Manage and delete contacts on your iPhone or iPad

Learn how to set up and manage your contacts to change what shows up in the Contacts app, delete contacts, and more.

Set up a Contacts account

You can set up your email accounts to share contacts with the Contacts app. If you have a contacts account like a business or school directory, you can set that up, too.

1. Go to Settings.

2. Tap Apps.

3. Tap Contacts.

4. Tap Contacts Accounts and then Add Account, or simply tap Add Account if shown.

5. Tap the service that you have an account with, or tap Add Other Account to set up an LDAP, CardDAV, or another account type.

   

6. Enter your account information.

7. Tap Next.

If you have multiple accounts set up in the Contacts app and want to review contacts for a specific one, open Contacts and tap to select the one you want to review.

Turn Contacts on or off for an account

Want to add or remove all contacts from an account you already set up? Just turn Contacts on or off for that account:

1. Go to Settings

2. Tap Apps.

3. Tap Contacts.

4. Tap Contacts Accounts.

5. Tap the account that has contacts you want to add or remove.

6. To add contacts, turn on Contacts. To remove contacts, turn off Contacts, then tap Delete from My [Device].

   

Choose a default account for new contacts

If you set up multiple accounts in the Contacts app, you can choose a default account to add new contacts to:

1. Go to Settings.

2. Tap Apps.

3. Tap Contacts.

4. Tap Default Account.

5. Choose an account.

   

Change how you sort and display contacts

You can choose how to order your contacts:

1. Go to Settings.

2. Tap Apps.

3. Tap Contacts.

4. Choose from the following options:

   1. Sort Order: Sort your contacts alphabetically by first or last name.

   2. Display Order: Show contacts' first names before or after last names.

   3. Short Name: Choose how contacts' names appear in apps like Mail, Messages, Phone, and more.

Delete a contact

When you delete a contact, it's permanently removed from your device. If you delete a contact from your email account, that contact is also permanently deleted from all devices signed into that email account.

To delete a contact:

1. Open Contacts.

2. Tap the contact you want to delete.

3. Tap Edit.

4. Scroll down and tap Delete Contact, then tap Delete Contact again to confirm.

Learn more

• If your iCloud Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders don’t update across your devices

• If you see duplicate contacts after setting up iCloud Contacts

• Add your email account on your iPhone or iPad