It’s easy to delete contacts on your iPhone.
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To delete individual contacts on your iPhone, you can use the Contacts app.
If you want to delete all or multiple contacts at once, you’ll need to use the iCloud website.
You can block your iPhone contacts before deleting them if you want to cut ties permanently.
Whether you’ve left a job, ended a relationship, or just don’t need your old plumber’s number anymore, it’s easy to delete contacts off of your iPhone.
Once you’ve removed a contact, you can also take the extra step and block them so they can’t contact you.
Here’s how to delete individual or multiple contacts at once.
How to delete contacts on iPhone
There are three ways to delete contacts on your iPhone.
Delete individual contacts
1. Open the Contacts app on your iPhone, or open the green Phone app and tap the Contacts tab at the bottom of the screen.
2. Scroll to the contact you want to delete and tap on their name.
3. Tap Edit at the top-right corner of the contact’s information page.
You can also block a contact from this page.
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4. Scroll to the very bottom of the page and hit the words Delete Contact written out in red.
On this page, you can also edit a person’s name, add a phone number, and notes.
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5. Tap the red Delete Contact button that pops up to confirm your choice.
Quick tip: If you want to delete or merge duplicate contacts, check out our step-by-step guide.
Delete multiple contacts at once
You’ll need to have a computer to do this and your iCloud account set to save contacts beforehand.
1. Head to the iCloud website and sign into your account. You might need to enter a code sent to your iPhone.
2. Click Contacts.
On the iCloud site, you can also access your saved Photos, Notes, and more.
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3. Find the contacts you want to delete and select them all at once. The way to do this will differ depending on whether you’re using a Mac or PC.
On a Mac, hold Command as you click each contact you want to delete.On a PC, hold Ctrl as you click each contact you want to delete.4.
4. Once you have them all selected, click the gear icon in the bottom-left of the screen, and then Delete.
If you want to delete multiple contacts at once using your mobile device, download a third-party app.
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5. You’ll be asked to confirm that you want to delete the contacts. Click Delete.
Quick tip: There are also third-party apps for deleting multiple contacts at once. These include Groups, Clean My Photos, and Delete Contacts+.
Third-party contact deletion methods
If you want to delete multiple contacts at once using your mobile device, downloading a free third-party app is your best bet. Note that you’ll need to grant these apps access to your contacts in order for them to work.
Groups: In addition to deleting multiple contacts at once, it can also group contacts together by category, sort your contacts by the date they were added to your phone, and merge duplicate contacts.Clean My Photos: Clean My Photos is designed to help you free up storage space on your iPhone. It deletes duplicate contacts, photos, and videos with just one tap. It can filter and remove contacts that don’t have a phone number, name, or email address, and even monitors your iPhone’s battery health.Delete Contacts+: This app can delete multiple contacts at once, backup and restore contacts, and sort contacts by a common field (like a company or email domain). For an added fee it can merge contacts that have the same name so that all of their phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses are in one place.
Delete all contacts
If you want to get rid of every contact at once, you’ll also need to use your iCloud account.
Quick tip: There’s a chance that some contacts may be saved onto your SIM card — this is rare nowadays, but it happens. If this is the case, those contacts will need to be deleted individually.
1. Open your iPhone’s Settings app and tap your name at the top to open the Apple ID menu.
2. Tap iCloud.
3. On the page that opens, check to see if the toggle switch next to Contacts is enabled. If it is, tap it to turn it off.
On this page, you can see how much iCloud storage is being used, and the apps that iCloud is backing up.
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4. You’ll be asked what you want to do with your contacts. Select Delete from My iPhone.
Once this step is complete, your contacts will be erased from your iPhone.
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Quick tip: If you have a new iPhone and want to transfer contacts from your old iPhone, check out our help guide, plus some troubleshooting tips if you’re having trouble getting your contacts to show up.
How to block a contact so they can’t call you
If there’s a number in your contact list that you’ll never need or want to hear from again, then delete it.
Even after deleting, if that contact has your phone number, they’ll still be able to call you and send texts. To stop this, you should block them before you delete their contact listing.
1. Open the Contacts or Phone app and tap the contact you want to block.
2. Scroll to the bottom of their information page and select Block this Caller.
3. Tap Block Contact to confirm your choice.
If you’ve blocked someone, you can choose to unblock them at a later time if you want to.
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Quick tip: Blocking a contact is also a good move if you don’t want to hear from someone, but still want to keep their number or other information saved.