in only your own contacts. If you restore from a backup, you'll have probably the same problem. Plus, get rid of what's app personally after I did I had less contacts. It's a pain in the ass but that's the best thing you can do. also for whatever reason, you might have your Mom's stuff because of using either the same apple ID which i wouldn't recommend. though not sure how old you are, you might have to as you might be under age for apple's ID on your own. Either way, erase the phone, set up as new and start all over. That way you have control. It might be a completely annoying thing but write down the contacts you want to keep that way it's easier to add them back. Also if you have to share the same computer, that might've done it too. You are an interesting person, you get yourself in so much tech trouble. Lol.

By Bingo Little on Friday, June 23, 2023 - 21:19

dominic old lad, you are rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors on here. it's a bit like applevis meets Just William, isn't it? The scrapes you get yourself into! Your mother's contacts indeed! Do you have any of my contacts? i suspect you might do, given your talent for IOS jackanapery.

Can't improve on Siobhan's suggestion. delete everything and remember your bleedin' password this time. Or else go and buy yet another device.

By Dominic on Friday, June 23, 2023 - 21:19

I do have my auntie‘s contact who is from Australia but is currently living in England.
So what you are telling me is Apple doesn’t have a built-in system to delete all contacts like photos or videos videos
Well that’s just

Just gonna go get some tea

By Bingo Little on Friday, June 23, 2023 - 21:19

You are drawing impermissible inferences from that which i said, Dominic. I only said I could not add to what siobhan said. I categorically did not say that apple has no in-built deletion tool. I didn't even say words to that effect. The truth is I don't know whether IOS has such a tool. i've never wanted to delete all my contacts. Call me old school, if you like, but I usually stick to having only my own contacts in my phone. The odd contact whom I've found objectionable enough to want to delete I've just erased on a case by case basis. I do hope your aunt is enjoying living in this our England. The relevance of going to get some tea is not readily apparent.

By Dominic on Friday, June 23, 2023 - 21:19

I don’t know how but somehow my mum‘s contact seem to stem from an iPhone that I have that I had previously set up on mum‘s old Apple ID that had been set up for her a few years ago that I had signed into on my iPhone before creating a new Apple ID, I didn’t reset it so when I turned on Gmail so that my account would also have Gmail notifications sent to it my contacts would be sent from the phone to Gmail
It’s okay now everything sorted out
Now time to delete the rest of my 570 contacts

And this is why I don’t like transferring any of my data, LOL

By Enes Deniz on Friday, June 23, 2023 - 21:19

Just give third-party apps a shot before you go and wipe everything. I have one such app, although I only use it to back up and occasionally restore my contacts when they're deleted for no reason and I happen to realize that after some time. Well, not all of them but just a few get deleted once in a while, and I have not yet been able to figure out exactly why.

By kool_turk on Friday, June 23, 2023 - 21:19

I use an app called MC Backup to back up my contacts as a VCF file. It has a convenient feature that allows you to delete all your contacts at once. However, the app's interface can be a bit confusing since English doesn't seem to be the developer's first language.

To access the contact removal option, you need to go to the app's settings. The free version of the app should fulfill your needs. Personally, I ended up purchasing the paid version because, at the timeI needed a quick and easy way to back up my contacts, and iTunes was hit and miss.

Alternatively, you can try deleting your contacts through the icloud.com website. However, I must admit that I find that site challenging to navigate, even on Windows.