Merge duplicate contacts on iPhone

The Automatic Method

The easiest way to clean up your address book is by using the iPhone's built-in detection tool. Open the Phone app and go to the Contacts tab (or open the Contacts app directly). If your phone detects contacts with identical names, a notification labeled "Duplicates Found" will appear right below your personal card at the top of the list. Tap View Duplicates to review them, and then select Merge All at the bottom of the screen to combine them instantly. If you do not see this notification, it means the iPhone hasn't found exact matches, and you will need to use the manual method.

The Manual Method

If you have two entries for the same person with slightly different names (e.g., "Mike" and "Mike Smith"), you must link them manually. Open the Contacts app, tap on one of the duplicate contacts, and select Edit in the top-right corner. Scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Link Contacts. This will open your contact list again; find and select the otherentry for that person, then tap Link in the top-right corner. Finally, tap Done to save the changes. This combines the two entries into one card, preserving all unique phone numbers and email addresses from both.

Preventing Future Duplicates

Duplicate contacts usually appear because your iPhone is syncing data from multiple accounts at the same time, such as iCloud, Gmail, or Outlook. To stop this from happening repeatedly, go to Settings > Contacts > Accounts and check which accounts have the "Contacts" toggle turned on. It is usually best to choose one primary service (like iCloud) to manage your address book and turn off contact syncing for the others to avoid overlapping data.