Mistake led to contacts disappearing from icloud and iphone, how to get back?

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Mistake led to contacts disappearing from icloud and iphone, how to get back?

To start out neither my fiance nor I are technically oriented at all. He bought a new iphone, and used my phone to activate his new one (his old one was dead). In the course of that he somehow mixed up my stuff with his (he ended up signing in under my Apple i.d. at one point and even changed my password to do so). This was truly him just having no idea what he was doing!

His phone was activated successfully, all his info transferred. But for some reason my contacts A-J disappeared, not only on my phone but on icloud too. My text messages with people who had names beginning with A-J changed to just phone numbers in the text messages I had saved. When I try to add them again as a contact, it lets me complete the process, but when I go to contacts they aren't there. When I searched contacts afterward, I got "found in text messages" but not in contacts. I can only add them manually from the contacts section for them to stay. There were dozens of contacts A-J and I don't remember who they all were let alone their contact info. All I can find online are how to restore missing contacts to an iphone, nothing with how to restore them to the cloud. I don't even know where they went, they are not in my fiance's phone either. If anyone has any advice I am all ears! Thanks.

Posted on Mar 26, 2022 1:12 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Brittany1416

Community Specialist

Mar 27, 2022 1:08 PM in response to OCNJApple

Hello OCNJApple,

If contacts were accidentally deleted from iCloud, this page explains how to restore your contacts from an earlier version: If you accidentally deleted your calendars, bookmarks, or contacts from iCloud

Restore your contacts or bookmarks from an earlier version

1. From your iPad or computer, sign in to iCloud.com.

2. Click your name at the top of the iCloud.com window, then click Account Settings.

3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Under Advanced, click Restore Contacts or Restore Bookmarks.

4. Click Restore next to the date before you deleted the content.

5. Click Restore again to confirm. After the restore completes, you'll get a notification on iCloud.com and an email to the address on file with your Apple ID.

Please also check out this link on how to make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID: Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID

You can also use the steps outlined in the following link to determine which devices your Apple ID is signed in on, and to help avoid unwanted changes to your Apple ID/iCloud account: If you think your Apple ID has been compromised

Take care!

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Answer 2

OCNJApple Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 27, 2022 2:05 PM in response to OCNJApple

Thank you!!!! That worked! I wish I had seen this earlier, I spent 3+ hours on the phone with both Verizon and Apple. Apple even advanced me to a higher level tech. I got disconnected after an hour with him. None of them said to try that. The VW person even made me erase my phone and restore it, but never said to change the "restore from" date. I did manage to get his phone off my Apple i.d. and as the owner of my phone on VW, got my music back. Do you know how to get the ringtones I purchased back to my phone from his? They are from a variety of sources, I don't even remember where I got them all. I knew I should have done the activation for him but it was late and I didn't have any idea he could do this much damage that fast, lol. Thanks again!

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Mistake led to contacts disappearing from icloud and iphone, how to get back?

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