4 ways to transfer contacts from iPhone to Computer (PC & Mac)
It's easier than ever to export entire contact list from an iPhone, giving you great options to saving a copy of your contacts onto the computer. Here're the 4 best ways.
Lucas Seltzer Updated on Oct 20, 2022 2:21 PM
As an entirely closed ecosystem, Apple has always had ways of using iTunes to sync contacts on your computer to iOS device. But if you're worried about losing your contacts from your iPhone and want your contacts to go to PC, you might be searching how to export contacts from iPhone to computer and store them all together locally in one place.
Contacts are one of the most important data on your phone. Losing such a type of valuable data would be a nightmare if you don't have any back up. The good news is that you can easily export iPhone contacts to your computer. It doesn't matter whether you're using a PC or a Mac to which you export contacts on iPhone.
You can opt for transferring your iPhone contacts in bulk and individually onto a computer.
Part 1: How to Export Contacts from iPhone to Computer
We have enlisted four of the most effective and workable ways to export your contacts from iPhone to a computer.
The first one uses the feature of iCloud Contacts Sync to share your contacts to the cloud storage which you can access from your PC to download an extra set of saved Contacts file.
The second method is to use a third-party iPhone Contacts Transfer Tool and with just a few clicks, you can export your contacts. The third method involves the use of Email to send contact to yourself and access it from your computer.
Last but not the least, AirDrop is able to transfer files between iPhone and Mac, and it makes the whole process quite smooth and user-friendly. Jump to:
iCloud
This is probably the method that comes to mind. iCloud is a cloud storage service that not only offers you to sync contacts from iPhone across all your devices, but it also keeps all the synced data up-to-date. If you've connected your iPhone to Wi-Fi and turned on iCloud Contacts, you can access the same contact info on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Windows PC.
Syncing contacts from iPhone to your computer becomes quite convenient with the use of iCloud. It's just a two-step process. All you'll need is an active internet connection and a device to login to your account.
Step 1: Turn on iCloud for Contacts on iPhone
In order to use iCloud to sync your contacts, you need to toggle on the Contacts entry from your iCloud settings.
Go to Settings of your iPhone, tap on your Name at the top, then then iCloud. On the iCloud Settings page, scroll down to find Contacts and make sure it's toggled on.
Step 2: Log into iCloud account on computer to export contacts
When Contacts is enabled for it to be synced with iCloud, it's now time to save contacts to your computer. You need to complete this through icloud.com.
Once you're signed into your iCloud account, click Contacts app icon. You should see your contacts stored on your iPhone. To export contacts to computer, select a contact from the list, then press CTRL+A to have all contacts selected.
Now click on the cog icon on the bottom-left corner and choose Export vCard... You can save the contacts to your computer's hard drive, or choose an app to open the .vcf contact file.
That's all set. Contacts on your iPhone are synced to your computer.
[Don't miss: How to Sync Music from iTunes to iPhone without Syncing]
iPhone Contact Transfer Tool
You iCloud storage will be full when the free 5GB is used up, and if you add a contact to your iPhone address book, it won't be synced to iCloud. To bypass the limitation on the cloud storage as well as the internet, a third-party data transferring program should be a better option. iPhone Data Transfer is an all-purpose software application that helps you transfer your data like music, photos, videos, messages, notes and more from your iPhone to computer and vice versa, without losing data - which happen while syncing with iTunes.
Salient Features of iPhone Data Transfer
iPhone Contact Transfer Tool not only transfers iPhone contacts and other files to PC, but it also provides you a great flexibility in managing the data on the iPhone with your computer.
The software will eventually export the contacts and give you options to save the contacts along with all info as CSV, vCard contact file to a location of your choice on your PC or Mac, or directly to Windows Address Book, Outlook, Gmail, and Yahoo.
Here's our step-by-step guide on how to export contacts from iPhone to PC.
1. To begin, you'll need to download iPhone Data Transfer and install it.
2. Open it, and Connect your iPhone to your computer.
3. Click on the Contacts tab from the left side of the window. Wait for a while to let the contacts get loaded and you will see all items displaying on the screen.
4. View your iPhone contacts and check each contact you want to transfer to the computer. Then hit Export to PC icon from the toolbar and choose to CSV File or any other option you want from the list. Congrats, you're done exporting Contacts from iPhone to your PC.
In addition to exporting contact individually, you can also transfer your contacts all at once with the one-click solution built into iPhone Data Transfer application.
It's pretty simple to do - On the main screen of the program, click Device to PC shortcut at the bottom, then click Contacts and hit the Start button.
[Also Read: How to Recover Deleted Contacts on iPhone without Backup]
Email
Another way to share your contacts from iPhone to your computer is by using Email.
Until now, all above-mentioned methods are regarding bulk contacts export. If you only want to share only one or a few contacts, well, emailing can be a more convenient way to export individual contacts from your iPhone. Do the following:
- From Contacts app, tap on a contact that you want to share.
- Scroll down to Share Contacts. Tap on it.
- Tap Mail from the pop-up.
- A email window will open up with the contact attachment (.vcf) inserted. Type in the email address of the yours as the recipient.
- Tap Send to share the contact.
- On your computer, open your email inbox and check the sent contact and save it locally.
AirDrop (Mac Only)
AirDrop is an awesome way to wirelessly share your media files, documents, contacts, or any other data type. AirDrop can be a great option to use when it comes to sharing a single contact. It might not be a great option if you want to share a bunch of contacts.
However, in order to use AirDrop to share the contacts, you need to turn it on.
1. From the Control Center, long press the Wi-Fi option to open another window.
2. You'll be able to see the AirDrop icon. Tap it.
3. Select your preference whether you want to set it on Contacts Only or Everyone.
4. It's recommended to set it on Everyone to conveniently share your contacts on PC.
This method only works with Mac since the AirDrop feature is exclusively available on the iDevices. Now, you need to turn on the AirDrop option from your Mac.
1. On your Mac, open Finder and click "Go".
2. Tap on AirDrop and you'll be able to see the "Allow me to be discovered by:" link at the bottom of the window.
3. Choose your preference, but it's recommended to set it on Everyone to make the process smooth. You can also set it to Contacts Only if you want to keep others from sharing anything to your Mac.
Once AirDrop feature is toggled-on on both the devices, it's quite easy to import contacts to your Mac from your iPhone. Before that, make sure both the devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Once everything is set, here's how to export contacts from iPhone to Mac using AirDrop.
1. From your iPhone, open the Contacts app, and select contacts you want to export.
2. Tap on Share Contact and select the AirDrop option from the pop-up window.
3. You'll get a notification on the Mac about the progress.
Part 2: How to Transfer Contacts back to iPhone
Chances are you'll need to transferring your contacts back to your iPhone from your computer. You will need:
- A computer where your contacts are staying, and with iTunes installed.
- Your iPhone
- A USB cable
The following steps with sync contacts from your PC to Contacts app.
Start iTunes, and plug your iPhone into computer. When it's successfully connected, you'll see a tiny Device icon on the top left corner of iTunes window. Click on it.
Next, click Info from the sidebar on the left, then check Sync Contact with for enabling syncing for contacts. Click Apply.
