How to delete all contacts from IPHONE at once

If you are using Itunes for windows and have synced your contacts with Windows address books and your contact list is now filles with all of your contacts email addresses, here is a quick way to delete your address book at once.

create 2 empty text files on your desktop and rename them to

AddressBookImages.sqlitedb

and

AddressBook.sqlitedb

copy/overwrite these empty files into " /var/root/Library/AddressBook" folder, using "Ibrickr"

this will empty your contacts list, since all contacts are stored in those two files.
* This wont take effect untill you restart your Iphone

Cheers!

I just create the back up by exporting contact info in outlook, then erase all the contact in outlook then sync to erase the contact info in the phone.....
I guess this is another way.....:smile:

Fast and Easier, especially for non-hijacked phones

An easier way for non-hijacked phones is to go to the Info tab in iTunes. Change the "Sync Contacts with" option to something else that has no contacts in it. I orginally had sync'd to MS Outlook. I choose Windows Address book. I also hit the "Reset Sync History" button in the Devices tab of iTunes Preferences (Edit menu) but I am not sure if that is needed.

I sync'd once ... and that copied all my iPhone contacts into the empty Windows Address book. Then I deleted all the contacts in the Windows Address book and resync's .... Voila! No contracts in the iPhone!!!

:smile: Peter

For Jailbroken phones there is also an app on Cydia called Erase Contacts

it works reset sync

If you are using Funambol to sync with SyncML server, it has an option in Cleanup to delete all Contacts.

Will any of these adversely effect my mobile me settings? I have duplicates of each and every contact and calendar entry now and would like to nuke the Outlook contacts only. I have unchecked the "Sync with Outlook" box thingy. However, when I did it said it will effect thre mobile me settings.

the simplest method i found was to do the following...

1) Sign up for a free Yahoo mail account - something like youriPhone123@yahoo.co.uk
2) connect iPhone to iTunes and select the 'info' tab
3) under 'contacts' set it to sync with yahoo addressbook (which will be empty) enter your yahoo name and password when prompted, then click sync.
4) iTunes will then copy all your phones current contacts into the new yahoo mail address book
5) log in to the yahoo mail account and you will see all your phones contacts - tick the box and 'delete all'
6) follow steps 2+3 again by connecting and sync'ing within iTunes, only this time it will delete all your contacts in order to reflect what has been done in yahoo mail.

you can then proceed to import a fresh contact list from another scource such as Windows Addressbook or SIM card.

would really be much better if iPhone or iTunes had a simple 'delete all' button, even if it was a pin-locked option like many other handsets.. but hey the above works so no biggie...

Deleting/replacing contacts

Thanks! The tip on transferring contacts to yahoo contacts list then deleting worked like a charm! Cleaned up all the duplicate/incomplete entries in outlook...re-synched and voila! My contacts are now nice and tidy! Thanks again for the tip!:dft010:smiling

this worked like a charm - thanks!

Not work for me for the first time, ( human error I think, haha ) but the second try, it works. Thanks Pal !!!

How to DELETE all of your iPhone contacts or restore to new iPhone

its super easy free and you can do it on your iPhone no itunes, pc or mac needed just one simple app and its free

iDrive lite is the app i use it as a backup for my mobile me and iPhone contacts just in case well i recently upgraded to the iPhone 4 synced my phone set up mobile me and then i noticed i had double of everyone in my address book i have a previous backup on idrive lite so all i did was

run the app
register (with a new account they havent implemented login with another account yet)
press back up ( takes a few seconds )
clean slate restore ( allow app to retrieve contacts once it says restore and the progress bar has visably moved hit the home button exiting the app )
now if you go to contacts there all deleted if you use mobile me or sync with windows mail or yahoo then you know how to restore i simply restored my contacts from another idrive lite account

simple process until Apple adds delete all contacts to the reset menu :dft011:wicked_smile

hey it worked .. thanks alot

Easy peasy - just go into your phone -

Settings>General>Reset>Erase all content and settings

All contacts will be deleted!

I am trying to learn how syncing actually works because I know many, myself included, have had unexpected results.

For the steps above, I wonder what the difference is between syncing with the originally blank yahoo address book?

THanx for the tip

The iDrive lite app posted above worked like a charm, thanks Ronon!!

If you are using the latest version of iTunes, go the INFO and unclick the Sync Contacts button. It will ask you if you want to "unsync" (delete) all contacts synced with your application(s). (If you sync with more than one app, you can just uncheck that app instead of unsyncing all of them and you get the same question, but just for that app). Select YES, and it will delete all of the contacts for the selected (or all) apps. Then just resync once you have your contacts file cleaned up

They will be deleted from your iPhone if you go to iTunes and uncheck syncing contacts. They resync your phone and the contacts will be gone from the phone.