How to delete contacts on iPhone in bulk?

The "fresh empty account" method is a clever workaround that technically allows you to delete contacts on iPhone all at once. Instead, it tricks iOS into doing the bulk deletion for you by changing which contact list is active.

Here is how it works, step by step.

Step 1: Create a brand new, empty email account (such as a new Gmail account). Do not add any contacts to this account — leave it completely blank.

Step 2: Add this empty account to your iPhone. Go to Settings → Apps → Contacts → Accounts → Add Account. Choose Google (or other provider), sign in with your new empty account, and make sure the Contacts toggle is turned ON for this account.

Step 3: Make the empty account the default contact list. In the same Accounts settings, tap Default Account and select your new empty Gmail account. This tells iOS to save any new contacts there, but that is not the main purpose here.

Step 4: Delete your original contact account from the iPhone. Go back to Accounts, tap the account that currently holds all your real contacts (usually iCloud or your main Gmail account). Tap Delete Account and confirm. When you remove the account, iOS will ask whether you want to keep or delete the contacts on the iPhone. Choose Delete from My iPhone.

Step 5: Result. Because you removed the account that contained all your contacts, and you told iOS to delete them rather than keep a local copy, every single contact associated with that account vanishes from your iPhone all at once. Meanwhile, your new empty account remains on the phone with zero contacts.

Step 6: If you want to return to normal operation, you can remove the empty account as well, then re‑add your original account. When you re‑add it, your contacts will sync back down from the cloud. If your goal was simply to wipe the iPhone clean without deleting the master copy in the cloud, you stop after Step 5.

the "fresh empty account" approach is a completely free, software‑free way to delete contacts on iPhone all at once, provided you are comfortable adding and removing email accounts in Settings.