We teach you to remove duplicate contacts on Android and iPhone, a task that sometimes becomes heavy and tedious.
With all the different applications that allowed to access your contact list (both on phones and tablets), it is common that at some point there is some conflict and ends up with duplicate contacts, so let’s show you how to get rid of them.
There is no magic wand we can shake to get rid of these duplicate entries in your address book, but it is not too difficult, it’s just a matter of taking a couple of minutes.
Why do you have repeated contacts?
When saving a contact on Android, the system offers several options. Typically, you store information on your SIM card or Google account.
However, sometimes you keep them in more than one place. Usually, happens when you change a lot of mobiles: you end up storing the information in several places and you do not know.
That is the Google account with which we activated our phone, that is Twitter contacts, that is WhatsApp or the LinkedIn backup.
There are so many options that we have on our phone that in the end, it is easy for your phone to become full of duplicate contacts if we are not aware.
You may also have more than one account associated with your mobile. If you have the same people in both accounts, you will inevitably get duplicate contacts.
Thus, we recommend doing so in your Google account since the SIM card can be lost. In addition, these devices have the days counted with the arrival of the eSIM.
Why do you need to delete duplicate contacts?
Having duplicate contacts is very uncomfortable as it hampers contact arrangement you want to have on your Android device.
It is not something that could make you lose your life, but if you could end up sending a text message to an old number someone or even sending it to the wrong person.
When you go to dial apps to make calls on your Android, you may surprise of having two contacts to call or message a friend or relative.
This is a real embarrassment since the doubts arise as to which is the correct contact.
From default contacts apps on android
It is also possible that you have multiple entries in contacts for the same person because there is one with your email address, another with your mobile SIM, phone memory, Google, Viber, WhatsApp, etc.
How to check duplicate contacts using default Android contact apps?
Before you begin to install third-party duplicate contact removing apps, check a small setting that may show duplicate contacts when they are not actually.
- Open the Contacts app on Android and click on “more” represented by three vertical dots.
- Now, go to “Display preferences” within it and click on any options below “Accounts” to show respective contacts.
- If it is set as default to “All”, change it to where you have stored all your contacts, usually in So, select your account and only show the contacts you have synced with your Google account.
Now, change the default settings to rest of the options to check similar types of contacts. Doing this, you will find lists of contacts contained in a specific group.
Delete duplicate contacts within contact apps?
The first method to remove duplicate contacts is from the Contacts application on Android.
Obviously, this may vary depending on whether the manufacturer of your device has modified the contacts application or not, but in the series on Android Lollipop, MM or Nougat, for example, you can hold down a name and then activate the multiple selections, select all contacts you want to delete and delete them.
Most of the different layers of Android used by manufacturers (TouchWiz, Sense and so on), have a similar function or some other type of tool to detect and eliminate contacts, but generally, its functionality is the same.
If after doing this, you still have duplicate contacts, and then yes, it is time to apply some of these methods that we will show you below.
From Gmail on the Web
Sometimes it is better option to manage your Google contacts from the web interface where you have some more options to hack, and it is the agilest option.
From Gmail, click the drop-down menu at the top left of the inbox, then choose Contacts from the list to see all the people in your virtual address book.
Google has a new Contacts interface for the web (you can use the old version if you want) but the process is similar in both cases.
Click Find Duplicates in the menu on the left and Google will search for separate entries that share common data (such as names or mobile phone numbers).
When you see the results, you can click Merge to join a particular group of contact cards or Merge All to perform the procedure on all of them.
Alternatively, you can manually select contacts from the main list using the checkboxes and then merge or delete them using the icons at the top.
As I said, this option is the fastest and easiest.
Using a dedicated application
We always have the option of going one by one, although we cannot say that this is the fastest or “fun” option, although it is likely that more than one we have had to do on occasion.
However, there is a number of applications that will allow you to manage your contacts more easily on Android. Merge + is one of them, but there are also Duplicate Contacts or Simpler Merge Duplicates.
