How to Backup Contacts on iPhone in 3 Ways

It’s vital to keep a habit of backing up data on the iPhone to avoid losing information, especially contacts. Performing this task keeps your contacts safe even if you get your iPhone broken, lost, or stolen. Speaking of iPhone data backing up, most of the users would think about iTunes or iCloud. Both of them are quite good at backing up iPhone data. However, both of them won’t support back up contacts, photos, messages, or call logs separately.

Fortunately, some iTunes/iCloud alternatives can back up iPhone contacts selectively. In this guide, we illustrated 3 ways that can back up contacts on iPhone via iTunes, iCloud and using a third-party tool.

Now let’s check out how to back up contacts on iPhone.

Back up Contacts on iPhone with iTunes

iTunes will create a full backup for almost all your iPhone content as well as contacts. Here are steps to backup iPhone contacts with iTunes:

Step 1. Download and lunch the latest version of iTunes.

As iTunes error always happens and has no reason, update it to the new version would be better.

Step 2. Run iTunes on your computer.

Generally, iTunes could detect your iPhone once you connect your iPhone to the computer. And now you should tap on the device. There are some buttons you will see.

Step 3. Back up your iPhone.

Tap on the Summary, now you will see there are some choices, you can just click Back Up Now which will start to back up the iPhone data and settings to the computer.

It won’t take too much time to complete the data backing up on iPhone with iTunes. iTunes can back up all the stuff on your iPhone to the computer, and it will renew the backup of the iPhone once you have connected and trusted the computer.

How to Back up Contacts on iPhone without iTunes

iPhone users have no access to check the iTunes backup files. In other words, they can’t check what contacts they have backed up. What’s more, restoring iTunes backup will erase the existing content on your iPhone first. That is to say, after restoring your iPhone with iTunes backup, it is possible for you to find that although the contacts are retrieved, some other iPhone files and data are lost.

In this part, I’d love to introduce 2 great iPhone contacts backup utilities.

#1. AnyTrans – The Greatest iPhone Contacts Manager

Therefore, in this guide, we will introduce a third option to save contacts on iPhone with a powerful iOS data management tool – AnyTrans, which not only allows you to selectively back up iPhone contacts to computer in readable formats but also does no harm to your existing content when restoring the backup. With just two simple steps, you can easily complete the contacts backup without any technical requirements. Check the main feature of AnyTrans:

Step 1. Download AnyTrans and launch it on your computer > Connect your iPhone to the computer > Go to Device Manager > Choose the More option.

Step 2. Scroll the left panel screen down and choose Contacts > Choose the Contacts you want to back up > Tap the To Computer button and set up the exporting format of the iPhone contacts.

Seconds later, you will see there is a Transfer Complete on the screen. That’s what AnyTrans does to back up contacts on iPhone without iTunes. This tutorial also can be applied to backing up contacts on iPad/iPod touch. Additionally, besides backing up contacts, it also supports another 20 types of iOS data and files, including Photos, Videos, Music, Messages, Notes, etc.

#2. PhoneTrans – The Most Reliable iPhone Contacts Backup Tool

PhoneTrans is a outstanding iPhone contacts backup tool which supports to back up iPhone contacts selectively and wholly within minutes. Besides contacts, it also can back up photos, messages, call logs, etc. For its star features, PhoneTrans is a smart phone switcher helper which can also transfer contacts from iPhone to any other phone with great ease.

Let’s take a look at how to back up contacts on iPhone with PhoneTrans.

Step 1. Download PhoneTrans and install it on a computer. Also, connect you iPhone to the computer with a great USB.

Step 2. Click Phone Backup on the left panel. Then choose Selectively Backup and tap on Start Backup to go on.

Step 3. Follow its instructions on the screen, you should tap on Contacts and click the Back Up Now to start the contacts backup journey.

It won’t take minutes to compete the backup process on PhoneTrans. It only take me 5 seconds to back up all the contacts on my iPhone.

How to Backup Contacts on iPhone via iCloud

When it comes to backing up iPhone contacts with iCloud, you have two choices. One is creating a full backup of your iPhone with an iCloud account, and the other is syncing only iPhone contacts to the iCloud server. The detailed steps to backup iPhone contacts to iCloud are as below.

Creating a Full Backup of Your iPhone with iCloud

Unlike iTunes, backing up iPhone to iCloud is backing up your iPhone contacts in Apple’s cloud server instead of keeping them on a computer hard drive. To backup your iPhone to iCloud, you just need to log into iCloud on your iPhone with simple steps:

1. On your iPhone, go to Settings.
2. Tap on your Apple ID’s part > Select iCloud > Select iCloud Backup.
3. Tap on it to turn it on if it is closed > Click Back Up Now.
4. Then your contacts on iPhone will be backed up to the iCloud server as well as other iPhone content.

Syncing Contacts to iCloud with Wi-Fi

Syncing iPhone contacts using iCloud means all your iPhone contacts will be backed up to an iCloud server, and all the contacts on your different devices logged in the same Apple ID will be merged in one iCloud and synced to all your iDevice. At the same time, the contacts on other iDevices will also come to your iPhone. Therefore, if you want to keep your contacts independent, and don’t merge with other iDevices’, you need to log in to a different Apple ID on your iPhone.

To back up iPhone contacts by syncing to iCloud, you just need to ensure your iPhone is connected to a Wi-Fi network, and then perform the steps below on your iPhone:

Go to Settings > Click on your Apple ID’s part > Select iCloud > Tap on Contacts to turn it on > Then wait for your iPhone contacts backed up to iCloud.

This method will back up all your iPhone contents to iCloud. And the only way for you to get backed up contacts to your iPhone is by restoring your device with this iCloud backup, during this process, the contents in the backup will replace the existing data and files on your iPhone.

The Bottom Line

This is all about how to save contacts from iPhone. If you found this guide helps you a lot, please don’t forget to share it with more people. For any problems with iPhone contacts backup, you can feel free to share them in the Comments Section below.