Comparison

Contacts Duster vs Backly

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Contacts Duster

This app helps you clean up your iPhone or iPad contacts by detecting and merging duplicate entries. It offers features to manage your address book efficiently, including cleaning 'zombies' and visualizing your contact data. Cloud backup is available via in-app purchase.

Highlights
  • Detect and merge duplicate contacts
  • Clean 'zombie' contacts
  • In-app backup and restore
  • Visualize address book with pie graph
  • Cloud backup of contacts
  • Localized in 12 languages
Features
Read full description

ContactsDuster is one of the original iPhone contacts cleanup apps, helping people dust messy address books since 2010. Redesigned in SwiftUI with a fresh Liquid Glass feel, ContactsDuster keeps contact cleanup simple: find duplicates, merge repeated people, remove empty zombie contacts, organize groups, and keep a backup ready when you need it. Why people use ContactsDuster: - Clean duplicate contacts quickly - Merge matching names, phone numbers, and email addresses - Remove empty or incomplete zombie contacts - Organize contact groups - Export contacts as vCard - Back up and restore with backup history in your iCloud account ContactsDuster works directly with your iPhone and iPad contacts. Your address book stays yours: contacts are not uploaded to us, and backup history is saved in your own iCloud account so we do not have access to it. Privacy Policy: https://www.myclickapps.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.myclickapps.com/terms

About

Backly

Features
Read full description

Switching phones? Back up every contact on your iPhone to CSV, Excel, or a vCard file — then AirDrop it, share it, or save it to Files. Open the spreadsheet in any sheet app, or restore a vCard on a new phone. No ads. No subscription. Pay once and it's yours forever. Most contact-backup apps charge a WEEKLY subscription just to hold on to your own address book — or bury it behind ads. This one does neither. One small payment, and you can back up your contacts as often as you like. • SPREADSHEET OR VCARD — names, numbers, emails and more, saved as CSV, Excel, or a standard .vcf file. • SHARE IT ANYWHERE — AirDrop it to your new phone, email it to yourself, or save it to Files or iCloud Drive. • 100% PRIVATE — everything happens on your iPhone. Your contacts are never uploaded, and there's no account to create. • MADE FOR SWITCHING PHONES — make one backup today, keep it somewhere safe, and restore it whenever you need it. • NO ADS, NO SUBSCRIPTION — pay once, back up forever. No weekly fee, ever. Try it free — your first 25 contacts export at no cost. Unlock Unlimited once to back up your entire address book. Tap "Export My Contacts," pick a format, and your file is ready in seconds. Questions or feedback: overlapmarr@gmail.com

Screenshots

Contacts Duster4 screens
Backly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Contacts Duster at weekly against Backly's every 3 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Contacts Duster sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Backly sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Contacts Duster ships an update weekly, Backly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Contacts Duster versus Backly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterContacts DusterBackly
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (23 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews51.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings23 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMyClickapps.com LLCJhomar Maravillas

Bugs and requests

Contacts Duster

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes during contact cleaning
  • Deletes valid contacts
  • Fails to detect all duplicate contacts
  • Syncing issues with iCloud and other services

Requested features

4 requests
  • Allow merging of contact groups
  • Provide more granular control over contact management
  • Improve duplicate detection accuracy
  • Add support for more cloud storage services

Backly

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

8 purchases

Contacts Duster

Subscriptions2
  • Cloud Backup Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Cloud Backup Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time6
  • Groups Manager$0.99
  • Pro$0.99
  • Auto Dust$1.99
Show 3 more
  • Pro$2.99
  • Pro upgrade$4.99
  • Cloud Backup Lifetime$19.99
1 purchases

Backly

One-time1
  • Unlock Unlimited$4.99

Questions

Is Contacts Duster free?
Contacts Duster is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Backly free?
Backly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Contacts Duster or Backly have ads?
Neither Contacts Duster nor Backly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Contacts Duster or Backly?
Contacts Duster ships an update weekly, and Backly every 3 weeks. Most recently, Contacts Duster was updated on October 17, 2026 and Backly on September 29, 2026.

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