iCloud contact labels changed with latest iOS 16 upgrade

Same!

This is ridiculous! I have no Outlook anywhere! Just updated to 16.1.2 awhile ago and it deleted all my custom labels in one Contact back to “phone.” How am I supposed to remember what went with what? Seems to screw up with software updates???

Update: I just went to edit one of my contacts and now all my custom labels are gone!

Outlook likely was the trigger for me, but turning it off didn’t help. Interestingly, the labels are intact at icloud.com, so it seems to have something to do with sync. But turning Contacts sync off & back on on a device didn’t help.

Doesn’t help that you inexplicably need a Mac to see Contacts at iCloud.com.

I've had the same issue of custom phone labels -- even standard ones like "mobile" and "iPhone" -- reverting to "phone" repeatedly since mid-December. Usually overnight. I have two MBPs, an iPhone and iPad and the only Internet Account with Contacts turned on is iCloud. I use Outlook for iOS and MacOS and have deleted the iCloud accounts to no avail.

In addition to the custom labels wiped out, I'm also now getting duplicate phone numbers syncing across devices. So contact cards won't sync/update other contacts but rather append existing cards with duplicate data. I have some contacts with 10+ address entries where they normally would just have work and home addresses; the rest are duplicates.

I've spoken with Apple Support, even provided logs, and I've heard nothing for at least a week. I'm contemplating moving my contacts to Google but I have 2300-plus and that is going to be a chore. Hopefully Apple's engineers get it together. I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more attention at-large (via MacRumors, etc.).

It seems for me that disabling iCould contacts sync did fix it for me. However I'm not really using iCloud contacts. The only contact that I have, is me. All other contacts are Google contacts in my address book. So the question in this case is, why does iCloud contacts sync destroy my Google contacts. Should be answered by Apple...

As predicted and described above, the data overwrite has come back. Looks like my last post was 16-JAN-2023 and it looks like the last screenshot I took of the problem was 06-JAN-2023. Just today (I check regularly) MOBILE and HOME came back - two months since the last time it happened. For those of you still plagued by this issue, this marks the longest period of "normal" operation since I first noticed the problem. I've installed no new apps nor made any changes to my phone over the last two months. This time, only "MOBILE" and "HOME" are new CUSTOM LABELS; two months ago, it was both of those, plus "OTHER." It's never consistent.

I am currently running 16.1.2.

Same with 16.0.3 This is an incredible screw up & very frustrating. 🤞🏼16.1 will repair.

Removed iCloud from macOS Outlook (I don't use it elsewhere), and the problem persists, now two days later. 16.1, Ventura.

FWIW, the Contacts API is returning null in the label field.

Hello, do you have iCloud calendar sync with other application. My problem was my calendar in outlook.

I no longer have the Outlook app installed (removed one week ago) and it's still happening. I use gmail as my personal email / calendar and contact platform. My Apple mail app and calendar are syncing to MS Exchange for work and to Gmail for personal. I'm not using iCloud and have stopped backing up my data (about one week ago) and it's still happening.

Well, I wish you luck. I removed (disconnected) my google account from the Outlook app, deleted the Outlook app and reset my phone with Apple support. I ran without Outlook on my freshly-reset iPhone for over a week. This did not fix the problem. It took two days for it to show up again. Whatever is going on is very sneaky and persistent.

IOS 16.1.1 changed group to list. When I only want to text a group and select the first name my contacts revert back to all instead of staying with the list (former group). It is frustrating to have go back into list and select the next contact and then it reverts back to all contacts. This needs to be fixed.

This defect is sneaky. I went the last three weeks with no problems, then on Friday custom labels came back. This time, only MOBILE and OTHER. It continues to overwrite my data randomly and without predictability.

I only noticed this problem late Summer / early Fall. My previous employer required the use of Microsoft (and forbade the use of the Mail app) on our iPhones and I never had this problem under its employ. (I left there in March 2022.) My current employer does not forbid the use of Mail through an Exchange Server, but I installed Outlook on my phone for convenience.

If any data in my Contacts has been changed, it might be the addition of a +1 in front of the area code. I have a bugaboo about that, and always delete the +1 when entering new phone numbers so that I only have a ten-digit number for a contact. Other than that (and I'm not positive those +1s have been added) I've not noticed any data being overwritten or changed - just the Custom Labels.

I would LOVE to know from Apple where these custom labels are coming from because I've wiped everything - iCloud, Gmail, Outlook, etc. I've never created a custom label. Super-annoying.

Apple: this is a disaster and driving me crazy. Makes Siri hands free useless… “Siri. Call Sonya mobile.” “I’m sorry I don’t have a mobile number for Sonya.”

and so I look up Sonya, and all her numbers are “phone”. So I switch them (for the tenth time) to home, mobile, etc … just so that in a week or two the revert back to “phone”

please fix this.