I somehow lost a bunch of contacts on my iphone. I checked my iCloud storage and all the lost contacts are stored in iCloud, but when I try to restore, my phone contact list does not get restored. Any help?

I am having the same issue! Just a few days ago my iphone inadvertently deleted 1000 of contacts! Now, those people only come through as phone numbers when they send me a text but if I search for them, they are nowhere to be found in my Iphone. The contacts are in my icloud. When I tried to restore the contacts nothing happened AND as recommended - I checked and all groups are checked.

Any more suggestions?

Open Contacts app. Tap on Groups in the upper left corner. Make sure all groups are checked.

Also go to Settings/[your name]/iCloud and make sure the Contacts switch is on. This syncs contacts between your phone and iCloud. It is not the same as iCloud backups. In fact, anything synced is not included in a backup.

My contacts are Not connected to any email accounts. They are just the contacts I put in my phone. I still cannot find this "Groups" you keep referring to.

The point kind of is Why are the Contacts disappearing so often in the First Place?

Did you delete or disable any email accounts? Most contacts are managed in the server associated email accounts. Examples are Microsoft Outlook and MS Exchange, gmail, yahoo, AOL, etc.

If your contacts were associated with iCloud, see If you accidentally deleted your calendars, bookmarks, or contacts from iCloud - Apple Support

It has nothing to do with the model of the phone. Things to check:

• Do you share an Apple ID with anyone who may be deleting them?
• Open Contacts - if you see Groups in the upper let corner tap on it and verify that all groups are checked
• Go to Settings/Contacts and verify that Default Account is one that is currently enabled (check in Settings/Contacts/Accounts)

Contacts are “attached” to email accounts. When you add an email account to your phone one of the options is to enable the contacts to be synced to the phone. Without know what email account the contacts are associated with it’s rather difficult to tell you how to recover them.

The missing contacts “belong” to email accounts. If you delete the account the contacts go also. The only solution is to add the accounts back, unless you also deleted the accounts from the mail server; then they are unrecoverable.

That’s the downside of multiple email accounts. If you must have multiple accounts, when you set them up do not turn on Contacts in the account settings; just reserve one email account with Contacts enabled, either an iCloud account or an Office 365 or gmail account that you will never delete.

This same thing keeps happening to me. I added the names back for a few of my contacts snd then days later they are gone again? Most of these people I do not have an email address for them so it’s not an email issue - I think. But after the last update it continues to be a problem. What else can I try?? Never had this problem with my 8 - ready to this 12 and go back!!

I have a mistake about my contact.

So I started to go on Icloud to restore my contact before. But in the process, I didn't recieve any contact from restore.

I'm really worry and concern about this, so plz help me this case.

Thanks Regards

You need to provide a lot more information if you want someone to be able to help.

Where are your contacts stored? Contacts are associated with an email account, so is that account iCloud, gmail, yahoo, AOL, MS Outlook, MS Exchange, or some other email account? Or more than one? You can see what accounts may hold your contacts by going to Settings/Contacts/Accounts.

Contacts are not stored in backups, unless they don’t sync to any email account (these are called “on your iPhone”), so restoring a backup will not restore contacts except in this unusual instance.

When you open the Contacts app and tap on Groups at the top left, what groups do you see? Are they all checked?

If you don’t see Groups you have only one contact source you are syncing to, and it wasn’t the default for notes or contacts. So my guess is that you deleted an email account that also synced your contacts and your notes.

I don't have a Contacts app. I first noticed that a bunch of my contacts were gone about a month ago, and I've managed to get a few back. Is there any way of accessing what has theoretically been backed up when my phone told me I was supposed to plug it in to power and connect to wi-fi?

polymnia wrote:

I don't have a Contacts app. I first noticed that a bunch of my contacts were gone about a month ago, and I've managed to get a few back. Is there any way of accessing what has theoretically been backed up when my phone told me I was supposed to plug it in to power and connect to wi-fi?

You have a Contacts app, whether you know it or not. To see it tap Phone, then Contacts. This is the Contacts app. There’s also a separate Contacts app that appears on the Home screen. That one you can delete, but it is just another view into the contacts in the Phone app. And if you don’t have (or don’t know about) the Contacts app, how do you know any are missing? The only place they appear is in the Contacts app.

Contacts are not saved in a backup, because they sync to one or more email accounts. Go to Settings/Contacts/Accounts. See which accounts list Contacts just below the account name. These are the source of your contacts.

Report back and we can address ways to recover them (it is different for each email account).

Finally figured out what you were talking about! I kept going into the "Settings" first then Contacts and Phone. The Groups is right in the phone on the Home Screen. Where you would go to look for a Contact. Whew! You made it way harder than it needed to be. Soon as I did it they all showed up.

Home Screen - Phone Icon- (like you would be placing a call or looking up a contact) - Contacts - Upper Left Groups - Check All Groups.

Groups will only appear if you have more than one contact group. But contacts are associated with email accounts, so if you have deleted an email account the contacts that are part of it will disappear also. Might that be the answer?