How to fix duplicate iCloud contacts after updating your Mac

If you’ve recently updated your Mac to macOS Big Sur, Monterey, or later, you may have noticed an issue with your contacts. Have all of your Contacts suddenly been duplicated since the upgrade? If so, you’re not alone.

You can certainly go through the process of removing the duplicates, as some have suggested in the Apple Community forum. But there is another suggestion, used by our own Sebastien Page, that is the quickest and easiest way to go.

Basically, you’ll restore your Contacts to the last backup in iCloud, here’s how.

Mac Contacts app showing duplicate contacts

Restore Contacts on iCloud

Jump onto your computer, open your browser, and head to iCloud.com to log in and restore your Contacts. Note that this must be done via a computer or iPad. It cannot be done on iPhone.

1) Go directly to your iCloud Settings or log into iCloud. Click your name on the top right, and select Account Settings. You will also see this below your profile picture in the middle of the screen.

2) Scroll to the bottom, and on the left, under Advanced, click Restore Contacts.

Advanced Restore Contacts on iCloud

3) In the pop-up window, make sure the Restore Contacts tab is selected and select an archive to restore. Obviously, you’ll want to choose the last one backed up before you upgraded your Mac.

Select Archive to Restore Contacts on iCloud

4) Click Restore next to the archive and confirm the action by clicking Restore in the subsequent pop-up.

5) Click Done to close the Restore window.

Confirm Restore Contacts on iCloud

Once you restore the archive, the duplicates should be gone, and your Contacts list should be intact from the backup you picked.

Hopefully, this short how-to has your contacts back where they belong without those duplicates. And if you’ve run into other issues since upgrading, let us know in the comments below!

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