Contact data has a habit of ending up in JSON: exported from an app, pulled from an API, or dumped from a database. But phones and address books don't speak JSON — they want VCF (vCard), the universal contact format that Google Contacts, iPhone, Android, and Outlook all import natively.
Here's how to make the jump, and what your JSON needs to look like for a clean conversion.
The 60-Second Version
- Open the JSON to VCF converter
- Drop in your .json file
- Click Convert and download the .vcf file
- Import it into your contacts app (steps below)
The conversion happens entirely in your browser — your contact list is never uploaded to a server. For a file full of other people's names, numbers, and email addresses, that matters.
What Your JSON Should Look Like
The converter accepts an array of contact objects (or a single object). A minimal example:
[
{
"name": "Ada Lovelace",
"email": "ada@example.com",
"phone": "+44 20 7946 0000"
},
{
"firstName": "Grace",
"lastName": "Hopper",
"company": "US Navy",
"emails": [
{ "type": "work", "value": "grace@example.com" }
]
}
]Both styles work. Plain name, email, and phone strings are fine, and so are structured fields: firstName, lastName, fullName, organization, title, typed email/phone arrays, addresses, birthday, and note. Every object in the array becomes one vCard in a single downloadable file.
Importing the VCF File
Google Contacts
Go to contacts.google.com, click Import in the left sidebar, choose your .vcf file, and confirm. The contacts sync to any Android phone signed into the account.
iPhone
Get the .vcf file onto the phone (AirDrop, Files app, or email it to yourself), open it, and tap Add All Contacts. Alternatively, import at icloud.com/contacts via the gear menu.
Outlook
In Outlook on the web, go to People → Manage contacts → Import contacts and select the file.
Going the Other Way
Need to get contacts out of an address book and into code or a spreadsheet? The reverse tools do exactly that: VCF to JSON for structured data, or VCF to CSV for Excel and Google Sheets.
Starting From a Spreadsheet Instead?
If your contact list lives in Excel or Google Sheets rather than JSON, export it as CSV and use the CSV to VCF converter — it recognizes the usual column headers (First Name, Last Name, Email, Phone, Company and friends) automatically.