When you get a new iPhone, one of the things you'd want to do is import your contacts list from the old phone.
As long as you've been backing up your device frequently with iCloud or iTunes, it's not that hard. You can retrieve your contacts at any time, even if you've lost your old iPhone.
Here's how to transfer contacts between iPhones, in three ways.
How to transfer iPhone contacts to a new iPhone using iCloud syncing
If you have both your old iPhone and your new phone and both are working, then it's easy to load the contacts onto the new phone. Just make sure you're somewhere with a stable Wi-Fi network when you do so.
1. Connect both phones to the Wi-Fi network and log into the same Apple ID account on both.
2. On the old phone, open the Settings app.
3. Tap on your Apple ID profile (your name and picture at the top of the Settings page).
4. Tap iCloud.
5. Tap the toggle next to Contacts.
6. When the pop-up "What would you like to do with existing local contacts on your iPhone?" appears, tap Merge.
7. On the new phone, open the Phone app.
8. Tap Contacts in the bottom menu.
9. Drag your name down and release it – you'll feel a subtle vibration when it's time to release – to refresh the contacts list.
How to transfer iPhone contacts to a new iPhone using an iCloud backup
If iCloud syncing didn't work, or if you don't have your old phone anymore (or it's not working properly), you can use the contacts backed up to your iCloud account to load contact information onto a new iPhone.
To do this, however, you'll need to have backed them up beforehand.
1. Turn on the new iPhone and follow the steps to join a Wi-Fi network.
2. When the Apps and Data screen loads, tap Restore from iCloud Backup.
3. Log into your Apple ID using the same email and password you used with your old phone.
4. Apple will send a passcode to any other Apple Device you have, or you can opt to have it texted to you as well. Retrieve it and enter it in the pop-up prompting you for the passcode.
5. Agree to the Terms and Conditions by tapping Agree.
6. Choose the most recent backup from the list of backups.
7. Tap Continue and the backup, and your contacts — along with everything else on the backup – will be installed. The completion of the process will depend on the size of the backup and the speed of your network.
8. Follow the next set of instructions to finish setting up the new phone.
Whichever way you do it, it can't be undone, unless you have another backup to load onto the phone.
How to transfer contacts from one iPhone to another with iTunes
You can also sync contacts to your new phone using iTunes.
1. With the new iPhone connected to your computer, open the iTunes desktop app.
2. Click the iPhone icon in the top left corner of the screen.
3. In the left side menu, click Info.
4. Click the checkbox for Sync Contacts.
5. Click Apply in the bottom right corner.
