iPhone Contacts app stuck on Lists

Whew, I think some are missing the point in this discussion. I just solved this problem for someone else. Do you see the three blue little men icon on the left. Tap there and you will return to your normal contacts listing interface. When you are in the actual contacts be wary of the blue listings word in the upper left. Hitting it takes you into the original conundrum you experienced. Nit very intuitive for sure.

Solution, but First, it is confusing and there should always be a 'back' available. Simple as that. It is user hostile the way it is, whether it is what was wanted or not.

Apple started with a militant attitude about user friendliness and now Apple has lost a good part of it's sense of it. In general, web interfaces were degrading in the 80s, when I coined "User Hostility" with things such as menus all over the page, links that didn't look like links, things looked like links that weren't and links that didn't appear until you hovered over them.

I also called it Paradigm Pollution.

Back to Contacts' Stuck in Links:

Deleting the app and reinstalling from Apple worked. . . . However . . . It'll happen again.

I played and played and figured out something that worked, so far. . . . At least on my SE.

PROCEDURE:

1. Kill the Phone app
2. Get to the Lists Screen
3. Select All iCloud - the three blue 'people'.

. . . . . See contacts screen with iCloud at the top. It's ok.

D. Minimize that screen [show all open apps].See small screen with 'Contacts' above the iCloud heading.

E. Kill Contacts (iCloud) - - Swipe up to remove it (close).

F. Open the Phone App. It doesn't appear to matter which screen is there, but if you selects Contacts at the bottom, it will ALWAYS show 'Contacts' heading there.

. . . . It doesn't matter for me whether I kill the Phone app or just go to the home screen.

G. From the home screen, re-open the Contacts App.

. . . . .

. . . . . It now shows Contacts at the top. (for me).!.

.

Go ahead and select Links again and test it and breath a sigh of relief. . .

Best to all.

.

Needs fixing. It is User Hostile.

It is called "User Interface" because it is for the Users, not the developers. Otherwise the term would be. . . .

- -

Cheers to all.

I had the problem and here's what I did to fix it.

1. Force closed the Contacts app
2. Went to Settings > Contacts > Accounts > Add Account
3. Selected yahoo!, because I have a Yahoo email account
4. Logged in using my Yahoo email address and password
5. Did whatever authorizations that were required to allow the import
6. Opened the Contacts app
7. Now I had a screen that had "All Contracts", which I pressed to go back one level
8. The before and after screen shots are below.

I think it may be something to do with settings saying I had not agreed to iCloud new terms and conditions. I agreed to them and now its behaving better, but if I force close Contacts it asks again. The fault is it should say in contacts that I have not agreed to the T&Cs. This is still a bug and very annoying from a usability point of view. Don't try to fob people off with statement like "That is exactly what we want to happen" because its not what the user wants to happen

I learned this fix from a supervisor at Apple customer support:

Surprisingly, the “Lists” view is actually the default view of the Contacts app.

Here’s how to have your device open up to the “Contacts” view:

Go to the top of the Lists view, and touch “All Contacts”.

Next, close down the Contacts app by swiping up.

When you reopen the contacts app, it appear in “Contacts” view

Sorry about double post. Don't see a Delete Post.

Nope.

There is NO "All Contacts" link displayed.

..

Also stuck in Lists screen here AGAIN.

What is the difference between the supposed Contacts screens with "Contacts" at the top and "iCLoud" at the top.? Is one stored on the phone and the other on the cloud? I KNOW they're supposed to be the same list, but why the change in title?

Selecting the iCloud choice in the "Lists" screen shows a contacts list with "iCloud" at the top instead of "Contacts".

.

Selecting the 'Phone' app, then Contacts from the bottom menu always shows "Contacts" at the top.

I Deleted the Contacts app then reloaded from Apple Store and it's back to original "Contacts" at the top, but made same error again because the UI is so irregular between apps.

I also rebooted.

This is very user hostile to have random changes.

..

This is an iPhone SE running 16.4.1.(a) {due for update}.

No other Apple devices

My screen looks just like Bob2337's above in the thread.

Hello Bob2337,

Thanks for posting in the Apple Support Communities.

It sounds like you're unable to use the Contacts app on your iPhone with the latest iOS update, right?

If we have that correct, let's give the following steps a try to see if we can clear this up for you. For starters, confirm you closed the app using the same method as shown below. You can also find more details on this, here: Close an app on your iPhone or iPod touch - Apple Support

iPhone X and later

1. From the Home Screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause in the middle of the screen.

2. Swipe right or left to find the app that you want to close. 

3. Swipe up on the app's preview to close the app.

If that doesn't clear this up, you can try restarting with the steps of the following resource. It sounds like you tried to force restart, so check out the steps below: Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

1. Press and quickly release the volume up button.

2. Press and quickly release the volume down button.

3. Press and hold the side button.

4. When the Apple logo appears, release the side button.

If this still doesn't clear up what's occurring with the Contacts app, reach out to Apple Support directly to check into this in more detail.

