As there is no way to directly sort according to the modification date of ABPerson here is something which I think works
- (NSArray *) getSortedContacts
{
NSMutableArray * modificationDates = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
ABAddressBookRef addressBook = ABAddressBookCreate();
if(addressBook != nil)
{
CFIndex nPeople = ABAddressBookGetPersonCount(addressBook);
if(nPeople > 0)
{
CFArrayRef allPeople = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople(addressBook);
for (int index = 0; index < nPeople; ++index)
{
ABRecordRef person = CFArrayGetValueAtIndex(allPeople, index);
NSNumber *contactID = [NSNumber numberWithInt:ABRecordGetRecordID(person)];
NSDate *modificationDate = (NSDate*) ABRecordCopyValue(person, kABPersonModificationDateProperty);
[modificationDates addObject:[NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjects:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:contactID,modificationDate, nil] forKeys:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"contactID",@"modificationDate", nil]]];
}
if(allPeople)
CFRelease(allPeople);
allPeople = nil;
}
}
[pool drain];
NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"modificationDate" ascending:TRUE];
[modificationDates sortUsingDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject:sortDescriptor]];
return modificationDates;
}
when you get the sorted array, get the dictionary from the array and using the contactID and use it to get ABPerson object using this
ABRecordRef person = ABAddressBookGetPersonWithRecordID(addressbook, (ABRecordID) [[dict valueForKey:@"contactID"] intValue]);
Hope this will help you