General A way to clean old contacts?

[illjazz]

I've had iPhones since the first iPhone in 2007. Over the years, I've obviously added tons and tons of new contacts. Does anyone know of a way to check, for instance, the last time I've used a contact in any way in order to help me clean out all the unused contacts and slim my contacts list?

This is not limited to iOS 8, of course, since contacts are synced via iCloud, any program running on a Mac would work just as well I imagine.

We tend to only ever ADD contacts but rarely delete any of them. It'd be nice to be able to scroll through the list and only see people I care about today versus having absolutely everyone in there I ever met and added to my phone.

Thanks!

 

[Janzizko]

Have you tried using the app Contacts Optimizer? its an a app that can clean your contacts from all accounts you have (icloud ect.)

 

[illjazz]

Have you tried using the app Contacts Optimizer? its an a app that can clean your contacts from all accounts you have (icloud ect.)

Since it's currently free, I grabbed it right away. Thanks for the suggestion. While it does it include a bunch of helpful tools to optimize contacts, it can't do what I was asking for. I'm guessing only Apple themselves could implement what I was asking for.

 

[BrianBaughn]

There's no separate log or database that records contact usage...so it'll be up to you to undo what you have done.

 

[dk001]

One fyi ... When you upgrade your OS or get a new device, take a good gander at your contacts if you are using iCloud for contacts. I have had on many an occasion seen my Contacts change on a new device (latest was iPad Mini 3 LTE when initially setting up iCloud for the device). Usually Contacts I have deleted have reappeared or Contacts with >1 phone/email/etc... split into separate contacts.
I personally now manage all my contacts on an Exchange account and use just that to sync on my iDevices.

 

[illjazz]

There's no separate log or database that records contact usage...so it'll be up to you to undo what you have done.

That's a shame. Guess I'll just have to do it manually then... it would just be very interesting to see "Contacts Statistics". How often have I called X, texted X, etc. especially when spread out over the years. Also, how OLD is contact X and how long has it been since I first created that contact and so on. That would help greatly with cleaning and deleting old contacts but oh well.

 

[mreddys10]

I've had iPhones since the first iPhone in 2007. Over the years, I've obviously added tons and tons of new contacts. Does anyone know of a way to check, for instance, the last time I've used a contact in any way in order to help me clean out all the unused contacts and slim my contacts list?

This is not limited to iOS 8, of course, since contacts are synced via iCloud, any program running on a Mac would work just as well I imagine.

We tend to only ever ADD contacts but rarely delete any of them. It'd be nice to be able to scroll through the list and only see people I care about today versus having absolutely everyone in there I ever met and added to my phone.

Thanks!

Login to iCloud.com on a web browser, go to Contacts, and there, you can select multiple contacts at once, and delete them with a single click. Hope that helps.