There are a variety of factors that can contribute to the possibility that your iPhone, which is running iOS 16, will wind up with an excessive number of duplicate contacts. There could be a problem with your address book or a problem with the way your contacts are synchronised with an email client that uses iCloud as one of the explanations. When you search for a contact using the Contacts app, if you see duplicate results, it is possible that it is time to start the Contacts cleansing process. For Android you can check out our detailed guide here.
A problem may arise, though, if too many people’s contact information is duplicated. You’ll find the answer to your problem here, including instructions for eradicating duplicate contacts on your iPhone. With the release of iOS 16, Apple implemented automatic detection of duplicate contact cards in iCloud, with the option to merge them.
How to remove duplicate contacts on your iPhone
- On your iPhone, launch the Contacts app
- Under “Lists”, you should tap All iCloud
- In case there are any duplicate contacts, you’ll see the contacts mentioned above the Contacts lists as “Duplicates Found” alongside the number of duplicate contacts
- Now, tap on “Duplicates Found”
On the overflow menu, you’ll get the list of duplicate contacts. You’ll have two options – merge all contacts at once or manually merge selected contacts.
Option 1: Remove/merge all duplicate contacts at once
To merge all duplicate contacts and remove them in one swoop, tap on “Merge” at the bottom of the overflow menu. That’s it, all duplicate contacts will be merged in your Contacts with the flash message “Duplicated Resolved”. You’ll no longer be seeing the “Duplicates Found” indicator above the contacts list on the Contacts page.
Option 2: Manually select and merge contacts
In the overflow menu, you should tap on any duplicate contacts that you want to resolve. The overflow menu shows details of the selected duplicate contact. After that, you should tap on “Merge” located at the bottom of the menu.
That’s it! You’ve successfully completed the steps for merging the copies of the selected contact into one in your Contacts. You’ll be able to merge and remove duplicate copies selectively. You should tap on “Cancel” at the top-left of the overflow menu once you’re done merging selected contacts. The unresolved duplicates will continue to be shown on the Contacts page as “Duplicates Found”.
