How to Delete All Contacts from Your Phone

Edited 2 weeks ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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In our digital age, managing contacts effectively is essential. There may come a time when you need to delete all the contacts on your phone. Whether you are selling your device, buying a new phone or simply need a fresh start, deleting all contacts may be necessary. This guide will walk you through the steps to delete all contacts from your phone in a way that is easy to understand and follow. We will cover methods for both Android and iOS devices.

Deleting contacts on Android phone

If you have an Android phone and need to delete all contacts, follow the steps below. The steps may vary slightly depending on the manufacturer and version of Android you are using, but the general principles are the same.

Method 1: Using the Contacts app

1. Open the Contacts or People app on your Android device.
2. Tap the three vertical dots or menu icon, usually located at the top right corner of the screen.
3. Choose Delete Contact or a similar option from the menu.
4. You may see an option to select all contacts; tap it. On some devices, you may need to long-press a contact to enable multi-select mode, then select all contacts.
5. Once all contacts are selected, confirm the deletion by tapping the Delete button, usually represented by a trash can icon.

After following the above steps, all your contacts will be removed from your phone.

Method 2: Using a Google Account

If your contacts are synced with your Google Account, you can delete them from your Google Account to ensure they're removed from your phone as well.

1. Go to Google Contacts using a web browser on your computer.
2. Sign in with the Google account synced with your Android device.
3. Click the checkbox next to any contact to select it. You will see a selection checkbox in the upper left corner.
4. Click the top checkbox to select all contacts. You can also use the shortcut key Ctrl+A (Cmd+A on Mac) to select all.
5. After selecting all the contacts, click on the three vertical dots (More options) at the top of the contact list and select Delete.
6. A confirmation dialog will appear; confirm the deletion.

Once you delete all contacts from your Google account, they will be automatically removed from your Android device as well, if it is synced.

Deleting a contact on an iOS device (iPhone)

For iPhone users, the process of deleting all contacts is also simple. Below are the steps to achieve it.

Method 1: Using the Contacts app

1. Open the Contacts app on your iPhone.
2. Unfortunately, the Contacts app doesn't offer a Select All feature, so you'll have to delete contacts individually or use another method described below.

Method 2: Using iCloud

If your contacts are synced with iCloud, you can delete them from the iCloud website to ensure they're removed from your iPhone as well.

1. Go to iCloud using a web browser on your computer.
2. Sign in with your Apple ID.
3. Click the contact icon.
4. Click the gear icon at the bottom left corner and choose Select All.
5. Press the Delete key on your keyboard, or click the gear icon and select Delete.
6. Confirm to delete all contacts.

When you delete all contacts from iCloud, they will also be deleted from your iPhone, if your iPhone is synced with iCloud.

Method 3: Using the Settings app

You can also use the Settings app to completely remove all contacts from your iPhone.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Passwords & Accounts (in older versions of iOS this may be labeled Mail, Contacts, Calendars).
3. Select the account where your contacts are stored (e.g., iCloud, Google, Yahoo, etc.).
4. Turn off the Contacts toggle for that account.
5. When prompted, select Delete from My iPhone. This will remove all contacts associated with that account from your iPhone.

By following these steps, you can ensure that all contacts synced from different accounts are deleted.

Caution and backup

Before you begin the process of deleting all your contacts, it's important to take precautionary measures. Here are some tips:

1. Back up your contacts: Make sure you have a backup of your contacts so you can back them up in case you need to restore them later. On Android, you can export your contacts to a .vcf file through the Contacts app. On iPhone, you can back up your contacts using iCloud or iTunes.
2. Review your contacts: Double-check your contacts list to make sure you're not deleting any important numbers that aren't backed up somewhere.
3. Sync settings: Review your sync settings to prevent accidentally re-importing contacts after deleting them, especially if you’re using cloud accounts such as Google or iCloud.

Technical considerations

For tech-savvy users, you can consider additional methods involving more advanced tools or scripts. For example, you can write a script using programming languages such as Python to interact with your contacts through the corresponding API. Here is an example in Python using the Google Contacts API:

        
# Before running this script, ensure you have the Google API Client library installed 
# You can install it using: pip install --upgrade google-api-python-client oauth2client 
from googleapiclient.discovery import build 
from oauth2client.service_account import ServiceAccountCredentials 

# Replace 'YOUR-CLIENT-SECRET.JSON' with the path to your JSON file 
credentials = ServiceAccountCredentials.from_json_keyfile_name('YOUR-CLIENT-SECRET.JSON', scopes=['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/contacts']) 
service = build('people', 'v1', credentials=credentials) 

# Get a list of your contacts 
results = service.people().connections().list( resourceName='people/me', pageSize=2000, # Adjust page size as needed 
personFields='names,emailAddresses', ).execute() 
connections = results.get('connections', []) 

# Delete each contact 
for person in connections: 
    service.people().deleteContact(resourceName=person['resourceName']).execute() 
    print("All contacts deleted.")
        
    

Using this script, you can programmatically delete all contacts from your Google account. Note that similar APIs are available for other services like iCloud, and you can perform similar tasks based on the respective API documents.

Conclusion

Managing your contacts is an important aspect of maintaining your digital life. Deleting all contacts from your phone may be necessary in various scenarios and doing it correctly ensures that no important data is inadvertently lost. This guide provides detailed steps to delete all contacts on Android and iOS devices using built-in apps, web services, and advanced technical methods. Remember to back up your contacts, review them carefully, and sync settings before proceeding with the deletion process.

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