Can Contacts be Transferred from Flip Phone to iPhone 6

[chscag]

I assume this syncing on iCloud serves a 2nd purpose......backing up my Contacts? And should I go ahead and upgrade to iCloud Drive (both my iPhone and iPad are running iOS 8.2)?

By all means upgrade to iCloud drive. Activating iCloud drive allows your iPad and iPhone to backup automatically which will include contacts. However, keep in mind that if all your contacts are mirrored on your Mac (as they should be) you'll have a backup of them whenever you use Time Machine. Redundancy is always great when it comes to stuff like contacts, photos, music, etc. All things that are difficult to replace if lost.

 

[durango]

By all means upgrade to iCloud drive. Activating iCloud drive allows your iPad and iPhone to backup automatically which will include contacts. However, keep in mind that if all your contacts are mirrored on your Mac (as they should be) you'll have a backup of them whenever you use Time Machine. Redundancy is always great when it comes to stuff like contacts, photos, music, etc. All things that are difficult to replace if lost.

Speaking of backups, is there a way to back up my iPhone contacts before I perform the merging/syncing of my two contacts lists? I spent a lot of time today typing in all the names and phone numbers that I couldn't transfer from my old flip-top phone, and I would certainly hate to lose all this work if I screw up the merge.

 

[chscag]

If you entered them to your contacts app on your Mac, you can back them up with Time Machine or a cloning application such as Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. Otherwise if you did the entering from your iPhone, you can back them up by attaching your iPhone 6 via iTunes to your Mac and select "backup to this computer".

 

[durango]

If you entered them to your contacts app on your Mac, you can back them up with Time Machine or a cloning application such as Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. Otherwise if you did the entering from your iPhone, you can back them up by attaching your iPhone 6 via iTunes to your Mac and select "backup to this computer".

OK, thanks. I think using iTunes is the solution I want right now. I still have trouble remembering that iTunes does more than play music. For a total backup of my iMac, I do use Time Machine and I did clone the Mac HD using SuperDuper.

Regards.........

 

[durango]

If you entered them to your contacts app on your Mac, you can back them up with Time Machine or a cloning application such as Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. Otherwise if you did the entering from your iPhone, you can back them up by attaching your iPhone 6 via iTunes to your Mac and select "backup to this computer".

First let me say there are no questions in this post. I'm simply reporting the progress I made thanks to you.

I first performed the backup of my iPhone to my iMac using iTunes. I guess it backed up the entire device, because I never saw where I could select just the iPhone Contacts.

After the process was successfully completed, I went looking for the backup. I did some research and finally found my backup in:
~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
I was hoping to actually see my phone numbers, but they were not discernible.

And would you believe I got the merge accomplished, although I screwed up in a couple of places. For example.
- on my iPhone I used the names Joe & Mary Smith
- and on my iMac I used the names Joe and Mary Smith
So I got two listings for the Smith's....one showed phone numbers and one showed email addresses. As you advised, I used the large keyboard of the iMac and fixed the problem; it was immediately fixed on my iPhone.

Now I'm ready to download my merged list to my iPad.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[chscag]

Thanks for the progress report. Who said you have to draw pictures for Aggies? ;D Hey, have fun and enjoy your new iPhone 6!

 

[durango]

Thanks for the progress report. Who said you have to draw pictures for Aggies? ;D Hey, have fun and enjoy your new iPhone 6!

Well, I have stumbled again. The Contacts on my iPhone and iMac are nicely synced via iCloud. I was then wanting to sync my iPad so that all three would be working from the same Contacts list. But before I synced my iPad, I thought it would be good to delete all the old Contacts that I was using for email purposes on my iPad.

Is there anyway I can delete all these old iPad Contacts collectively rather than individually (I have 126 of them)? I certainly don't want to accidently erase anything on my iPhone or iMac.

Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.

 

[chscag]

If you sync your iPad contacts with your Mac via iCloud, it should wipe out any iPad contacts that are not listed in your contacts app on the Mac. That's how it's supposed to work. I have two iPhones, an iPad, an iMac which I keep in my home office, and my contacts sync perfectly on all 4 devices via iCloud.

Something else I just remembered.... don't forget to install the "Find my iPhone" app on your iPhone 6. And to make sure it's working, sign in to the iCloud web site, enter your Apple ID and Password, and then click on "Find my iPhone". It should respond with an Apple Map and a small green circle showing where your iPhone 6 is located.

 

[durango]

If you sync your iPad contacts with your Mac via iCloud, it should wipe out any iPad contacts that are not listed in your contacts app on the Mac. That's how it's supposed to work. I have two iPhones, an iPad, an iMac which I keep in my home office, and my contacts sync perfectly on all 4 devices via iCloud.

Something else I just remembered.... don't forget to install the "Find my iPhone" app on your iPhone 6. And to make sure it's working, sign in to the iCloud web site, enter your Apple ID and Password, and then click on "Find my iPhone". It should respond with an Apple Map and a small green circle showing where your iPhone 6 is located.

I guess I'm worried that the contacts on my iMac (old ones that I don't want) will be merged with the good Contacts list currently residing on my iPhone and iMac. But you are saying if I sync my iPad with my iMac that these iPad contacts should be wiped out. But when I synced my iPhone to my iMac, nothing was wiped out.....the 2 lists merged. That's why I really want to delete the old iPad contacts before I sync. I know I can delete them one contact at a time, but that's a long process.

