icloud.com contacts are gone but still on my iPhone(s)

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Level 1

16 points

icloud.com contacts are gone but still on my iPhone(s)

Pulled up my acct on icloud.com and all my Calendar entries are there.

Switched over to my Contacts and they're all gone! Everything was there last WED (31mar2021), when I was last accessing.

iPhone X is upgraded to 14.4.2 today in hopes that the Contacts would reappear on icloud.com, but NO.

To be clear, all Contacts are showing on my iPhone X (for work) and my iPhone XS Max (personal), but not in my icloud.com Contacts. I've restored several back versions but only 1 name would appear of my 2,040 contacts!

Is this new for anybody? This is a bad April Fools joke!

iPhone X

Posted on Apr 5, 2021 8:01 AM

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Answer 1

ryane77

Community Specialist

Apr 7, 2021 7:38 AM in response to mabacapa

Thanks for checking, mabacapa.

You mentioned that you haven't exceeded your iCloud storage limits, which is good, but there are also limits for contacts and for groups as well. You can check out Limits for iCloud Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Bookmarks, and Maps which explains the limits in more detail, but for us we want to make sure of the following:

Maximum size of a contact card: 256KB
Maximum size of a contact group: 256KB
Maximum size of all contact cards:
- Card text: 48MB
- Card photos: 200MB

If you're finding that you are in those limits, and still not seeing any improvement, your next best option would be to Contact Apple for support and service.

Take care!

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Answer 2

mabacapa Author

Level 1

16 points

Apr 10, 2021 7:30 AM in response to gu-munich

UPDATE 10apr2021:

Well, I don't know what happened, but as of yesterday, all 2040+ of my contacts have reappeared, and it looks like my 10+ groups have all been restored.

You can mark this SOLVED without a know solution. Thanks everybody for your help.

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Answer 3

Apr 6, 2021 7:48 AM in response to mabacapa

Thanks for reaching out, mabacapa.

It sounds like you're missing contacts on iCloud.com, but not on your devices. We can help.

Let's give Restore contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and more using iCloud.com a try first, and see if you're able to recover those missing contacts.

Take care!

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Answer 4

Joseph_S.

Community Specialist

Apr 7, 2021 6:12 AM in response to mabacapa

Thanks for those additional details, mabacapa.

Let's move on to follow the steps in If your iCloud Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders won’t sync, making sure to check out step 7 and confirming you haven't exceeded any storage limits.

If that still isn't showing any improvement, since you mentioned an edit seems to bring the contacts back around, does editing a group bring back the groups for you as well?

Take care.

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Answer 5

mabacapa Author

Level 1

16 points

Apr 6, 2021 10:49 AM in response to Nicholas_B2

Thanks for your reply, Nicholas_B2.

Unfortunately, I tried all of my "restore" options, back to MAR 28, prior to posting this problem, but only 1-6 contacts appeared from the "restores."

It appears that my 2 iPhones still have my 2,040 contacts, but all my Groups are empty.

I mostly use iCloud.com at work on my Windows PC, and mostly for adding new customer's contact info (around 400+), so it is particularly disheartening to have this problem. After checking again this morning on iCloud.com, I only have 7 contacts in my All Contacts, and they all appear to be recent adds from last week.

I need more help.

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Answer 6

mabacapa Author

Level 1

16 points

Apr 7, 2021 6:46 AM in response to Joseph_S.

Thanks, Joseph S.,

Followed all of the steps above, but iCloud.com still doesn't show all my Contacts. And I still have 35+GB of cloud storage available.

When I edit a Contact on one of my iPhones, it reappears on iCloud.com Contacts. My Calendar, Notes, etc. all appear unaffected. On iCloud.com Contacts, all of my Groups are empty. On my iPhones, all of my Groups appear intact except my "Customers" group.

I can only manage my Groups via iCloud.com Contacts, but if all my Contacts are not showing, I can't select-n-slide them back into their Group.

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Answer 7

Apr 8, 2021 1:03 AM in response to ryane77

Good morning,

I experienced the exact same problem on 7-April around 10 am CEST.

I have less than 2000 contacts (and yes, I'm storing in some cards a couple of URL's and contact notes -- but far below the limits ! )

So I do not exceed the given limits.

I noticed the problem after changing one single contact detail in icloud.com/contacts -- and after this all my contacts except this single one disappeared (only in icloud.com/contacts)...

I'd assume this is some iCloud database error, at least in presenting the content to browsers...

I contacted Apple Support who was not able to solve the problem, however she confirmed that the number of contact cards (she was seeing) is exactly that on my iPhone/iPad (which still sync ok) -- so the (number of) contacts are still "visible" in iCloud to Apple Support.

Btw, I tested using different browsers, cleaned all caches, on several PCs, connected to different networks -- same problem... :-(

Thank you for supporting!

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Answer 8

mabacapa Author

Level 1

16 points

Apr 6, 2021 1:29 PM in response to mabacapa

Just to add an update...it appears that when I Edit a Contact on my iPhone, it reappears in my iCloud.com Contacts.

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icloud.com contacts are gone but still on my iPhone(s)

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