Import contacts to iPhone

It is easy to import contacts from SIM to iPhone, but to import contacts to iPhone from PC or other services (e.g. Outlook, Thunderbird, etc), you’ll need to take some pains. Or, use CopyTrans Contacts – it will transfer contacts over in a few clicks and let you choose one of numerous export formats.

Select the format you want to import to your iPhone:

• Import VCF to iPhone
• Import contacts to iPhone from Excel
• Import contacts to iPhone from CSV
• Import CSV contacts to iCloud
• Windows contacts to iPhone
• Thunderbird export contacts
• Transferring contacts to iPhone: other formats

Import VCF to iPhone

It can be a real pain to import VCF to iPhone via iTunes. However, with CopyTrans Contacts, you can transfer:

✔ all phone numbers;

✔ addresses;

✔ notes;

✔ email addresses;

✔ etc.

1. Download and install CopyTrans Contacts from the following page:

   Free download

   If you need help installing CopyTrans Contacts, please refer to the installation guide.

2. Run CopyTrans Contacts and connect your iPhone.

💡 Please wait until all your contacts finish loading (the spinning wheel in the bottom-right corner should disappear). It may take quite a while, but only for the first time. On subsequent launches, the program should start much faster.

❕ If your iPhone is encrypted, you may be asked for an iPhone backup password. What password?

3. So, how to add contacts to new iPhone from a VCF file? Just click Import contacts.



4. A new window will open. Click From a file.



5. Navigate to the folder on your PC containing your contacts VCF, then select all the contacts you want to import.



💡 To select all the contacts at once, press Ctrl+A. Click Open.

6. That’s it! Now you know how to import contacts into iPhone from a Vcard.

Import contacts to iPhone from Excel

If you previously used CopyTrans Contacts to export iPhone contacts to Excel, please proceed directly to Step 1 below.

💡 In order to save Excel contacts file in iPhone correctly, you are urged to use the recommended structure of the fields as contained in our Excel contacts template.

1. How to import contacts from Excel to iPhone? Download and install CopyTrans Contacts from the following page:

   Free download

   If you need help installing CopyTrans Contacts, please refer to the installation guide.

2. Run CopyTrans Contacts, connect your iPhone and click Import selected.



3. A new window will open. Click on From a file.



4. Navigate to the folder containing an Excel document with your contacts, select the document and click on Open.



5. That’s it, your Excel contacts are now imported to iPhone.

How to import contacts into iPhone

YouTube guide

CSV contacts

Import CSV contacts to iPhone

It is also possible to just drag and drop your CSV (or Excel) file into the program:

You will see CSV file data as a table. To proceed, match the columns from the source file (.csv or .xls) with the iPhone contact fields (like first name, middle name, phone number, etc.) Just select a column header for each column from the drop-down list. Like a small interactive game!

If you encounter any issues performing, refer to the troubleshooting guide below.

• I do not see any of my contacts from CSV file
  Please try to change the encoding. Sometimes the encoding of the source file can not be detected automatically.
  

• My contacts are not displayed correctly: special characters like é, è, ç are not displayed.
  In this case, it is quite possible that your contacts are not properly stored in the CSV file. Open the CSV file with a text editor (ex. in Notepad++) and check if your data is displayed correctly there. You can then edit them manually in the file or on your iPhone after the import.

• I get an error message “1/1 of your contacts could not be imported”
  This means that the source file is probably corrupted. We recommend opening it in Microsoft Excel and saving it: this may be enough to fix it. Then try importing it into CopyTrans Contacts again.

• I noticed an error in the contact details
  To edit your contacts, open the source file in Excel or Notepad++ and then re-import it. You can also do it in CopyTrans Contacts on your iPhone after the transfer.

About the Import Wizard

• There are a lot of different types of CSV files. The Import Wizard is designed to customize the transfer and prevent data loss. In some CSV files, the information is presented in two columns: data type and data value. For example, the phone number information consists of the data type (such as home, business, mobile, etc.) and data value i.e. the phone number itself, like +1-313-123456.



• Those two-column files should be matched accordingly in the Import Wizard:



• You can exclude some or more contacts from the import – simply uncheck the box next to the contact.



• If you do not want to import a column from the source file to your iPhone, select Do not import from the drop-down list.



• To make your job easier, you can choose to only display the unmatched columns. This way, only the red columns will be displayed.



