Over the years, you've probably seen your phone's contacts build up slowly but steadily. Now you're stuck with hundreds of contacts that you don't need or want. Yet, there is no easy way to quickly browse and batch delete multiple contacts on Android or iOS.
But while a native solution has yet to arrive, there are third-party solutions and workarounds that can help get rid of old contacts quickly without a second thought. For Android, we'll look at some quick fixes to this problem, and for iOS, a smart method using iCloud.
On iPhone, deleting a contact is painfully tedious. You need to go to Contacts, tap on a contact, tap Edit , scroll to the bottom, tap Delete contact then check your decision. This makes bulk deletion impossible.
So, to accomplish the task, we'll leave the iPhone (and/or iPad) completely out of the equation and turn to iCloud.
Note: To delete contacts in bulk using this method, you must have all your contacts already stored in iCloud. To be sure of this, check your iCloud settings on your iPhone to see if contact syncing is enabled.
Go to the iCloud web interface at icloud.com and sign in with your Apple ID. Then click Contacts .
In the Contacts web app, just hold your Change and select the contact group you want to get rid of. If they are not neatly arranged together, you can instead hold the Control key under Windows or Commander on a Mac to manually select contacts.
Then click on the Settings at the bottom left of the page and choose Delete . iCloud will ask you if you want to permanently delete all these contacts, so check and you're good to go.
Add-ons for Android to make mass deletion of contacts much easier than on iOS, but it could still be easier.
If you don't mind going through a long list of people to manually select them all, Android has a native solution for deleting contacts. Just go to the Contacts app, tap the Options menu in the top right, choose Delete contact then select each contact you want to get rid of. press ok complete.
However, if you're someone with potentially thousands of contacts that have accumulated over time and you're serious about spring cleaning, even this solution might not be fast enough. Selecting hundreds of names to remove is also not a quick task.
For an easier solution, turn to the aptly named Delete Contacts app in Google Play. The free and very simple Android app tells you how many contacts and groups you have, then lets you delete each of your contacts, groups, or both. This is especially useful if you've already organized contacts into groups and don't want to browse and delete them alphabetically.
You now have hopefully several routes to follow to bulk delete contacts. It's finally time to say goodbye!
Tip: Again, take a look at our guide to restore contacts on Android if you make mistakes.READ ALSO: People Finder:3 Online Tools to Find Contact Information on the Web
