Sync contacts stopped working

Recently, I looked for a new contact on my iPhone and it was not there. I then checked the address book on my MacBook Pro and found it. i then added a "test" contact to the iPhone and found that it did not sync to my address book. I sync daily through iTunes and do not knowingly have sync set up to any other source (Palm, Google, MobileMe, etc.). I have 10 groups in my address book, but only sync one or two with my iPhone. The key group is called "Sync Group."

While trouble shooting with Apple tech support, I noticed this problem:

1. After selecting my iPhone in iTunes and choosing the "info" tab and then checking "sync address book contacts" and then choosing "selected groups," the list of groups does not match the list of groups in the address book on my MacBook. I added a "test group" (not a smart group) and deleted a group but neither change is reflected in the list of groups.

Tech support could not explain this.

I suppose the fix will be to delete all of the contact from my iPhone, but before I do, is there a way to filter those contacts that were added manually to the iPhone? If not, those contacts might be lost.

17" MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jun 17, 2010 7:53 AM

19 replies

Lauren Hutton Author

Level 4

2,306 points

Jun 22, 2010 7:27 PM in response to Adrian Issott

Adrian,

No apologies necessary. Not your fault at all plus I've found iPhone backups in Time Machine. I should be able to copy one from yesterday or the day before to replace the latest one and then go to iTunes and restore from backup. After that just sync again and I should be all set.

I'll report on the outcome.

BTW, I used MacLinkPlus to open some of the individual files in the backup folder to confirm that they are files and apps from my iPhone.

Lauren Hutton Author

Level 4

2,306 points

Jun 29, 2010 4:16 PM in response to Lauren Hutton

Update:

Went to my name>Library>Application Support>MobileSync>Backup and located my iPhone's backup folder (BE CAREFUL when replacing any folders in Backup-my older iPod Touch's backup is in the same location). I then opened Time Machine, chose a date one day before I lost the my iPhone's contacts, clicked on restore and BINGO, got all of my old contacts back. Then, a Sync with iTunes made everything right.

Thanks again, Adrian

kagard

Level 1

0 points

Jul 2, 2010 10:07 AM in response to Lauren Hutton

Hi Lauren,
Where are you finding "my name" I have the same issue, and would LOVE to get my original contacts back!

Lauren Hutton Author

Level 4

2,306 points

Jul 5, 2010 3:14 PM in response to kagard

kagard,

When I say "my name," I mean "your user account." In a Finder window, go to the list on the left, then under "PLACES" look for an icon that looks like a house. Next to it, should be your user account name. Double click the house/user name, then follow the above navigation to the backup of your iPhone. The information therein is from the last time you sync'd your iPhone. Use Time Machine to restore (i.e. replace) that backup with an older one.

Good Luck

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Sync contacts stopped working