Deleted contact
I deleted a contact not realizing it was going to delete our conversations and pictures. Why does it do that and can they be retrieved?
iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 16
If contacts were deleted from iPhone they are permanently erased and can't be recovered Delete contacts on iCloud.com - Apple Support
You can delete a contact in Contacts on iCloud.com. When you delete a contact, it is deleted on every device that has Contacts turned on in iCloud settings.
If iPhone was synced with Mac and contacts deleted from Mac will move in recently deleted in iCloud.com in that case they can be recovered before 30 days Restore contacts stored in iCloud on iCloud.com – Apple Support
Note : the contacts that were deleted from iPhone will never move in recently deleted of iCloud.com that only works from a web browser , however those particular contacts when recovered will always sync in iPhone when contacts box is turned on in iPhone / Mac / or a web browser used .