Hello, today I discovered a weird thing happening to my iPhone. Basically all my contacts are gone, along with the button “Contacts” in the phone app. Also apps such a WhatsApp and Instagram don’t have access to photos or microphone and I can’t seem to give them access via settings, no matter where I look. I can’t seem to find this issue online, so hope to get some help here
iPhone XR, iOS 14
Hey boredo,
Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities! It sounds like you're experiencing a pretty unique issue with your iPhone and we want to see how we can help.
To start, it sounds like when you open the Phone app, you're not seeing the Contacts tab at the bottom. Are you just seeing Favorites, Recents, Keypad, and Voicemail then? Are you able to actually locate the Contacts application on your iPhone, or is that missing too? Use Search on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If you're not able to locate the Contacts application itself, what happens when you try restoring that app following the steps in this article: Delete built-in Apple apps from the Home screen on your iOS 14 or iPadOS device or Apple Watch
Regarding giving third-party apps access to photos and your microphone, when you navigate to Settings > Privacy >Microphone (or Photos), do you not see your third-party apps listed there? Control access to information in apps on iPhone
Which iOS version are you using under Settings > General > About? If you have a new update available under Settings > General > Software Update, please back up your data and perform the update to see if that provides you with resolution to the mentioned issues: Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
Keep us posted.
Regards.
My photos, microphone, etc. don’t work in apps
