Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

iPhone 4: lost contacts! Restore from Backup only works for 30 seconds after restore job, then contacts disappear!

The last time I backed my phone up, my contacts disappeard. So I went back in and "restored from backup." When the restore job finished, I opened up my "recent calls" and the names of my recent callers appeared for about 30 seconds and then they turned back into phone numbers. No contacts appear in my contact list.


I called apple-care and all they're interested in is trying to get me to give them money.


I tried free support from this website but the person on the other end was clueless...utterly clueless....did not even understand what I meant when I uttered the phrase "restore from backup." I had to take him through the process I had just gone through step by painstaking step, and all he could do was ask me why I didn't have my contacts.


Is there anyone here whocan help with this?


PLEASE...help me.

Posted on Apr 28, 2012 5:49 PM

Reply
49 replies

Feb 8, 2017 10:44 AM in response to saturnisyours

Same here iphone 6. My daughters iphone 6 screen cracked and could not even login, because you could not see keypad. So, we had her old iPhone 4 and had our cell vendor switch number to the old phone and reactivated it. Her contacts were gone, so was able to get into her iPhone 6 via computer and synced her contacts with iCloud. This wiped out everything stored there, and so now my iphone has her contacts. Did an iTunes restore on my iphone and they get restored, but even if I cancel my way through iCloud setup, i can watch my contacts get zapped and hers restored. How the heck do i get them back and get them back to icloud?

Apr 30, 2012 4:01 AM in response to wjosten

Just to be clear, they are part of the backup and they aren't.

The only purpose of the contact data that's part of the backup is to preserve the recent calls and favorites list.



Contacts* and Contact Favorites (regularly sync contacts to a computer or cloud service such as iCloud to back them up).


* Your contacts are part of the backup to preserve recent calls and favorites lists. Back up your contacts to a supported personal information manager (PIM), iCloud, or another cloud-based service to avoid any potential contact data loss.

Apr 30, 2012 4:05 AM in response to KiltedTim

KiltedTim wrote:

Just to be clear, they are part of the backup and they aren't.



Just to be perfectly clear, they are. You can easily verify this yourself, as ANY program such as Touchcopy or Phoneview will extract them. You are mis-reading/interpreting Apple's comments. Apple merely wants users to backup their contacts & not rely on the iPhone backup...good advice.

Jan 12, 2013 1:23 PM in response to wjosten

Wjosten,


You are absolutely correct, they are very much apart of the backup. I lost all my contacts and did the same thing as you, restored a previous backup. Upon completion of the restore, all my contacts were there. Like you, after 30 seconds, mine too erased. I tried to mess with iCloud with no luck, after re-establishing connection with either wi-fi or cellular, my contacts erased.

I tried several times and was able to finally get my contacts copied over from the restore, here is how but only works if you have the restore available with the contacts still present.


1. Restore from the previous backup (you must watch your phone because you have to be ready for the next step)

2. When your phone restarts, immediately place your phone in "airplane mode" to stop it from connecting to the cloud and wiping away your contacts. (Your contacts will remain until airplane mode is turned off)

3. Within iTunes, search for and download "My Contacts Backup" which is FREE and does not need to connect to the Internet to work.

4. Within iTunes, under the iPhone, navigate to the App's tab and find "My Contacts Backup" and click the install button to have it installed onto your phone.

5. After installed, run the "My Contacts Backup" and follow the prompts. Do not change any settings, they are already properly set up. After it copies all the contacts, it is ready to e-mail out. Email them to an address you can get on your phone.

6. Turn off airplane mode (this will delete the contacts as said above but we have a backup.)

7. Open the e-mail and click on the attachment. Follow the short steps and all your contacts will re-populate.


If you are like me, this fix also took care of my iMac and iPad contacts. I have all 400 contacts back. I hope this helps if you haven't found a fix or anyone that finds this page in the future. While trying to fix this, I stumbled across software that was over $100.00 to fix this problem. This is the free way


FYI - I had the iPhone 5 running 6.0.2

Good luck,


Reed

May 21, 2013 1:22 PM in response to getreed

Thanks for the advice, the moral of the tale is that Apple don't give a **** about their customers otherwise restoring the 'contacts only' would be a simple operation not needing third party solutions. I'm trying to restore said contacts but don't want to restore all the other stuff. Big FAIL Apple, pull your finger out and look after your customers. Thanks for all the usefull info here, no thanks to Apple.

iPhone 4: lost contacts! Restore from Backup only works for 30 seconds after restore job, then contacts disappear!

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.