iOS: How To Move A Contact To A Group On iPhone and iPad

The default account for moving a contact to a group (means sharing and adding as new contact) can be selected in the iOS settings. Go to ‘Settings‘, ‘Mail, Contacts, Calendars‘, ‘Contacts‘, ‘Default Account‘. For an iCloud account the contact is added to the group ‘All iCloud‘. There is no option to choose another iCloud group in the settings.

1. Open the native Contacts app on your iPhone or iPad, go to the contact you want to move and tap on ‘Share Contact‘. Then email the contact to yourself.
2. After receiving the contact via email, go to the native Contacts app and delete the contact completely. Tap on the contact, tap on ‘Edit‘, scroll down until you see ‘Delete Contact‘ and execute it.
3. Before adding the contact to the Contacts app, make sure you selected the proper group. If you selected ‘Show All contacts‘, the contact will be added to the default account. If you want to add the contact to a dedicated group or an account other than the default one, follow the steps ‘1. How to add a contact to a group on iPhone and iPad using the native iOS 8 contacts app‘ in the post ‘iOS 8: How To Add A Contact To A Group On iPhone And iPad‘.
4. Next, go to the Email app and open the email you sent to yourself in step 1. Tap on the attachment ‘NameOfContact.vcf’. For importing the contact to the group you selected in the step 1, tap on ‘Create New Contact‘.
5. Now check that the contact is in the correct group or account.

2. How to move a contact to a group on iPhone and iPad using iOS 8 / iOS 9 / iOS 10 / iOS 11 third-party apps:

There are many third-party apps on iOS 8 / iOS 9 / iOS 10 to easily add, move and remove contacts. However, most of them just allow to manage iCloud contact groups. This means other contacts account like Google’s Gmail contacts or other third-party contacts are not supported.

The only acceptable app I found after hours of searching and testing is the iOS universal app ‘Simpler Contacts – Pro‘ by Yoni Tserruya. Simpler Contacts Pro got full access to all contacts of the native iOS contacts app including Facebook contacts. For example, Outlook.com Exchange, Gmail, Gmail Google apps (Google Contacts) and other accounts are supported.

Here’s how to move a contact to a group on iPhone and iPad using the iOS app ‘Simpler Contacts Pro‘:

1. Open ‘Simpler Contacts Pro‘.
2. Tap on ‘All Contacts‘ and search for the new contact via scrolling. Do not use the search function. Tap & hold the new contact. A green mark appears, meaning the new contacts is selected.

   

3. Next tap on the ‘double sheet’ symbol (second left) at the bottom. Now choose whether you want to ‘Move‘ or ‘Copy‘ the contact and select the account you want the contact to be. Done.

   

Note: The lite version ‘Simpler Contacts‘ does not support moving or copying contacts between accounts. You have to upgrade to the Pro version with additional features:

• Copy or move contacts
• Merge all duplicates (Unlimited merges)
• Send group text & email (Send to unlimited number of contacts)
• Export backups (Save in Dropbox, Google Drive, email)

3. How to move a contact to a group on iPhone and iPad using iCloud.com:

On your Mac or Windows PC open an internet browser like Safari or Internet Explorer and log in to iCloud. You can create groups of contacts and add contacts to a group to make it easier to find specific contacts, such as everyone on your sports team or your healthcare providers, for example. Contacts includes a default All Contacts group.

You can move existing contacts from one group to another.

1. Click on the group where the contact you want to move is.
2. Drag one or more contacts from this group to another group on the left.
3. Click on the first group. Tap on you contact you moved to the second group and delete the contact (if you want).