Have a great day!

I find it to be very user-friendly, and a HUGE improvement over the previous version that did not let you manage lists within the Contacts app.

The Contact app will show the name of the source of the contacts being displayed; it will say iCloud if you are syncing your contacts to iCloud, AOL for AOL contacts, likewise gmail, Yahoo, MS Exchange, btinternet, Spectrum, etc. I have contacts from 5 different email accounts, so my List view shows all of them; here is a partial screenshot (I have 3 more email accounts that appear on subsequent pages of the List screen):

If I tap All Contacts it shows all of them, and it will remember that setting the next time I open it, unless I foolishly force quit the Contacts app, which causes it to restart with its default screen.

If you have only one source of contacts, you won’t see All Contacts, because they are all in one list. But it will still show the List page because it gives me the chance to add a list, and when you tap on the name of the list it will show that at the top.

The phone app always shows all contacts, so it will just say Contacts at the top.

maryjo64 wrote:

I can't access my Contacts because my screen is stuck on Lists. I've done everything the person above has done. Frustrating and stuck for days.

NO, You are not STUCK on Lists. Contacts are associated with email accounts. Each email account on your phone has some contacts “owned” by it. Each one of these email accounts has a LIST of the contacts for that account. To view all of the contacts for one email account just tap on the name of the account on the list page. To view all contacts tap on All Contacts. You can also create sub-lists for each account. This screenshot has an example of a Lists page:

Cantara is a business email account. iCloud is an iCloud email account. I have more accounts, but they are on the next page of the Lists view.

If I want to view all of my contacts I tap All Contacts. If I want to see all of my iCloud contacts I tap All iCloud. I’ve created sub-lists under iCloud so I can group contacts, but that’s not something that you have to do.

If you have only one email account with contacts, for example, iCloud, it will say All iCloud and you would tap on that. If it said All Yahoo then you would tap on that.

Hello Bob2337,

If you could post a screenshot of exactly what you are seeing, it may help others here find possible solutions.

By any chance do you see "All Contacts" at the top of the Lists screen? If you do, tap this to have access to all the contacts odor iPhone.

In the meantime, you can also reach out to Apple Support using this link: Get Support

Have a good day.

Hello Bob2337,

Perfect. That is exactly what we want to happen. When you tap on all iCloud, that will show all the contacts you have saved. This is expected behavior.

Let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Kindest regards. 

Yay, this worked and only this worked. I pressed the top list all contacts. It changed screen and stated that I had duplicate contacts. I chose to merge them and contacts came back saying merge successful. And, it stayed on contacts. I went out of contacts, pressed contacts again and presto, all my contacts were there. Well done and thankyou...

New iPhone 14 Pro, had similar problem, Contacts stuck on List view. Then I managed to mess it up on my old phone too! I did not see your response until I was feverishly swiping and going crazy over this feature, which I am not a fan, b/c I could not make it stop! I never knew it even existed! Thankfully, after all the swiping over and over....finally it appears to have closed and no longer when I push contracts to I get that annoying list feature! (Unless I want to click on it). Therefore, I believe your suggested fix may work for some. Good luck all.

ASteveOfMany wrote:

There is NO "All Contacts" link displayed.

..

All Contacts will be displayed only if there is more than one contact list. Apparently you only have contacts synced to one email account, presumably iCloud. It’s possible to have multiple contact lists.

Also stuck in Lists screen here AGAIN.

Tap on the name of a list and contacts in that list will be displayed. The purpose of the Lists page is to allow you to create new lists, and also to move contacts between lists, and even put the same contact in more than one list. This is a new feature with iOS 16. Prior to iOS 16 you had to use a 3rd party app to do these functions on an iPhone.

What is the difference between the supposed Contacts screens with "Contacts" at the top and "iCLoud" at the top.? Is one stored on the phone and the other on the cloud? I KNOW they're supposed to be the same list, but why the change in title?

iCloud is the name of the email account that the list syncs with. If you instead had synced your contacts to Google the list name would have been “Gmail”.

Selecting the iCloud choice in the "Lists" screen shows a contacts list with "iCloud" at the top instead of "Contacts".

Correct. That is because the contacts are stored with your iCloud email account.

Selecting the 'Phone' app, then Contacts from the bottom menu always shows "Contacts" at the top.

The Phone app Contacts function does not use the Contacts app; it accesses the Contacts database directly, and includes all selected contact lists.

I Deleted the Contacts app then reloaded from Apple Store and it's back to original "Contacts" at the top, but made same error again because the UI is so irregular between apps.

I also rebooted.

Contacts are stored in the Contacts database (which is also used by the Phone app and Siri), not in the Contacts app itself. The app just displays the contacts in the database, so deleting the app and reloading it just displays the same contacts database.