How to transfer phone contacts to a SIM card: Android and iPhone

01Why copy contacts to the SIM card?

Copying numbers to the SIM card keeps your contacts somewhere separate from the phone. When you put the SIM into another phone, the numbers come with it. This helps when you change phones, reset a phone or leave it for repair. Still, a SIM card has limited space and stores only basic details.

02Copying contacts to the SIM on a Samsung phone

On Samsung Galaxy phones you do this in the Contacts app. Menu names may differ slightly between software versions.

1. Open Contacts. Tap the three-line menu at the top left.
2. Choose Manage contacts. Then tap Import or export contacts.
3. Tap Export. Choose the SIM card as the destination; on dual-SIM phones, make sure you pick the right SIM.
4. Select the contacts. Tick the contacts you want to copy and confirm.

Afterwards, you can show the SIM card contacts in the Contacts app and check the numbers.

03Other Android phones

On Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO and other Android phones the steps are similar, but the menu names differ. In your Contacts app, look for:

• An Import / export or Manage contacts menu.
• A SIM card option as the destination.
• Some phones only offer import from SIM; if there is no option to write to the SIM, sync your contacts to your Google account instead.

04SIM cards and contacts on iPhone

iPhone does not save contacts to the SIM card. Apple only supports the other direction: bringing contacts you saved on a SIM in an older phone into your iPhone.

1. Insert the SIM. Put the SIM card that holds the contacts into your iPhone.
2. Open Settings. Go to Apps › Contacts (on older iOS versions, Settings › Contacts).
3. Tap Import SIM Contacts. If asked, choose the account to save them to.
4. Check. When the import finishes, open Contacts and check the numbers.

To back up contacts on iPhone, use iCloud sync; your contacts come to a new iPhone with the same Apple Account.

05What a SIM card can and cannot hold

If your phone does not detect the SIM card at all, the problem may be the phone’s SIM tray rather than the card. In that case, choose your model on our Samsung models or iPhone models page and ask about the fault on WhatsApp.

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