Maybe to illustrate my question/concern:
Contact on iPad: Joe & Nancy Jones, [email protected]
Contact on iPhone & iMac: Joe & Nancy Jones, home=(870)123-4567, mobile=(501)321-7645, other= [email protected],
Will both Contacts be listed after I sync iPad with iMac? I only want the second one.

I did install the "Find my iPhone" app, and when it opened it found both my iPhone and my iPad at my house. I had read about that app, but I had not yet installed it. Thanks..

 

[chscag]

Running a bit late tonight.....

In your example above, the contacts will merge because they're different and may in fact appear on your iMac from the iPad. Only those that are the same will be gone. You may be better off deleting the contacts from the iPad before syncing. My initial thought was the contacts were the same, and in that case would be replaced. Anyway, don't take a chance syncing them because they will wind up on your iMac instead of being removed from the iPad. I don't see any other way of doing it except manually removing them.

 

[Rod]

I don't suppose you have BlueTooth on your flip phone? Because if you have the process is simple.

 

[durango]

Running a bit late tonight.....

In your example above, the contacts will merge because they're different and may in fact appear on your iMac from the iPad. Only those that are the same will be gone. You may be better off deleting the contacts from the iPad before syncing. My initial thought was the contacts were the same, and in that case would be replaced. Anyway, don't take a chance syncing them because they will wind up on your iMac instead of being removed from the iPad. I don't see any other way of doing it except manually removing them.

Don't apologize to me, as much help as you've been. I feel badly that I seem to inundate you with questions......believe it or not, I do try to research the issues before I bother you again. And don't you ever sleep???

I was afraid that manually would be the way to do it, so I will do that before I mess things up. Thanks again.

 

[durango]

I don't suppose you have BlueTooth on your flip phone? Because if you have the process is simple.

Rod, I'm no longer working with my old flip phone, as I just reentered those phone numbers into my new iPhone. But I do have Bluetooth on my iPad and my iMac (as well as the iPhone). Are you suggesting that there is a way to use Bluetooth to delete all my old Contacts on the iPad before I sync it to my iMac via iCloud?

Thanks for your response.

 

[durango]

Well, gosh darn. I individually deleted all the contacts on my iPad. Then I went to Settings, then iCloud, and turned Contacts on. Sure enough, my iPad was instantly populated with the contacts on my iPhone and iMac.

Well, almost populated. The iPhone & iMac have 111 contacts, and the iPad only 104. How can that be if iCloud is suppose to sync contacts across all devices?

 

[chscag]

Just got back from an all day run around in Fort Worth with the wife and saw your reply.

It looks like you're missing some contacts when you did the sync. What you can try... those contacts that are missing from the iPad, remove them from your Mac and re-enter them again. However, rather than do all at once, try it with just one to see if it gets synced to the iPad.

 

[MacInWin]

I find that so... funny? unbelievable? strange? That it even worked a little is more than I would have expected.

Try what chscag suggested and see if you can export using VCF. Unless the tech mangled the sim card too much that it is unreadable in your old phone.

Lisa

That was in response to this post from Durango:

I know that both have what is called a SIM card. The AT&T Tech first made sure that all my Contacts were contained on the SIM card in my old phone. She then removed the SIM card, took some scissors/cutter and literally trimmed the back edge of the SIM card so it would insert into my new iPhone. Sorta like taking the rear bumper off my car so it will fit in the garage.

Don't be surprised, Lisa, that's exactly how it is designed for SIM cards. The Apple format for SIM is, I believe, called nano-SIM and is JUST the gold part of the SIM or micro-SIM card. Here is an article that discusses how you can cut a nano-SIM from a SIM or micro-SIM and how to get a micro-SIM from a full-sized SIM. When I was traveling in Europe, I ended up with two SIMs, one for Orange and one for a network called 3. Both were cut down from a full size SIM with a template cutter and both worked just fine.

 

[durango]

Just got back from an all day run around in Fort Worth with the wife and saw your reply.

It looks like you're missing some contacts when you did the sync. What you can try... those contacts that are missing from the iPad, remove them from your Mac and re-enter them again. However, rather than do all at once, try it with just one to see if it gets synced to the iPad.

Thanks for your response.

The iPhone & iPad always stayed sync. So I tried some of the re-entering and removing of contacts until all three devices were in sync. Now I just hope they stay that way.

BTW, I certainly agree with you that it is easier to do the typing on the iMac.

 

[durango]

I meant to say that the iPhone and the iMac were always in sync. The iPad was the little ******* child. Just too many iToys!!!

 

[Rod]

"Don't apologize to me, as much help as you've been. I feel badly that I seem to inundate you with questions......believe it or not, I do try to research the issues before I bother you again. And don't you ever sleep???"

Some of us are in different time zones, eg. it is 1040 for me at the moment. No luck with bluetooth on your flip phone? I transferred all my contacts from a Nokia Windows phone by syncing with BlueTooth.

 

[durango]

Some of us are in different time zones, eg. it is 1040 for me at the moment. No luck with bluetooth on your flip phone? I transferred all my contacts from a Nokia Windows phone by syncing with BlueTooth.

At the AT&T office they said that was not an option with my LG flip phone. So they 'trimmed' my SIM card, inserted it into my iPhone 6, and showed me that my contacts had transferred. Well, some of them did, but when I got home I noticed that many of them were messed up. I took the phone back the next day to see if they could fix the mess. They couldn't but they offered to key ALL my contacts into the iPhone (these were still visible on the flip phone). I watched the Tech key in 5 or 6, then I got bored. So I told him I had rather do it myself than watch him.

Personally I never tried a Bluetooth sync.