Import Contacts From Excel to iPhone

The Short Answer

An iPhone can’t read contacts from an Excel file. It imports contacts from a vCard, a .vcf file. So the job is to turn your spreadsheet into one .vcf file that holds every row as a contact.

Then you open that file on the iPhone, or import it on iCloud.com. No app, iTunes or cable is needed.

Step 1: Check the Spreadsheet

1. Use one row per contact, with column names such as First Name, Last Name, Mobile and Email in one row above the contacts.
2. Make sure the phone numbers look right in Excel. If a cell shows something like 1.23457E+11, the number is too long for Excel’s default format. Format the column as Text and re-enter the numbers.
3. Save the file. Either .xlsx or .csv works.

Step 2: Convert It to a .vcf File

1. Open the Contacts Converter. Stay on the Excel/CSV → vCard tab.
2. Choose your .xlsx or .csv file. The converter finds the row with the column names, even if there are title rows above it.
3. Check how each column was matched. Change any that are wrong, or set them to Don’t use.
4. Read any warnings, check the preview, then tap Download .vcf.

The file is made in your browser, so the contact list isn’t uploaded anywhere. These are some of the headings it matches on its own:

A full name written as “Smith, Mary” is split as last name Smith, first name Mary.

Step 3: Get the File Onto the iPhone

By email (works for most people):

1. Email the .vcf file to yourself as an attachment.
2. On the iPhone, open the email in Mail and tap the .vcf attachment.
3. The iPhone shows the contacts in the file. Tap the option to add them all. Apple’s guide only says to tap the attachment; the button is commonly reported as Add All [number] Contacts.

Through iCloud.com (on a computer or tablet):

1. Go to icloud.com/contacts and sign in with your Apple Account.
2. Click the Add button, choose Import Contact, and pick the .vcf file.
3. The contacts sync to the iPhone if Contacts is turned on for iCloud there: Settings → [your name] → iCloud → See All → Contacts.

Things That Trip People Up

• Lost digits. A number shown as 1.23457E+11 in a saved CSV has really lost its digits. The converter can’t recover them, so it warns and leaves that number out. Fix the number in the spreadsheet and convert again.
• Missing leading 0 or +. Excel drops a leading zero from anything it treats as a number. Microsoft’s advice is to store such values as text. Without the +44 or +1, a number may only dial correctly inside your own country.
• Wrong account. If you also use Google or Exchange contacts on the iPhone, new contacts go to the default account. Check it in Settings → Apps → Contacts → Default Account.
• Duplicates. Importing the same file twice adds the people twice. In Contacts, tap View Duplicates below My Card to merge them.
• Day and month swapped in birthdays. 04/05/1990 can mean April 5 or 4 May. The converter asks which you mean when it sees a birthday column. Dates like 1990-04-05 avoid the problem.

Android, Outlook and Google

The same .vcf file works beyond the iPhone. Google Contacts imports both .vcf and .csv files, so an Android phone can use it after you import it at contacts.google.com. Outlook for Windows is the awkward one: it reads only the first contact from a .vcf file. See why Outlook imports only the first contact for the fix.

Going the other way, from iPhone to a spreadsheet? See how to export iPhone contacts to Excel.