iphone contacts such a confusing mess...

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ggapplecom Author

Level 1

4 points

iphone contacts such a confusing mess...

Why does my iphone 12 show the following under the contacts app?

It seems some of these lists overlap with each other? But not completely??

Very confusing implementation.

I have my default contact list set to iCloud.

And i have "Contacts" turned OFF under all other Accounts on the iPhone.

Lists:

All Contacts: 178

iPhone:

All iPhone: 126

Contacts: 126

QUESTION: WHERE ARE THESE STORED? ON A SIM CARD ONLY? SOMEWHERE ELSE?

iCloud:

All iCloud: 146

QUESTION: ARE THESE DUPLICATED IN THE OTHER LISTS?

QUESTION: HOW DO I GET ALL MY CONTACTS TO **ONLY** BE IN THE iCloud ACCOUNT.

Frustrated!

iPhone 12 Pro

Posted on Jul 3, 2023 04:39 PM

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Answer 1

Lager1

Community Specialist

Jul 4, 2023 04:17 PM in response to ggapplecom

Hi ggapplecom,

The following steps address what you're describing for the possible duplicates and should provide a solution:

Get rid of duplicate contacts on iPhone – Apple Support

To answer your questions about the lists, yes the contact names can be part of multiple lists and from the numbers you describe, is does appear that they are all syncing with iCloud. This resource may help with that: Set up iCloud for Contacts on all your devices – Apple Support

If you still have questions, reach out to Apple Support directly, as this may require closer guidance: Get Support

Cheers!

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Answer 2

ggapplecom Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 4, 2023 10:08 PM in response to faith185

Just to circle back -

1) We have no idea if most of the contacts overlap.

2) If my contacts were syncing with iCloud, then the counts wouldn't be off by such ridiculous percentages.

3) Finally got ahold of Apple Support on the phone, and they agreed their Contacts implementation is buggy and they are working on some fixes to it this week. Pretty amazing responsiveness from them actually.

Ok, so we'll see where it goes from here.

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Answer 3

faith185

Community Specialist

Jul 4, 2023 06:01 PM in response to ggapplecom

Hello ggapplecom,

On iPhone means data that is stored in your iPhone's internal storage. That would not be the SIM card. To learn more about internal iPhone storage, check out How to check the storage on your iPhone and iPad - Apple Support.

Since most of the contacts overlap, that is what indicates that your contacts are syncing with iCloud.

You may benefit from working directly with Apple Support to help determine if there are duplicate contacts. You can reach out directly from Get Support.

Take care.

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Answer 4

ggapplecom Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 4, 2023 05:18 PM in response to Lager1

Thanks so much! But I don't understand one point of your logic - you say from the numbers I listed it appears they are all syncing to iCloud. My numbers showed:

ALL CONTACTS: 178

iCloud: 146

So please help me understand how can you conclude that they are all syncing to iCloud?

And I still don't get the two categories: "on iPhone" vs "iCloud". What is "on iPhone"? Is that a sim card?

And then where are the extra 32 contacts (178-146) stored?

So screwy...

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iphone contacts such a confusing mess...

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