So, you’ll have a choice, but one of the best we’ve found is called Merge Duplicates – which works similarly to the combination system Google offers within Gmail on the web.
You can download and install them in just seconds. Also, once you’re finished you will not need them anymore.
If the uninstall after deleting the repeated contacts from your phonebook, absolutely nothing happens.
Apps to delete duplicate contacts in iOS
In the case of iPhone, as we said, we will use the same procedure but with another application.
Some applications like Smart Merge work very well but they are not free, so we have chosen Cleaner, which works very well and also shows us more duplicate elements like emails, similar names or unnamed contacts.
In the case of Cleaner we do the same, download it from the App Store and grant you permissions through Settings> Privacy> Contacts and let the app run.
The application shows us what we have duplicated and we just have to select them to merge or delete all the repeated contacts. Ready, iPhone agenda like the gold jets.
Apps to delete duplicate contacts on Android
For both operating systems we will use the same procedure and this is none other than to download a reliable and free application of their respective stores, because the manual process is very tedious, especially if we have a heavy agenda.
In the case of Android, the application we need is Duplicate Contacts.
Duplicate Contacts
To begin, we look for the application on Google Play, download it and install it on your phone.
We grant the permissions to the application so that you can access your contacts and it will show us a screen with all that we have duplicates.
At this point, it is important that we verify what is valid and what is not in the case that the numbers do not match.
Once you mark any of them, they automatically mark all those that are equal to the selection and will be eliminated automatically. This saves us having to go one by one erasing them.
Also, in case we are wrong at some point, deleted contacts are saved in a .vcf file that is stored on the SD card of the phone for later retrieval if necessary.
When we are sure to click on “delete everything” and ready, agenda clean and without clones.
Download Link: Duplicate Contacts Android Apps
Simpler Merge Duplicate
All you need to do is run Merge Duplicate Contacts and the application will scan your phone contacts and draw a list of possible matches (based on both details and names).
Then you have the option to review and choose the ones you want before confirming.
Many companies want to take full control of contacts, synchronising data from several services (like Google) and that include removing duplicates contact as one of their features.
You can also use Simpler Merge as a service for managing your address book.
Download Link: Simpler Merge Duplicate Android App
Merge +
Merge +, like other apps, scans the contacts of your Android mobile in search of duplicate contacts in just seconds.
Once it finishes, it shows you a list with all the information you have duplicated. By default, all the boxes are cleared.
You can choose which ones you want to merge individually or mark them all at once. Then click on “Merge” and go! Problem solved.
Download Link: Merge+ Android Apps
Duplicate Contacts Fixer and Remover App
This is one of the most useful applications to keep your contacts up to date. It allows you to check the phones of your Gmail, Telegram, WhatsApp, SIM or phone at a glance.
It shows you the entries that have the duplicate name so that you check in a few seconds if it is the same or different contacts and also classifies the contacts if they only have email, phone, etc.
It also allows you to find at a glance which number you have duplicates with several names and merge them with the touch of a button.
A very simple and well-designed application that will make your life easier.
It also allows you to apply filters to check the most contacted numbers, see them pro groups … It allows you to make backup copies and recover them easily only with your Facebook account or your email.
The free version allows you to eliminate duplicates one at a time but has a paid version that offers faster options.
Download Link: Duplicate Contacts Fixer and Remover Android App
It’s better to prevent than to cure
It is important that, in order to avoid having to have the duplicate agenda and so messy, let’s do a maintenance and therefore, ideally it is to unite all our contacts in a single service and activate the synchronisation there.
In the case of iOS do it in the SIM, iCloud or Gmail, and in the case of Android in Gmail or SIM, but not all at once.
Sure with some of these 3 methods we have selected for you, they will end the problem of duplicate contacts on your Android device.
If you know of another method with which to solve this annoying problem, leave a comment with another option and thus be able to help the community.