Retrieve all contacts phone numbers in iOS

Question

So far I saw methods to get multiple phone numbers if I show a picker so user can select people and then get the phone number. What I want is retrieving all contacts

Answer 1

Get permission to the address book or notify the user that the need to change the permission in their settings.

CGFloat iOSVersion = [[[UIDevice currentDevice] systemVersion] floatValue];
    if(iOSVersion >= 6.0) {
        // Request authorization to Address Book
        addressBookRef = ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(NULL, NULL);
        if (ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == kABAuthorizationStatusNotDetermined) {
            ABAddressBookRequestAccessWithCompletion(addressBookRef, ^(bool granted, CFErrorRef error) {
                //start importing contacts
                if(addressBookRef) CFRelease(addressBookRef);
            });
        }
        else if (ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == kABAuthorizationStatusAuthorized) {
            // The user has previously given access, add the contact
            //start importing contacts
            if(addressBookRef) CFRelease(addressBookRef);
        }
        else {
            // The user has previously denied access
            // Send an alert telling user to change privacy setting in settings app
            UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Unable to Access" message:@"Grant us access now!" delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"Not Now" otherButtonTitles:@"I'll Do It!", nil];
            [alert show];
            if(addressBookRef) CFRelease(addressBookRef);
        }
    } else {
        addressBookRef = ABAddressBookCreate();
        //start importing contacts
        if(addressBookRef) CFRelease(addressBookRef);
    }

Get the records

CFArrayRef records = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook);
NSArray *contacts = (__bridge NSArray*)records;
CFRelease(records);

for(int i = 0; i < contacts.count; i++) {
    ABRecordRef record = (__bridge ABRecordRef)[contacts objectAtIndex:i];
}

Get the phone number

    ABMultiValueRef phonesRef    = ABRecordCopyValue(recordRef, kABPersonPhoneProperty);

    if(phonesRef) {
        count = ABMultiValueGetCount(phonesRef);
        for(int ix = 0; ix < count; ix++){
            CFStringRef typeTmp = ABMultiValueCopyLabelAtIndex(phonesRef, ix);
            CFStringRef numberRef = ABMultiValueCopyValueAtIndex(phonesRef, ix);
            CFStringRef typeRef = ABAddressBookCopyLocalizedLabel(typeTmp);

            NSString *phoneNumber = (__bridge NSString *)numberRef;
            NSString *phoneType = (__bridge NSString *)typeRef;


            if(typeTmp) CFRelease(typeTmp);
            if(numberRef) CFRelease(numberRef);
            if(typeRef) CFRelease(typeRef);
        }
        CFRelease(phonesRef);
    }

Keep in mind, some people have 20,000 contacts in their phone. If you plan on doing this, you'll probably have to multithread the process.