Question on capturing contact info, etc from phone I'm about to lose

Hardware and technical stuff
1

I just very unexpectedly lost my job. Totally out of the blue, we’re in a total daze and shock.

Tomorrow I need to turn in my phone, which is a combo personal/business phone. At very best they may let me keep it but wipe it so I can get it on a new personal plan, etc. At worst they’ll take it.

My question: How to best capture all of the contact information? People whose phone numbers I only have via text, etc. I assume anyone I’ve texted with will be in my contacts list? How to capture that externally (oh this is an iPhone.) Any other tips?

2

Most phone services have a built-in app that lets you back up all of your data to their cloud. What service is the phone on? Look at the service-specific apps.

3

I’m so sorry to hear that!

You can pull your contacts from iCloud. I am afraid I barely use my iPhone so I am no expert in the area, but I recently changed models so I know it pulled the contacts from iCloud to get it onto the new model. In the same area I believe you have multiple ways to export it from iCloud.

4

I use iMazing for full device extraction/backup.

5

You can also do a back up of your phone to your computer using iTunes if you aren’t using iCloud back ups. Of course if your next phone is an android, this won’t help much.

I haven’t tried this, but you can export your contacts as well.

You need to make people you texted with into contacts. They won’t be there otherwise. Go to Messages and touch the number and then create a contact.

6

Deregistering your phone number and email address (personal) from Messages on the Phone settings too before you hand it back. Then, do the complete wipe/factory reset.

7

OK, looked at my contacts in iCloud, and also did a backup using iMazing. But doing a quick check and I notice one contact who doesn’t show up. He’s a business contact, nothing unusual, I call and contact him regularly and he shows up in my contacts on my iPhone, but not when I look into iCloud nor the iMazing backup. Any idea what’s going on?

8

Who knows? Make an exception of it and write it down manually in a cloud-synced Note or something and be done with it. You have far more important things to scramble about for.

9

He might be worried he could be missing more and that’s just one he knows of.

I don’t remember not having everyone in iCloud once I turned it on. It’s supposed to sync everything.

10

I use an iPhone app called Cardhop (think it’s $5), you can export to a VCF file with that too. Might be a good idea so you have a back up that is compatible with other systems.

11

Jeff, sorry to hear about your job. It’s hard to get the rug pulled out from under you, but this isn’t the first time for you. I still remember all the encouragement and support you gave me when I lost my job. If you need another pair of eyes to review your resume, I’m happy to give it a look. Good luck on your next steps, whatever they might be.