You open a card to fix a phone number. Meanwhile your iPhone syncs a new email address to the same card. Many editors save your version over the top, and the new email disappears without a trace.
Compact Contacts compares the card before saving. If something changed, it stops and asks.
The conflict review
The sheet is titled “This contact changed while you were editing.” For every field that changed in Contacts, it shows the Original value, the value Current in Contacts, and My Draft.
Choose Current or My Draft for each field. A summary shows how many of each you picked. Cancel Save leaves the card untouched.
How to decide
| Situation | Keep |
|---|---|
| You corrected a typo; the other device added a different field | Both: your draft for your field, current for theirs |
| Both sides changed the same phone number | The one you can verify |
| You are unsure what changed | Cancel Save and reopen the card |
The same idea elsewhere in the app
- Bulk Edit rechecks every record before saving and skips ones that changed.
- Export stops if contacts change after the preview.
- Merge Studio refreshes its preview if a source card changed.
Questions people ask
Does this happen often?
Rarely, but it matters most for shared or frequently synced cards.
Is it the same on iPad?
Yes. iPad uses the same conflict review.
What if the contact was deleted meanwhile?
The save cannot complete, and the app tells you the record is no longer available.