Contacts no longer in list, yet can be found by Search

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Level 1

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Contacts no longer in list, yet can be found by Search

This is peculiar. After a recent iOS update, my contact list lost most of its listings. If I go through the phone app or the contact list app, I can't find often used entries that were there just recently.

Yet, if I use Search to find a vanished contact, Search finds it with all its information. I can view it from the Search screen, and even edit it there, but the minute I'm done, it disappears from the regular contact list. I can only access it again by re-searching.

Can anyone tell me what's going on and how to fix it? I have a backup, but I'm afraid to use it for fear of wiping out the hidden contacts once and for all.

Thanks for any help.

EdB

iPhone 6s, iOS 12.1, no problems with anything before this.

iPhone 6s

Posted on Dec 18, 2018 10:40 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

rockmyplimsoul

Level 6

11,161 points

Dec 18, 2018 11:08 AM in response to ejbSFO

It sounds like you have more than one source for managing your contacts (e.g. iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, and/or Exchange, etc.) and that your Contacts app has at least one of the sources turned off.

If this might be the case, open the Contacts app and if you see "Groups" at the top-right of the screen, tap that to reveal all the possible sources for your contacts, and see if any are un-checked. If so, select that source and you should see the "missing" contacts.

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Answer 2

ejbSFO Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 18, 2018 12:46 PM in response to rockmyplimsoul

Thanks, Rock, that did it. Apparently the gmail source got unclicked. Clicking it, now I have more contacts than ever, including a bunch I deleted in the past, but that's a much better problem to have. --Ed

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Answer 3

Dec 18, 2018 1:45 PM in response to ejbSFO

Glad that it worked out for you! Anytime you use multiple sources for contacts, not only is it good to periodically verify what accounts are selected (especially after OS updates) but also verify which source is the default for new contacts that you create from your iPhone. When creating a contact, you can't select which account it gets saved it -- it only goes to the default so make sure that's what you want.

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Contacts no longer in list, yet can be found by Search

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