Whether you're thinking about making the big switch to Android or you're an iPhone Gmail user who wants their contacts to be updated in the same places at the same time, like in your email, transferring your iCloud contacts to Gmail is really that simple and you don't need any third-party app to do it for you.
Once you transfer your contacts to Gmail, you'll still be able to access them through the iOS Contacts app. In fact, once the process is complete, whenever you forget that your iPhone or iPad contacts are stored somewhere other than iCloud, you'll be even happier when a contact instantly appears in the "To:" field whenever you compose a Gmail message in a desktop browser. Best of all, your contacts will be waiting for you if you ever decide to make the big switch from iOS to Android.
Export a vCard file with all your iCloud contacts
There are many third-party apps and services that promise to sync iCloud contacts with Google, but we're going to do it the traditional (and free) way using vCard files, which means opening a desktop browser first.
Note: Google hosts a third-party tool that will do the work of importing your iCloud contacts for you. However, the tool may return an error.
The first thing you'll need to do is sign in to your iCloud account. Visit iCloud.com from a web browser and then sign in with your username and password.
Next, select Contacts , then click All Contacts in the left column. Now click the Settings (the one that looks like a gear) in the lower-right corner of the page, then click Select All. Click the Settingsagain, then select Export vCard. When you do this, iCloud will “package” all of your contacts into a single vCard, which will then be downloaded to desktop . Make a note of where you downloaded the vCard to your hard drive; it will likely be in your Downloads folder.
Note: If you're using a Mac and have the Contacts app open, when you click the Export vCard, Contacts will immediately try to import the new vCard, first asking you if you're sure you want to import some duplicate contacts. Just click the Cancel. That big vCard with all your contacts should remain in your Downloads folder.
Now that you have a file with all your iCloud contacts, it's time to import this file into Google account.
Open your Gmail account on the web, click the big red Mail heading in the top left corner of the page, then select Contacts from the menu that appears.
Click the More (located at the top of the page above your contacts), select Import, and click the CSV or vCard file.
Click the Choose File, select the vCard file you downloaded from iCloud, click the blue Import button, and you're done... all your iCloud contacts are now in Gmail.
Before you proceed, you should check for duplicate contacts after importing. Click the More and select Find & Merge Duplicates. Gmail will display a list of all the duplicate contacts found. You can review them one by one if you want, or simply click the blue Merge to merge all your duplicate contacts directly.
Note: If something happens to your existing Gmail contacts that you don't like during this whole import process, there's an easy way to undo the changes. Click More –> Restore Contacts and then choose how far back you'd like the undo. You can restore your contacts to any state they were in up to 30 days ago.
Set iOS to use your Google contacts instead of iCloud
If you're importing your contacts into Gmail because you're about to make the big switch to Android, then your work is pretty much done. Once you sign in to your Google account on your new Android phone, all your old iCloud contacts will simply appear in the Contacts app.
If you still want to use iPhone or iPad, a little more work is required to get your new Gmail contacts to show up.
Tap Settings –> Mail, Contacts, Calendars, tap your iCloud account name, then deselect the Contacts switch. You’ll be asked if you want to remove your contacts from iPhone . Go ahead and tap Delete from My iPhone. (Don’t worry, all your original contacts are still in iCloud.)
Note: You don't necessarily need to turn off Contacts settings for your iCloud account. The Contacts app does a great job of merging duplicate contact cards from different accounts. If you decide to access multiple accounts for your contacts, make sure you set one account as the default. To do this, tap Settings –> Mail, Contacts, Calendars –> Default Account.
Now, go back to the main Mail, Contacts, Calendars screen and tap on your Gmail account (or, if you haven't already, tap Add Account and sign in). Then, toggle the option next to Contacts. All of your newly imported Gmail contacts will quickly sync to iOS device .
Note: You can also set up your Gmail contacts to appear in the Contacts for Mac. Simply click the Contacts, select Accounts, click (or add) Gmail account , and finally, check the Contacts.