• The first line of the CSV file usually contains the column header name and therefore is grayed out by default and will not be imported. If you wish to import it, uncheck Do not import the first line in the advanced settings to avoid losing data.



• If you regularly import CSV files from a particular source, you can save your import settings. To do this, enter the title of the backup once you’ve finished customizing the fields, and click Save. Next time, you can choose Last used to apply the last import settings.

Import CSV contacts to iCloud

To import your contacts to iCloud, make sure you have logged in to your iCloud account in CopyTrans Contacts.

How to import contacts into iPhone? Just follow the steps above. After that, to import CSV to iCloud, select the contacts and right-click. You have two options: Copy To and Move To. In the first case, the contacts will stay on the iPhone, and also will be copied to iCloud. If you choose to move them, these contacts will be removed from the iPhone and will be transferred to iCloud.

How to import contacts into iPhone

Windows contacts to iPhone

Windows Contacts was introduced as a built-in contact manager in Windows Vista back in 2007, and was later ported to Windows 7, 8 and 10. The program has no interface. It is implemented as a special folder in File Explorer, which can be found in C:/Users/(your username)/Contacts.

The People app is a successor to Windows Contacts in Windows 8 and 10. It was created to organize and link contacts from various e-mail accounts. Microsoft has listed the People app as a deprecated feature in Windows 10 and announced that it is likely to be removed in a future update.

This method of transferring Windows contacts to iPhone is completely secure: your contacts remain offline on the iPhone. All contact details are imported including:

• all phone numbers,
• contact pictures,
• notes,
• email addresses.
• etc.

Here is how to import Windows contacts to iPhone:

1. Download CopyTrans Contacts from the following page:
   Free download

2. Install the program. If you need help installing CopyTrans Contacts, please refer to the installation guide.

3. Run CopyTrans Contacts and connect your iPhone to PC. Your iPhone contacts will appear in the main window.

💡 Please wait until all your contacts finish loading (the spinning wheel in the bottom-right corner should disappear). It may take quite a while, but only for the first time. On subsequent launches, the program should start much faster.

❕ If your iPhone is encrypted, you may be asked for an iPhone backup password. What password?

4. Click Import contacts.



5. In the next window, select From a file (all contact formats).



6. Navigate to the Windows Contacts folder, select the contacts you wish to transfer and click Open.

   NOTE: By default, Windows 7, 8 and 10 store your contacts in C:/Users/(Your user name)/Contacts.

7. That’s it! You have successfully imported your Windows contacts to your iPhone!

Thunderbird export contacts

Mozilla Thunderbird is a free email application, great for personal or business use. If you save all the contacts in the Thunderbird Address Book and then you need to import them into your iPhone, CopyTrans Contacts will do it for you.

There are only two steps:

➕ Export contacts from Thunderbird

➕ Import contacts into iPhone

1. In the main Thunderbird window, click Address Book.



2. Now click Tools and then Export.



3. Thunderbird offers several formats for contact export. Just select .csv or .vcf.

4. Download CopyTrans Contacts and install it.
   Download CopyTrans Contacts

5. After running CopyTrans Contacts and connecting your iPhone, click Import selected.



6. Click Import contacts.



7. Select From a file (all contact formats) and then navigate to the folder where your Thunderbird contacts are saved.

8. That’s it, now you see all your Thunderbird contacts in iPhone.

Transferring contacts to iPhone

CopyTrans Contacts lets you manage the contacts stored off device:

• Import contacts from Google to iPhone

This quick guide shows exactly how to import Gmail contacts to iPhone using CopyTrans Contacts.

• Export Outlook contacts to iPhone

This quick guide shows how to copy contacts from Outlook.com to iPhone using CopyTrans Contacts. Note: Now all Hotmail.com and Live.com mailboxes are redirected to Outlook.com.

• Yahoo contacts on iPhone

Easy way to import Yahoo contacts to iPhone.

• How to move contacts from Android to iPhone?

When switching from Android to iPhone you should think about saving your address book. It’s actually pretty easy to copy contacts from Android to iPhone with CopyTrans Contacts.

• How to save Exchange contacts to iPhone?

If you want to disable Exchange and save all Exchange contacts on your iPhone, CopyTrans Contacts is what you need.

Compatibility

The method will help you import CSV or Excel contacts from the following sources:

✔️ Outlook
✔️ Thunderbird
✔️ Yahoo
✔️ Hotmail
✔️ Slack CSV
✔️ Skype
✔️ Facebook
✔️ TeamViewer
✔️ Synology