Contacts have disappeared, but still on phone

Question

Contacts have disappeared, but still on phone

So, I am having a weird issue where all of my contacts have disappeared out of the Contacts app (and phone app) on my iPhone 7 (iOS 13.4.1), but I can tell that the contacts are still on my phone's memory somewhere because if I go to Messages, I can type in their name in the "to:" box and they will pop up as normal with name and number. If I go to the Contacts app, it says "No contacts". All incoming calls and messages I receive show up as unknown numbers. If I ask Siri to call a contact, let's say Deborah for example, she will say "Sorry, I don't see Deborah in your contacts". Yet, I can go to Messages, type in her name, and the name and number show up as normal.

iPhone 7

Posted on May 22, 2020 7:26 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

SravanKrA

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May 22, 2020 8:11 AM in response to ExtremeFaithInJesus

Contacts are neither stored locally on an iPhone nor in SIM. They are synced to an email account that you had Google, iCloud, AOL, Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo or any Other

How many Contacts account (email client server) you have?
What is your default Contacts Account?
Which email account you are using to store Contacts?

See the GIF below for Contacts and Default Account

Learn how to add an email account and make it default (Watch the GIF)
This example is for Gmail but the process remains same for all Google, iCloud, AOL, Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo or any Other

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Answer 2

May 22, 2020 8:10 AM in response to ExtremeFaithInJesus

What you see in "to:" and Message app is Siri's Suggestion from other apps. See the pic below

What I have experienced is when you keep using the iPhone regularly the contacts with whom you interact recently and regularly will only appear here.

If you do not interact with a contact then it will disappear automatically.

However you may....

To turn off Siri Suggestions, go to Settings > Siri & Search, then turn off any of the following:

Suggestions in Search
Suggestions in Lookup
Suggestions on Lock Screen

For a specific app, tap the app, then turn off Show Siri Suggestions.

Your personal information—which is encrypted and remains private—stays up to date across all your devices where you’re signed in with the same Apple ID. As Siri learns about you on one device, your experience with Siri is improved on your other devices.

Siri is designed to protect your information, and you can choose what you share. To learn more, go to Settings > Siri & Search > About Search Suggestions & Privacy.

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Answer 3

May 26, 2020 7:09 AM in response to SravanKrA

I do not back up my contacts to iCloud (or at least I haven't up to this point) because that so often resulted in synching unwanted information between my devices.

Although, I did fix my issue. I found that the easiest thing to do was clear out my iCloud contacts (most of them were old numbers and/or contacts I did not need anymore and then manually re-enter all the contacts that I had lost from my iPhone. Once they were all entered, I then synched them to iCloud, so hopefully this doesn't happen again.

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Contacts have disappeared, but still on phone

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