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Restoring iPhone 5 as new, but save contacts

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parkm13

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 25, 2010
224
5
Hello, I have been using an iPhone sense the 3g and have never restored my phone as new, always from a backup. I have had my iPhone 5 for some time and it has a lot of useless stuff on it. I would love to restore it as a new phone but do not want to lose my contacts. Is there any way I can save only my contacts, but restore the phone as new? It also would be great if there was a way to sort out duplicate contacts. Thanks in advance for the help!

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Is there a way to save them to my sim card? I am on sprint.
 
Menel

Menel

Suspended
Aug 4, 2011
6,351
1,356
Sync contacts to iCloud.It will sync them back after restore,

For duplicates.

Sync to iCloud
Export to vcard
Import vcard to Google Mail
Merge duplicates
Use google carddav to sync contacts
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,127
15,589
California
parkm13 said:
Hello, I have been using an iPhone sense the 3g and have never restored my phone as new, always from a backup. I have had my iPhone 5 for some time and it has a lot of useless stuff on it. I would love to restore it as a new phone but do not want to lose my contacts. Is there any way I can save only my contacts, but restore the phone as new? It also would be great if there was a way to sort out duplicate contacts. Thanks in advance for the help!

----------

Is there a way to save them to my sim card? I am on sprint.
Click to expand...

You can use an app like this to export the contacts to a VCF file. Then email yourself the file on the restored/new phone and click the VCF in the email message to import the contacts.

You can use GMail contacts as mentioned above to import the VCF, then merge the dups then export back out as a VCF.
 
P

parkm13

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 25, 2010
224
5
If I have the contacts in adress book on my mac will I be able to transfer them from adress book to my phone?
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,127
15,589
California
parkm13 said:
If I have the contacts in adress book on my mac will I be able to transfer them from adress book to my phone?
Click to expand...

Yes. Open the Address Book app and click a contact then hit command-a to select all. Then go to the File menu/Exports/Exports... then save. This will give your a VCARD file that can be emailed to the phone. Click the VCARD attachment in the email on the phone and it will ask to import the messages.

There is also a "look for duplicates" option in the Address Book under the Card menu.

Or you can use iCloud or iTunes to sync also.
 
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