Abstract. Loads address book contents. Subclass, implement cellForRow.. and you're good to go. required: pod 'APAddressBook' (https://github.com/Alterplay/APAddressBook)

AddressBookViewController.h

//
//  AddressBookViewController.h
//
//  Created by Vladislav Kartashov on 28/03/15.
//  Copyright (c) 2015 Vladislav Kartashov. All rights reserved.
//

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "APAddressBook.h"
// call reloadContacts in subclass
@interface APAddressBookViewController : UITableViewController
// full access to addressBook. don't be shy to use custom masks and sortDescriptors
@property (strong, nonatomic) APAddressBook *addressBook;
@property (strong, nonatomic) NSArray *contacts; // of ABContact

- (void)reloadContacts;
// override to handle access errors
- (void)didLoadContactsWithError:(NSError *)error;
@end

AddressBookViewController.m

//
//  AddressBookViewController.m
//
//  Created by Vladislav Kartashov on 28/03/15.
//  Copyright (c) 2015 Vladislav Kartashov. All rights reserved.
//

#import "APAddressBookViewController.h"
#import "APContact.h"

@interface APAddressBookViewController()
@end

@implementation APAddressBookViewController

#pragma mark - Public

- (void)reloadContacts {
    [self.addressBook loadContacts:^(NSArray *contacts, NSError *error) {
        if (!error) {
            self.contacts = contacts;
        } else {
            [self didLoadContactsWithError:error];
        }
    }];
}

- (APAddressBook *)addressBook {
    if (!_addressBook) {
        _addressBook = [[APAddressBook alloc] init];
    }
    return _addressBook;
}

- (void)didLoadContactsWithError:(NSError *)error {
    // handle an error
}

// sort contacts from addressbook into sections to support section titles
- (void)setContacts:(NSArray *)contacts {
    SEL selector = @selector(lastName);
    
    NSInteger sectionTitlesCount = [[[UILocalizedIndexedCollation currentCollation] sectionTitles] count];
    
    NSMutableArray *mutableSections = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity:sectionTitlesCount];
    for (NSUInteger idx = 0; idx < sectionTitlesCount; idx++) {
        [mutableSections addObject:[NSMutableArray array]];
    }
    
    for (id object in contacts) {
        NSInteger sectionNumber = [[UILocalizedIndexedCollation currentCollation] sectionForObject:object collationStringSelector:selector];
        [[mutableSections objectAtIndex:sectionNumber] addObject:object];
    }
    
    for (NSUInteger idx = 0; idx < sectionTitlesCount; idx++) {
        NSArray *objectsForSection = [mutableSections objectAtIndex:idx];
        // in order to make this work we need to ensure that lastName selector never returns nil.
        // currently it's done with hack in ABContact sources. lastName always returns NSString
        [mutableSections replaceObjectAtIndex:idx withObject:[[UILocalizedIndexedCollation currentCollation] sortedArrayFromArray:objectsForSection collationStringSelector:selector]];
    }
    
    _contacts = mutableSections;
    [self.tableView reloadData];
}

#pragma mark - TableViewController DataSource

- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
    return self.contacts.count ?: 0;
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    return [self.contacts[section] count] ?: 0;
}

- (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView sectionForSectionIndexTitle:(NSString *)title atIndex:(NSInteger)index {
    return [[UILocalizedIndexedCollation currentCollation] sectionForSectionIndexTitleAtIndex:index];
}

- (NSString *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView titleForHeaderInSection:(NSInteger)section {
    return [[[UILocalizedIndexedCollation currentCollation] sectionTitles] objectAtIndex:section];
}

- (NSArray *)sectionIndexTitlesForTableView:(UITableView *)tableView {
    return [[UILocalizedIndexedCollation currentCollation] sectionTitles];
}

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    [super viewDidLoad];
    
    self.addressBook.sortDescriptors = @[ [NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:@"lastName" ascending:YES],
                                          [NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:@"firstName" ascending:YES] ];
}

@end