Review: CopyTrans Contacts frees your iOS contacts from your small screen

Your iPhone contact manager is great for simply tapping a name to initiate a call or message. But when you want to actually manage those contacts beyond just adding a name or phone number, the iPhone’s or iPad’s relatively small screen and lack of a keyboard can be very limiting. That’s where CopyTrans Contacts comes in: This $10 PC application lets you edit and manage your iOS contacts using the comfy keyboard and spacious screen of your Windows computer.

Simply install CopyTrans Contacts on your PC and connect your iOS device via USB; the application automatically recognizes the device and loads the contact list for you. You can select individual contacts for editing, adding plenty of details along the way, such as their birthday and anniversary, their relatives, and various addresses. Sure, you can add a lot of these details on your iOS device, too, but doing so on a big screen is just easier.

Luckily, though CopyTrans Contacts lets you do more than edit your contact list—and it has to in order to justify its $10 price tag. Ten dollars may not sound like a lot of money, but in a world where so many applications are free, paid software has to prove its worth. CopyTrans Contacts does that by allowing you to back up your contacts directly to your PC, away from Apple’s iCloud. Nothing against Apple’s cloud services—I use and like them myself—but I like the ease and security of having my contacts backed up in a location I control.

Other features include the ability to transfer contacts between iOS devices, and from your iPhone or iPad to Outlook, Gmail, and Android. You also can import your desktop contacts to your iOS device, whether they are stored in Outlook, Gmail, or an Excel spreadsheet.

CopyTrans Contacts isn’t perfect. For one, its interface is slightly bland, though easy enough to understand. And it doesn’t offer a way to eliminate duplicates from your contact list; this seems to be a missed opportunity, as this is a feature that is much better handled on the bigger screen of a PC.

CopyTrans Contacts is easy to use and offers a nice alternative to editing contacts on a cramped mobile screen. Casual users may balk at the $10 price, but for business users and anyone who relies on their iPhone to stay in touch with all of their friends and family may find it a small price to pay to gain control over their contact list.

Note: The “Try it for free” button on the Product Information page will download the software to your system.