2 Iphone's one One computer, how to erase sync'd contacts

Question

I let a friedn use my computer to sync her Iphone and now all of her numbers and info is on my Iphone (after my last sync) how can i take just her stuff off without manually going through my phone and eraseing them one by one????

Answer 1

Hello Clinem03,
Welcome to the Discussions Boards.
Unfortunately, by letting your friend use your computer to sync her iPhone, you may have "some" cleaning up to do to clear her info from your computer. The reason you've ended up with both her data and your data on your iPhone is because the data is intermingled on your computer.
Chances are, if you check your contact management program (Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, Outlook Express or Windows Address Book, you will find that her contacts have been merged with yours on your computer.
If you're using Outlook 2003 or 2007 for your calendar data, you might also find that her calendar info is merged with yours as well.
Depending on how she synced her iPhone (if she logged into her iTunes ID and chose "Transfer Purchases from the File Menu before syncing), you might even find her APPs/Music/Videos mixed in with yours in iTunes. If she did transfer purchases, you might have a lot of work on your hands. Fortunately, it's less likely that she transferred the purchases before she synced, so you may be in luck here.
So, as I mentioned, you may have some spring cleaning to take care of before your next sync.
You will have to manually remove any of her data from your contacts/calendar programs and iTunes Library on your computer before your next sync (more on this later).
When you say you're getting her email address when you try to update APPs, that is because iTunes on your computer was still logged in with her iTunes ID when you did your last sync.
There are a few things you'll need to do to get your iPhone back to the state it was in before she synced.
Do not connect your iPhone at this time if it has been set to sync automatically.
Open the iTunes Store on the computer and see what iTunes ID is logged in at the upper right.
If it's her iTunes ID, you might want to have her Deauthorize Computer from the Store Menu (it will count as one of the 5 computers authorized on her iTunes ID otherwise).
If she's not available to deauthorize it, you can just Sign Out her ID and Sign In with your own iTunes ID (she'll just have to live with one less computer that she can authorize).
Next, check to see what backups are stored in iTunes.
Go to the Edit Menu and choose Preferences.
Select the Devices tab.
In the list of backups, you will probably find the most recent one for your iPhone (and probably one for her iPhone - select her backup and delete it first).
Also, while you are in the Devices Preference, put a check in the "Disable automatic syncing for iPods and iPhones" checkbox to prevent an automatic sync the next time you connect your iPhone.
You can then connect your iPhone and try restoring it from the most recent backup by right-clicking on your iPhone under Devices and choosing "Restore from backup" per this article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414
It is possible that the most recent backup will have the already mingled data in it. If so, check to see the next most recent backup file in the Devices Preference as mentioned above. If it is relatively recent (and before she synced), it is possible that it can restore your iPhone back to how it was before she synced hers. If it meets those two criteria, you can delete the newest one (when you synced after her sync) and try restoring from that second backup (However, depending on how old it is, you might not get back all the info you want, so restore from it at your own discretion).
Let's say you get your info back from one of those backups successfully. Before doing your next sync you will need to do the "spring cleaning" chores mentioned above. Go ahead and disconnect your iPhone for now before doing any syncing.
First, for the APPs in iTunes, open the Applications listing under Library.
Right-click on each APP and choose "Get Info."
Delete any APPs that have her ID showing in the Info.
At this point, while you are logged in with your ID, I'd download a new Free APP to your iTunes Library (when you do sync your APPs to the iPhone later, make sure you have the new APP selected to sync -- this will sync a fresh copy of your iTunes ID along with it to your iPhone later).
Second, check the Music, Video, Podcast listings under Library to see if any of her media is there (it's probably not, but it's worth checking just in case). Delete any of her content.
Next, you'll have to manually clean up your contact (and calendar if applicable) data in Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows Address Book.
Once you've removed her data from your computer's programs, you'll need to replace the contact and calendar data on the iPhone with the cleaned up data from Outlook on your next sync.
To replace the data on the iPhone with the un-mingled data from the computer you'll need to scroll down to the bottom of the Info Tab for your iPhone in iTunes and put check marks in the Contacts (and Calendars if necessary) under the Advanced section. The Advanced checkboxes are one time only selections -- they will uncheck themselves after the sync. The Advanced selections will remove the data from the iPhone and replace it with a fresh copy from the computer. This is NOT reversible so make sure there are no new contacts or calendar events on the iPhone that are not on your computer before doing the Advanced sync.
Once you've got everything on the computer cleaned up and your iPhone is back in order, you might consider creating a new User on the computer from Control Panels > User Accounts and log into that new User when allowing anyone to sync with your computer. If you're using Outlook 2003 or 2007, see this article for the new User account before syncing another iPhone:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1347
One last little detail. If your contacts and calendars are all intermingled with her data... so is the information on her iPhone as well. This is what happens when you allow someone else to sync in your own User account on your PC.
Good luck with the spring cleaning,
Charles H.