If you've been manually entering birthdays one by one, stop — you're doing it the hard way. Most smartphones already store birthdays in your contacts app, and a good birthday reminder app can import them all in seconds.
Here's how to do it on both iPhone and Android.
Where Birthdays Are Stored on Your Phone
iPhone (iOS Contacts)
When you add a birthday to a contact via the Contacts app or through iCloud, it's stored in the iOS contacts database. Any app with contacts permission can read these.
To check if a contact has a birthday saved:
- Open Contacts
- Tap a contact
- Scroll down — if there's a "birthday" field, it will show there
Android Contacts
On Android, birthdays are stored per contact in your Google account or local contacts. You can verify by:
- Opening Contacts (or Google Contacts)
- Tapping a contact
- Scrolling to the birthday field
If you use Google Contacts, you can also view all birthdays at once at contacts.google.com.
Importing into Birthday Reminder
Birthday Reminder can read birthdays directly from your contacts with a single permission:
- Open the app and tap Import from Contacts
- Grant the Contacts permission when prompted
- The app reads only the name and birthday fields — nothing else
- Select which contacts to import, or import all at once
- Done — all imported birthdays appear in your list with automatic annual reminders
The import is one-way and read-only. The app never modifies, syncs, or uploads your contacts data.
Adding Birthdays to Contacts You're Missing
Before importing, it's worth spending 10 minutes filling in missing birthdays:
- Family — call or text to ask if you don't know. Most people are happy to share.
- Close friends — check their social media profiles; many list their birthday publicly
- Colleagues — HR systems or LinkedIn sometimes show birth months
- Facebook — if connected, birthdays are listed on friend profiles
Once added to your contacts, re-importing picks them up automatically.
Keeping Things in Sync
After the initial import, new contacts with birthdays won't automatically appear — you'll need to re-run the import to pick them up. Make it a habit to import again whenever you add someone new to your contacts.
Privacy Note
Birthday Reminder reads your contacts locally on your device. No contact data is ever sent to a server, stored in the cloud, or shared with any third party. The permission is used only at the moment you tap Import.
Download Birthday Reminder →