How to Sync Windows 10 People Contacts with iOS
If you want to maintain access to your contacts on iOS stored on your Windows 10 PC in the People app, here is how you do it.
While Apple would certainly like you to get a Mac to match your iPhone, it’s definitely not a requirement. Windows 10 PCs can play almost as nicely with iOS devices as an Apple computer can. This includes support for Microsoft apps and services, like Outlook and Exchange. You can even sync your contacts from the Windows 10 People app to your iPhone. There are some limitations—syncing from your Windows 10 PC to your iPhone works well, but the other way around, not so much.
Update: Starting with build 1909, the My People App on Windows 10 is no longer supported or built-in with Windows 10. According to the company:
My People is no longer being developed. It may be removed in a future update.
Keep Contacts Between Windows 10 and iOS Synced
These days, more users are choosing a more practical setup: a Windows 10 notebook and an Apple iPhone or iPad. But you probably want to keep some things like contacts synced between the two without getting sucked into either platform. If you are using a Microsoft Account, then there is little you need to do to sync your contacts.
In iOS open, the Settings app then scroll to Accounts & Passwords.
Tap Add Account.
Choose Outlook.com.
Sign in with your Outlook.com email address and password and approve the access if prompted.
Toggle on the items you want to sync. For me, I want the contacts, so I only toggle that option on.
And that’s it.
What about syncing from iCloud to the People app in Windows 10?
Unfortunately, no, Apple doesn’t support this – I tried. You would have to manually export your contacts from iCloud as a .csv, as we showed you in our previous article on importing contacts into Gmail. So, this is a one-way street, which means you should first add your contacts to the People app if you want to keep this easy.
You can manage how contacts are synced too. Tap the Fetch New Data menu, tap the Outlook Push contacts option, then choose when you want new contacts to be synced, ranging from hourly, manually, or automatically.
There are more ways you can integrate Windows 10 services with iOS, too. Check out our article, how to upload your Photos camera roll using OneDrive.
Drop a line in the comments and tell us about your setup. Do you use a mix of iOS, Android, and Windows devices, or do you prefer keeping it all in the family?
2 Comments
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Edit Bear
November 29, 2017 at 2:58 pm
Hi Andre,
I use my iPhone as master for Contacts, Email & Calendar and sync all these with my Windows 10 laptop (read and write).
The trick is to add TWO accounts to the windows 10 computer in the Accounts set up.
Create an account with your Apple email address (the one that ends in me.com or icloud.com) to sync Emails and Calendar.
But create an account with your Apple ID (the Outlook or Google email address you use to log into iCloud) to sync iCloud Contacts with Windows People App.
I had log onto my iCloud account using a browser and turn on Two factor authentication, then create two App Specific passwords under “manage Apple ID” settings, and used each password when setting up the above accounts on my windows 10 machine.
Having created the two Accounts in the Windows Email and App accounts settings, they appear in all three Apps, but you can disable the unwanted one using tick boxes in the individual apps.
Mike Dunkwu
June 11, 2020 at 11:47 pm
thanks a lot this was very hassle free and painless. excellent