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How can we retrieve my iPhone contacts from the iCloud backup?

Today we upgraded our iPhones and transferred data to the new phones. On one of the phones the contacts were not transferred. The old phones have already been wiped. How can we retrieve the contacts from the iCloud backup?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Jun 12, 2021 6:15 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 12, 2021 6:20 PM

Contacts are associated with email accounts; they are not saved in backups unless they were on-the-phone only contacts (which is very rare, and is never a default). So you need to add the email account that the contacts were tied to.


The contacts may already be on the phone, just not visible. Open the Contacts app and look for Groups in the upper left. If you see it tap on it and make sure all groups are checked.


If you synced contacts to iCloud (check by logging in to https://icloud.com and clicking on Contacts) then make sure Contacts is turned on in Settings/[your name]/iCloud.

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 12, 2021 6:20 PM in response to mmimi1959

Contacts are associated with email accounts; they are not saved in backups unless they were on-the-phone only contacts (which is very rare, and is never a default). So you need to add the email account that the contacts were tied to.


The contacts may already be on the phone, just not visible. Open the Contacts app and look for Groups in the upper left. If you see it tap on it and make sure all groups are checked.


If you synced contacts to iCloud (check by logging in to https://icloud.com and clicking on Contacts) then make sure Contacts is turned on in Settings/[your name]/iCloud.

How can we retrieve my iPhone contacts from the iCloud backup?

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