Contacts on iphone

I’m having the same exact issue. I noticed this right after I downloaded the 3rd part contacts app called cardhop.

As noted by another user you can restore your contacts via the iCloud user settings page. The backups go back quite a while, so you should not need to rebuild them.

I used Outlook with iCloud (as I had ditched O365) and that was the cause of the problems for me.

Unfortunately, Apple has no way of fixing a Microsoft bug. And Microsoft put their apps in the App Store, Apple didn’t put them there. It’s a known problem that has existed for years with outlook, and MS hasn’t addressed it, possibly because there is a workaround.

I tried a lot of other things (see above). In theory, we should be able to use Outlook for e-mail without it touching our contacts. There is even a switch for that selection in the preferences. However, no matter what I did with that switch (on or off) Outlook online continued to sync (and mess up) my contacts in iCloud, which would then flow through all my devices.

A word of caution - if you are seeing the same behavior I saw, eventually Outlook will start to alter your iCloud data base, and you won't be able to go back to that without fixing all the errors. I'm not sure how your system is set up, but if you provide Outlook access to your iCloud mail, I suspect you will eventually see your iCloud contacts getting changed.

Yeah, I run Legacy Outlook because I use an iCloud alias as my main work email address in Outlook, and I am a glutton for punishment. New Outlook will not allow you to use the alias. I did read your entire post as I have had the same issue and you seem to know more than I do on the matter; your last entry was revoking the app-specific password in iCloud for Outlook and I wondered if that permanently fixed things. I did that today. I also logged into iCloud.com and in the lower bottom left, I went ahead and restored all Contacts to a week ago—before this debacle began. Everything is back to as it should be in my Contacts across all devices, but for how long I do not know. 🤞🏼

More suggestions from Microsoft:

Thank you for your response, 

I did some research, the issue could also appear due to the account type which is configured in "New Outlook". Please switch back to "New Outlook" and remove the affected email address and let's try to re-add the account as Direct Sync and check if it helps -

1. Navigate to Outlook menu bar at the top of the screen

2. Click on "Tools" -- "Accounts", click the email account and click the (-) sign and follow the prompts.

3. Now click on the "+" sign

4. Type in the email address and click on "Continue"

5. Click on the "Not (Google/Yahoo/iCloud/IMAP)?" on the top right of the next window which appears

6. Toggle the switch next to "Sync with Microsoft Cloud", so it turns to gray from blue

7. After which, select "iCloud"

8. Type in your password for the email account

9. Click on "Add Account"

Let me know how it goes, thanks.

I believe that there are other programs that try to sync with iCloud, and inadvertently corrupt the data. Are there any other programs on your computer or iOS devices that sync with iCloud? I don’t believe it has to specifically be syncing with iCloud contacts. It could be mail or perhaps(not sure) calendars.

Unlike some Android devices, contacts are neither stored locally on an iPhone nor in SIM. They are synced to an email account that you had Google, iCloud, AOL, Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo or any Other

If Contacts were on iCloud, try this --> Restore contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and more using ...

Else Add the email account that stores your contacts in the IOS mail app and enable Contacts.If you have a corporate email account added through a profile on your device, please check with your organisation's system administrator.

I am having this same issue. "United States" is replaced with United Statesitem2.X-ABADR:us, and contact's pictures randomly disappear. Also labels for specific phone numbers in my contacts revert to "phone" or "Home" randomly. And. . .Custom ringtones are stripped off. I also noticed that the changes seemed to take place over night, or sometime in the morning.

I initially thought this was all caused when I installed MS Outlook on my Mac and my iPhone. The theory was that when Outlook tried to synch with my iCloud contacts, it didn't like some of the iCloud phone number labels, or pictures, or ringtones and it stripped them and replaced them with the gibberish we are all seeing. I have since removed Outlook from all my devices and it is still happening.

Has anybody figured this one out? I'm ready to wipe my phone and start over if that's what it takes!

I also have the problem and I also have Outlook installed.

I have not tried the fix yet. However, The one thing I'll add is that all of my contacts that have been corrupted have non-standard fields (they are family members whose relationships I created in my iCloud contact list).

+1 <phonenumber>item2.XABRELATEDNAMES;TYPEpref<name of other family member>

Non-family members data was not corrupted, though pictures did dissappear.

I used Microsoft Outlook on my Mac for years prior to upgrading to Microsoft 365, and this was never an issue. It appears it is new for Microsoft 365 for Mac. I just restored my iCloud contacts from iCloud.com and will continue to do that every morning until this issue is fixed. If there is a workaround, short of deleting Microsoft Outlook from the Mac, can someone post it here?

I've got this problem too, for me it's started after loading macOS 12.5 on my Mac. Photo meta data is corrupting other fields but I'm also losing phone numbers, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. All critical data.

I raised a ticket with Apple, no signs of any fix.

Having the SAME EXACT ISSUES! I've opened now 11 support tickets and tried everything from restoring old back-ups, replacing the phone, removing access to all accounts except iCloud, removing iCloud from all devices except iphone, and everything in-between. This has been going on since February and is BEYOND frustrating. I have an iPhone 13 Pro and this started when I had 15.3 and now at 15.5 and still having the issue. Following and will also share if I find ANYTHING that works!

I have been having the same issue. 

iPhone (iOS 15.5)

iPad (iPadOS 15.5)

Macbook (Monterey 12.4)

Contact images disappear (Including my own set for my iCloud account) and I see X-ABADR:us added to various sections such as: 

• United Statesitem2.X-ABADR:us
• comitem3.X-ABLabel:_$!%3CHomePage%3E!$_
• Germanyitem5.X-AB
• USAitem3.X-ABLabel:HQ

This is getting annoying. I have a case open with Apple.