HT203517: iCloud: Troubleshooting Documents in the Cloud

Learn about iCloud: Troubleshooting Documents in the Cloud
Brworking
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Q: Missing Contacts?

My iPhone and iPad are missing contacts that are in iCloud and on my MacBook Pro.  I "Reset Documents & Data" per instructions on iCloud to no avail.  Can you help?

iPad 2, iOS 7.0.4, iCloud out of Sync

Posted on Dec 3, 2013 12:14 PM

by randers4,Solvedanswer
randers4 randers4
Level 9 (62,891 points)
A:

Make sure these contacts appear on icloud.com.  If they do they should appear on your iOS devices too. 

 

Try deleting your account entirely, then add it back.  To do this, start by saving any photos stream photos that you want to keep to your camera roll first.  (When you delete the account it will delete photo stream photos from your device.  When you sign back in you will only get back photo stream photos from the last 30 days.)  Then go to Settings>iCloud, tap Delete Account, choose Delete from My iPhone (iPad), then after a minute or so, sign back in.  (This deletes the account and your iCloud data from your device but not from iCloud.  Your data will reappear when you sign back in.)

Posted on Dec 3, 2013 2:43 PM

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Brworking

Q: Missing Contacts?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by randers4,

    randers4 randers4 Dec 3, 2013 2:04 PM in response to Brworking
    Level 9 (62,891 points)
    Dec 3, 2013 2:04 PM in response to Brworking

    If all of your contacts are in your contacts on icloud.com but do not appear on your iOS devices, go to Settings>iCloud, turn Contact off, choose Delete from My iPhone (iPad) when prompted, then after a few seconds turn Contacts on again.  If any contacts from your devices are missing on icloud.com, add them before doing this.

  • by Brworking,

    Brworking Brworking Dec 3, 2013 2:37 PM in response to Brworking
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2013 2:37 PM in response to Brworking

    I turned off Contacts on both my iPhone and iPad, deleted those contacts, then turned contacts back on ... and some of the contacts in iCloud still are not on my iPhone or iPad.  Not sure what else I can do.  Plus I have no way of knowing how many of the contacts on iCloud are not on my iOS devices.  I have thousands of contacts.

  • by randers4,Solvedanswer

    randers4 randers4 Dec 3, 2013 2:43 PM in response to Brworking
    Level 9 (62,891 points)
    Dec 3, 2013 2:43 PM in response to Brworking

    Make sure these contacts appear on icloud.com.  If they do they should appear on your iOS devices too. 

     

    Try deleting your account entirely, then add it back.  To do this, start by saving any photos stream photos that you want to keep to your camera roll first.  (When you delete the account it will delete photo stream photos from your device.  When you sign back in you will only get back photo stream photos from the last 30 days.)  Then go to Settings>iCloud, tap Delete Account, choose Delete from My iPhone (iPad), then after a minute or so, sign back in.  (This deletes the account and your iCloud data from your device but not from iCloud.  Your data will reappear when you sign back in.)

  • by Brworking,

    Brworking Brworking Dec 4, 2013 4:51 AM in response to randers4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 4:51 AM in response to randers4

    Disturbingly, still no luck.  I do not understand why there are contacts in iCloud that do not show up in my iOS devices even after deleting the account on the device, then adding it back ... one would logically think that the"new" contact list on the device would be built from the full list that is in iCloud.

  • by randers4,

    randers4 randers4 Dec 4, 2013 11:14 AM in response to Brworking
    Level 9 (62,891 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 11:14 AM in response to Brworking

    I don't understand either.  It shouldn't be happening.  You might try deleting the contact on icloud.com, then recreating it again on icloud.com.  (I would do this on icloud.com rather than you computer or another device as it will eliminate your devices as variables.)

  • by Brworking,

    Brworking Brworking Dec 4, 2013 11:56 AM in response to randers4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 11:56 AM in response to randers4

    Bizarre.  I will try it with the one contact, but I also have to see if there are other contacts that this is happening to.  Thanks for the suggestions, they were very logical and should have worked.  Regards, BW.

  • by Brworking,

    Brworking Brworking Dec 4, 2013 12:57 PM in response to Brworking
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 12:57 PM in response to Brworking

    Subject Issue: There are contacts on iCloud and MacBook, that are not on iPhone and iPad

     

    It is worse than I thought:

     

    New discovery: There are MANY contacts on my iPhone that are not on my iPad, MacBook or ICloud.  BUT ...

