Iphone contacts export on a cloudless day

[LorrieJ]

I am trying to export my old iPhone 3G contacts to my computer to essentially back them up and move them to my new iPhone. I have Outlook and Windows Contacts side by side on my computer but cannot find a way to bring my iPhone contacts to either. Please note that I do not have a possibility to use the iCloud for the transfer. Very important to note that iPhone is broken and WiFi does not function (wifi switch is greyed out) - so email transfer is out of question too. My iTunes on my laptop is completely empty so iTunes sync will wipe the iPhone, I presume. Please help me transfer the contacts to my computer.

[johninsj ACE - Wizard · Accepted solution]

http://techtips.salon.com/transferring-contacts-one-iphone-another-4973.html

Step 6 is where you want to be very careful, as long as you don't chose "overwrite the iPhone's contacts" your contacts will be copied via iTunes into Outlook. Choose moerge if you want to keep your current outlook contacts, or replace if you don't

[Max69 ACE - Wizard · Accepted solution]

Why not just back up the old phone with iTunes and restore to the new? Everything on the old phone will be transferred to the new one.

[kPaks · Accepted solution]

You might want to use a third-party application such as CopyTrans Contacts to effectuate the contact transfer to your computer:

http://www.copytrans.net/iphone-contacts.php

I used the app to transfer contacts from a broken iPod Touch to a PC. It should also work for your iPhone.

The method below does not require iTunes or an online connection:

1. Run copytrans contacts and connect your iPhone. Once the contacts appear drag them to your computer's Desktop or to, say, your Contacts folder

2. You will have the entries saved in vCard format on your computer.

[LorrieJ]

Thank you, it is nice to know that when the mainstream methods fail there is still a way. I have managed to transfer my old iPhone contacts to my computer and then import them to my new iPhone using your suggestion. Appreciated!

[jamileh · Accepted solution]

All three of the solutions here are very helpful and I'm glad you were able to get them transferred!

Here is a support article directly from Apple that discusses transferring information from one phone to another: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2109. It may be helpful to some other folks looking for help for the same question!