Programmatically add contact in Swift

Question

I want to add a contact (just the name and phone number) programatically in Swift. I've found some Objective-C examples but I didn't get them to work, not even in Objective-C. I don't want this to involve AddressBookUI, because I want to get the values from my own UI.

Answer 1

Here's a quick method to add a contact in Swift. I verified it on my iPhone 5 iOS 7.1 as I've found the simulator doesn't always match the same results as my phone does for AB stuff.

You can add a button and point to this method:

@IBAction func createContact(sender: AnyObject) {
    var newContact:ABRecordRef! = ABPersonCreate().takeRetainedValue()
    var success:Bool = false
    var newFirstName:NSString = "AA"
    var newLastName = "a"

//Updated to work in Xcode 6.1
        var error: Unmanaged<CFErrorRef>? = nil
//Updated to error to &error so the code builds in Xcode 6.1
    success = ABRecordSetValue(newContact, kABPersonFirstNameProperty, newFirstName, &error)
    println("setting first name was successful? \(success)")
    success = ABRecordSetValue(newContact, kABPersonLastNameProperty, newLastName, &error)
    println("setting last name was successful? \(success)")
    success = ABAddressBookAddRecord(adbk, newContact, &error)
    println("Adbk addRecord successful? \(success)")
    success = ABAddressBookSave(adbk, &error)
    println("Adbk Save successful? \(success)")

}//createContact

btw-it assumes you've already got an addressbook var assigned, which you can on opening the view by overriding viewDidAppear. It does the security prompt as well:

override func viewDidAppear(animated: Bool) {
    super.viewDidAppear(animated)
    if !self.authDone {
        self.authDone = true
        let stat = ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus()
        switch stat {
        case .Denied, .Restricted:
            println("no access")
        case .Authorized, .NotDetermined:
            var err : Unmanaged<CFError>? = nil
            var adbk : ABAddressBook? = ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(nil, &err).takeRetainedValue()
            if adbk == nil {
                println(err)
                return
            }
            ABAddressBookRequestAccessWithCompletion(adbk) {
                (granted:Bool, err:CFError!) in
                if granted {
                    self.adbk = adbk
                } else {
                    println(err)
                }//if
            }//ABAddressBookReqeustAccessWithCompletion
        }//case
    }//if
}//viewDidAppear

Answer 2

Add contact with a button click using swift 3

Add this row in project plist

Privacy - Contacts Usage Description

then

import AddressBook
import Contacts

On button click, you add the following

let newContact = CNMutableContact()
newContact.givenName = "Your Name"
newContact.jobTitle = "CTO xyz Company"

let workEmail = CNLabeledValue(label:CNLabelWork, value:"demoxyz@gmail.com" as NSString)
newContact.emailAddresses = [workEmail]
newContact.phoneNumbers = [CNLabeledValue(
    label:CNLabelPhoneNumberiPhone,
    value:CNPhoneNumber(stringValue:"0123456789"))]
do {
    let saveRequest = CNSaveRequest()
    saveRequest.add(newContact, toContainerWithIdentifier: nil)
    try AppDelegate.getAppDelegate().contactStore.execute(saveRequest)
} catch {
    AppDelegate.getAppDelegate().showMessage("Unable to save the new contact.")
}

On app delegate add some custom class

// MARK: Custom functions        
class func getAppDelegate() -> AppDelegate {
    return UIApplication.shared.delegate as! AppDelegate
}

func showMessage(_ message: String) {
    let alertController = UIAlertController(title: "Birthdays", message: message, preferredStyle: UIAlertControllerStyle.alert)

    let dismissAction = UIAlertAction(title: "OK", style: UIAlertActionStyle.default) { (action) -> Void in
    }

    alertController.addAction(dismissAction)

    let pushedViewControllers = (self.window?.rootViewController as! UINavigationController).viewControllers
    let presentedViewController = pushedViewControllers[pushedViewControllers.count - 1]

    presentedViewController.present(alertController, animated: true, completion: nil)
}

func requestForAccess(_ completionHandler: @escaping (_ accessGranted: Bool) -> Void) {
    let authorizationStatus = CNContactStore.authorizationStatus(for: CNEntityType.contacts)

    switch authorizationStatus {
    case .authorized:
        completionHandler(true)

    case .denied, .notDetermined:
        self.contactStore.requestAccess(for: CNEntityType.contacts, completionHandler: { (access, accessError) -> Void in
            if access {
                completionHandler(access)
            }
            else {
                if authorizationStatus == CNAuthorizationStatus.denied {
                    DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: { () -> Void in
                        let message = "\(accessError!.localizedDescription)\n\nPlease allow the app to access your contacts through the Settings."
                        self.showMessage(message)
                    })
                }
            }
        })

    default:
        completionHandler(false)
    }
}

You are done; test the project and check the contact app.

Answer 3

Swift 4 & 5

import ContactsUI

Inherit this class CNContactViewControllerDelegate

@IBOutlet var contactNameTxt: UITextField!
@IBOutlet var phoneNumberTxt: UITextField!

@IBAction func saveActionBtn(_ sender: UIButton) {

        let store = CNContactStore()
        let contact = CNMutableContact()

        // Name
        contact.givenName = contactNameTxt.text ?? ""

        // Phone
        contact.phoneNumbers.append(CNLabeledValue(
            label: "mobile", value: CNPhoneNumber(stringValue: phoneNumberTxt.text ?? "")))

        // Save
        let saveRequest = CNSaveRequest()
        saveRequest.add(contact, toContainerWithIdentifier: nil)
        try? store.execute(saveRequest)
}

Answer 4

I used the following lines of code

var addressBook : ABAddressBookRef = ABAddressBookCreate()
var contactPerson : ABRecordRef = ABPersonCreate()

ABRecordSetValue(contactPerson, kABPersonFirstNameProperty, txtFirstName.text, nil);
ABRecordSetValue(contactPerson, kABPersonLastNameProperty, txtLastName.text, nil);

But when the record that gets inserted contains "nil"

while reading contacts from address book the following snippet helped

var firstName: NSString! = Unmanaged<CFString>.fromOpaque(ABRecordCopyValue(contactPerson, kABPersonFirstNameProperty).toOpaque()).takeUnretainedValue().__conversion()