Losing your phone is stressful enough, but imagine also losing your contacts. Asking work contacts for their email address again, never knowing who is texting you without asking first—it’s a nightmare, really. This is why you should back up your contacts, and Google Contacts is a great place for that. Here's how to back up your contacts to Google on Android and iOS, or restore them from a CSV or vCard file. Losing track of phone numbers and addresses is stressful,
which is why it's important to back them up. Android is heavily tied to Google accounts, and in most cases, your phone's contacts should be backed up to Google Contacts already. You can verify this by opening Settings and heading to System > Backup.Android: How to Back Up Contacts to Google
Make sure that backing up to Google Drive is enabled and check that Contacts have been backed up recently. If so, your Android contacts are backing up to Google Contacts. Open Google Contacts on any other device, log in to your Google account, and you should see your contacts there.
iPhone or iPad: How to Back Up Contacts to Google
Want to do a one-time backup of your iPhone or iPad contacts over to Google Contacts? You'll need to install the Google Drive app and sign in to your Google account. Next open the Settings.
You'll find the Backup option. Open it.
Here you'll see the option to back up your contacts.
Do this and all of the contacts currently on your phone will be imported to Google Contacts. Open Google Contacts on any other device, log in to your Google account, and you should see your contacts there.
You can also sync your Google Contacts with your iPhone or iPad. Head to Settings, then Passwords & Accounts. Add your Gmail account, if you haven't, and make sure Contacts syncing is turned on.
Your Google Contacts will now show up on your device, and any changes you make to those contacts will sync to other devices.
Restore Exported Contacts to Google
If you've exported your contacts from Google, or some other service, you probably have a CSV or vCard file. You can import these into Google Contacts. Open Google Contacts in your browser, then click More in the left side bar.
Next, click Import.
From here you can upload and import contacts by uploading your file.
Note that trying to import more than 3,000 contacts at once will fail, so split your files into smaller pieces if you run up against that limit. You can use Microsoft Excel or even a text editor to do this.
Automatically Back Up Contacts to Google
Zapier can connect Google Contacts with 1,500+ apps, allowing you to automatically back up contacts in all sorts of unlikely ways.
For example, you could automatically add all new HubSpot or Mailchimp contacts to Google Contacts.
You could also automatically add contacts from Airtable or a spreadsheet.
These are just a few examples. Check out our Google Contacts integrations to browse more, or create your own.
- You can sync contacts to iCloud from any Apple device to access each contact anywhere you can sign in to your iCloud account.
- If you unsync your contacts, they will not be deleted from iCloud if you delete them on your device.
- This includes your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Mac computer, as well as iCloud for Windows and iCloud.com.
When you sync your contacts to iCloud, you'll be able to access them anywhere, regardless of whether you're using your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or even a Windows computer. All of your contacts will be stored on the cloud so that you have access to them anywhere you can sign in.
An important note — you cannot sync your contacts from iCloud.com or iCloud for Windows. However, if you have already synced them from another device, you can still edit them using these programs.
Before you sync your contacts, you should note that unsyncing them does not automatically delete them from the devices synced to your iCloud — it just means that no new contacts you add will be synced. If you want to delete already synced contacts, you'll have to do it manually.
How to sync contacts from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch
1. Open the Settings app on your device.
2. At the top of the Settings menu, tap on your name and Apple ID.
In the Settings app, tap your name and Apple ID at the top. Melanie Weir/Business Insider3. In the Apple ID menu, tap "iCloud."
Select "iCloud" on the Apple ID page. Melanie Weir/Business Insider4. Under "Apps using iCloud," toggle the "Contacts" switch to the on position.
Toggle "Contacts" to the on position. Melanie Weir/Business Insider5. A pop-up will appear asking if you want to cancel or merge your contacts with your iCloud account — tap "Merge."
How to sync contacts from a Mac computer
1. On the menu at the top of your screen, click the Apple symbol in the left corner.
2. Select "System Preferences" in the dropdown menu.
Click "System Preferences" in the dropdown Apple menu. Grace Eliza Goodwin/Business Insider3. In the System Preferences window, click "Apple ID" in the top right corner.
Click on "Apple ID" in the top right corner of the System Preferences window. Grace Eliza Goodwin/Business InsiderNote: If you are using MacOS Mojave or earlier, you can skip this step.
4. Click "iCloud" from the menu on the left side.
Click on "iCloud" on the left side of the Apple ID page. Grace Eliza Goodwin/Business Insider5. On the iCloud menu, click the checkbox next to "Contacts." This will sync any contacts not specified as "On my Mac."
Click the box next to "Contacts." Grace Eliza Goodwin/Business InsiderIf you want to sync contacts specified as "On my Mac," you will have to manually drag them from "On my Mac" to "All iCloud."
Related coverage from Tech Reference:
How to download photos from iCloud and save copies of them to any device
How to use the Apple Notes app on iCloud and sync your notes across all of your devices
How to delete apps from iCloud on any device to free up storage space on your iCloud account
How to change the iCloud account on your iPhone, and use a separate account for iTunes & App Store purchases
How to activate and access iCloud Drive on a Mac computer
Melanie Weir
Freelance author
Melanie Weir is a freelance author for Insider, mainly focusing on the Tech Reference section, but occasionally contributing to Lifestyle and Entertainment topics as well. She is also a freelance writer for ScreenRant, and is the Lead Weekend News Editor at TheThings.com. In her spare time she writes plays for both stage and screen. She can be reached at , or through LinkedIn.
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