Adding contact on iPhone adds it to Exchange but not iCloud

On my iPhone running iOS6, I have the following accounts configured:

  • iCloud - Contacts, Reminders, Safari, Passbook, and Find my iPhone
  • Exchange (my work email) - Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders
  • Gmail - Mail and Calendars

I would like to keep my personal contacts (in iCloud) completely separate from my work contacts (in Exchange).

When I add a contact directly on my iPhone, it immediately shows up in Outlook but does not exist in my iCloud contacts (verify by looking in iCloud.com or Contacts app on my Mac).

I would like it so when I add a contact on my iPhone it gets added to my iCloud contacts, not my Exchange contacts.

Is this possible?


Yes, it is possible.

Set the default account for Contacts to iCloud. That will add new contacts to iCloud.

To do this

  1. Tap Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars
  2. Scroll to Contacts, about 2/3rds down the page.
  3. Tap Default Account and then choose iCloud.