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How to delete contacts on iPhone

Learn to delete contacts on iPhone with this guide and free up the clutter from old numbers and people you're no longer in contact with.

image of trash removal black stick figure throwing out iphone contact icon on a yellow pocket tactics background

Do you need to know how to delete contacts on iPhone? You’re in the right place, whether you want to purge your phone of unwanted numbers and messages, or you want to get rid of old contacts you no longer speak to, we talk through everything you need to know.

Should it be apps or games that need to get gone, our how to delete apps on iPhone guide can help you out. Then, to refill the now empty space, you can check out our YouTube Music download, Spotify download, WhatsApp download, Instagram download, and Netflix download content.

Here’s how to delete contacts on iPhone.

A demonstration of how to delete contacts on iphone

How do I delete contacts on iPhone?

To delete contacts on an iOS device, you need to:

  • Hit the green phone icon
  • Go to contacts
  • Scroll through until you find the one you want to delete
  • Select the contact
  • Hit the edit button in the top right of the screen
  • Scroll down and hit ‘delete contact’ at the bottom

How do I delete contacts on iPhone in bulk?

To delete multiple iPhone contacts, use the following method:

  • Hit the green phone icon
  • Go to contacts
  • Find one of the contacts you want to delete and press the screen with two fingers to highlight the contact
  • Use your fingers to scroll up or down your contacts and select all those you want to delete
  • Release your fingers and do a long press to bring the options up
  • Select ‘delete contacts’

Can I recover deleted iPhone contacts?

All is not lost if you accidentally delete the wrong iPhone contact. However, this is dependent on whether you regularly update and sync your iCloud account. If you do, then there’s a fairly simple way to get your address book refilled with the contacts you mistakenly said goodbye to.

  • Sign in to iCloud
  • At the bottom, there should be a ‘Data Recovery’ tab
  • Select ‘Restore Contacts’
  • Select ‘Restore’ next to the date you deleted the contacts you want back
  • Confirm the action, and once the restore is completed, you should receive a notification on your iCloud account as well as an email address to your Apple ID

This method only works if you sync your iCloud account. If you don’t, then there is no way to restore deleted contacts unfortunately.

There you have it, everything you need to know about how to delete contacts on iPhone. To make yourself even less available, take some time off social media with our guides on how to delete an Instagram account, how to delete Snapchat accounts, how to delete Twitter accounts, how to delete Spotify accounts, and how to delete Facebook accounts.