How to Backup iPhone Contacts with iTunes Quickly

Want to backup iPhone contacts with iTunes but do not know how? This guide tells you the detailed steps to backup iPhone contacts to computer with iTunes.

Lena

By Lena / Updated on June 6, 2023

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Why Backup iPhone Contacts with iTunes?

Keeping backups is vital to prevent data loss. When you lose data or even get your iPhone lost, you can simply perform a restore on your iPhone like nothing ever happen as long as you have a backup copy.

Generally, there are 2 reasons why backup contacts is important.

To avoid data loss. Your contacts contain not only the name & phone number but more details including email, address, birthday, etc. It will be a major disruption to your life if you lose them accidentally. So it’s a wise choice to take some time to make a backup for the contacts.
•  To safely transfer contacts to new iPhone.  Especially for iPhone 14 users. iPhone 14 has removed the SIM slot but you may store some contacts on a SIM card. Backing up and restoring contacts is a safe way to transfer your contacts.

When it comes to backing up iPhone data, the traditional way is using iTunes or iCloud, after all, it’s the official way provided by Apple. However, iCloud only offers users 5 GB of free storage space to store iOS data which is far from enough to save the backup. So you’d like to backup iPhone contacts to computer with iTunes.

Is It a Good Choice to Backup iPhone Contacts with iTunes?

If you do not want to pay more storage plan of iCloud to save your contacts, iTunes is another traditional way to go to backup iPhone contacts to PC. However, its unfriendly design and complicated operations often drive people crazy. Besides, backing up iPhone contacts with iTunes is not that convenient.

- You cannot only backup iPhone contacts. iTunes will backup the entire iPhone content including your contacts and the backup files are unreadable.
- Restoring contacts to iPhone will cause data loss. It will first erase the existing content on your iPhone and then restore the whole iTunes backup content.

In other words, iTunes does not allow you to selectively backup or restore iPhone contacts. You will never know what will be restored to your iPhone before the restoration. If you are OK with it, keep reading to see how to backup iPhone contacts using iTunes. Or if you prefer a more flexible and safer way to make it, click here to jump to the next part to learn more.

Steps to Backup iPhone Contacts to Computer with iTunes

Step 1. Download and install the latest version of iTunes on your computer.

Step 2. Run iTunes and connect your iPhone to computer via USB cable.

Step 3. Click the Device tab > Select This Computer > Click Backup Up Now to start.

Backup Contacts with iTunes

Keep your iPhone connected to computer until the backup process is completed.

Another Easy Way to Backup iPhone Contacts to Computer

Although iTunes indeed can help you backup iPhone contacts to computer, it’s not the best solution because of its disadvantages. So here comes another tool named FoneTool that allows you to backup iPhone contacts the way you want.

◆ Selectively Backup & Restore. It lets you preview and select the contacts you really need.
◆ Fast Backup Speed. Backup 2000+ contacts in 20s. Faster than most other software on the market.
◆ Check Backup Files Freely. It allows you to view the backup contacts anytime you want.
◆ No Data Erasing. Promise not to lose any existing data stored on device during the restore process.

FoneTool supports most iPhone models including iPhone 7/8/X/XR/XS/11/SE/12/13/14 and it is fully compatible with the latest iOS 13/14/15/16. Get it now and follow the steps below to backup iPhone contacts without iTunes.

Download Freeware Win 11/10/8.1/8/7
Secure Download

1. Run FoneTool> Connect your iPhone to computer via USB cable.

2. Click Phone Backup option > Choose Selective Backup and click Contacts icon to view and select the contacts you want to backup > Click OK to continue.

Preview and Select Contacts

3. Select the storage path to save your contacts > Click Start Backup button to make it.

Start Backup Contacts

After the backup, you can check the backup task on the Backup History screen. Here you can choose to locate, browse, restore, or delete the backup files.

View Contacts Backup

Note:

- You can click the triangle icon to run an incremental backup next time. It will only backup the newly added contacts to save both space and time.

- The backup files can be restored to any iDevices. So you can take advantage of this feature to transfer contacts and more to your new iPhone.

- If you want to transfer contacts from iPhone to PC, please click iPhone to PC option. You can save contacts to CSV or VCF format as per your needs.

Transfer to Computer

Conclusion

Now you know how to backup iPhone contacts with iTunes. As you can see, iTunes will not allow you to only backup contacts. If you prefer a more flexible way to backup want to want, FoneTool is a better choice. It can help you backup contacts, messages, photos, videos, and songs selectively.