     

    1) when I add a contact to my iPhone, it is added to all three of the others. 

    2) when I add a contact to my iPad, it is added to all three of the others.

    3) when I add a contact to my MacBook, it is added to all three of the others.

    4) when I add a contact to iCloud, it is added to all three of the others.

     

    5) when I delete a contact to my iPhone, it is deleted to all three of the others.  Go figure.

    6) when I delete a contact to my iPad, it is deleted to all three of the others.

    7) when I delete a contact to my MacBook, it is deleted to all three of the others.

    8) when I delete a contact to iCloud, it is deleted to all three of the others.

     

    There sems to be contacts from a particular source or point in time, perhaps created under a different version of software or something that was or is not compatible, but I really can't do a manual correction to this because, I can't reconcile a couple of thousand contacts.




  • by randers4,

    randers4 randers4 Dec 4, 2013 1:03 PM in response to Brworking
    Level 9 (62,891 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 1:03 PM in response to Brworking

    When you open contacts on your phone and tap Groups, do you have any non-iCloud groups, such as On My iPhone, a Gamil, Yahoo or Exchange account, etc?

     

    Also check Settings>Mail,Contacts,Calendars>Default Account (in the Contacts section).  Do you have a Default Account setting, and if so, what is it set to?

  • by Brworking,

    Brworking Brworking Dec 4, 2013 1:24 PM in response to Brworking
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 1:24 PM in response to Brworking

    ... and I am concerned that when I deleted the contacts on my iPad and refreshed from iCloud, I may have lost some contacts, but I never will know.

  • by Brworking,

    Brworking Brworking Dec 4, 2013 2:12 PM in response to randers4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 2:12 PM in response to randers4

    iPhone

     

    1) There are "iCloud Groups" including "All iCloud" and,  "From My Mac Groups"  inlcuding "All From My Mac" and "All Others".  All groups are selected.

     

    2) The default on my iPhine is set to iCloud.

     

    iPad

     

    3) There are only iCloud Groups including All Contacts ... all are selected.

     

    4) There is no default

  • by randers4,Helpful

    randers4 randers4 Dec 4, 2013 2:59 PM in response to Brworking
    Level 9 (62,891 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 2:59 PM in response to Brworking

    Sounds like you have some contacts in the From My Mac groups that are not in iCloud; they may have been synced to your phone at some point.  On your iPhone, go to Settings>iCloud, turn Contacts to Off and choose Delete from My iPhone.  Then check you contacts to confirm that some are still there.  If so, check a few against your contacts on icloud.com to confirm they are not on icloud.com. 

     

    If you still have contacts on your phone that are not on icloud.com at this point you can add them to iCloud by doing the following:

     

    1. If you haven't already done so, go to Settings>iCloud on your phone, turn Contacts off and choose Delete from My iPhone.
    2. Download the app My Contacts Backup.  (If there are 500+ contacts remaining on your phone you will need the Pro version.)  Use this app to backup the remaining contacts on your phone as a vCard attachment to an email and send it to yourself.  Confirm that you have received the email on your phone.
    3. Go to Settings>Mail,Contacts,Calendars>Default Account (in the Contacts section) and confirm this is still set to iCloud.
    4. Open the My Contacts Backup email and tap the attachment to import the contacts from the On My Mac groups to iCloud.  Go to icloud.com to confirm that they appear there.
    5. If the On My Mac contacts are still on your phone, go to Settings>iCloud, turn Contacts off and choose Delete from My iPhone.  Open the My Contacts Backup app, tap the gear-shaped icon the bottom right.  In the window that opens, scroll to the bottom and tap Remove All Contacts.  Then go to Settings>iCloud and turn Contacts back on.  The duplicate contacts from the On My Mac groups should now be gone from your phone and they should all be in iCloud.

  • by Brworking,

    Brworking Brworking Dec 4, 2013 6:57 PM in response to randers4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 6:57 PM in response to randers4

    This solved my problem.  Thank you.  I did essentially the same on my Mac and I believe my three devices are now in sync with iCloud.

     

    Best regards,

    BW

  • by randers4,

    randers4 randers4 Dec 4, 2013 7:01 PM in response to Brworking
    Level 9 (62,891 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 7:01 PM in response to Brworking

    You're welcome.