While I was watching the contacts list page, my total number of contacts went from 134 to 106, then to 81, back to 106 and finally to 81. In the process many of my contacts are missing. All the contacts are still on my iPad. I'm running IOS 16.3.1. Why is this happening?
iPhone X
Hello Butchcessna,
This is occurring on your iPhone, correct? Have you made any changes to Mail accounts? Do all of the accounts signed into your iPhone have Contacts enabled?
To check, go to Settings > Contacts > Accounts. Manage and delete contacts on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
Let us know what you find! Take care.
Good afternoon Butchcessna,
It sounds like you might have iCloud Contacts enabled on your iPhone X, but not your iPad.
If that is the case, make sure you back up your iPad now so that you have a copy of all of your contacts.
If you have a Mac, it would be a good idea to have a second back up your iPhone and your iPad on your computer as well.
How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with your Mac
Can you think of any activity you may have been doing when the number of contacts changed? What made you open the Contacts app to notice this was happening?
How much storage space do you have on your iPhone and in iCloud?
What's the difference between device storage and iCloud storage?
Let us know the answers to these questions and any other information you can provide about your issue, and we'll do our best to help.
Take care.
Hey there Butchcessna,
We'd like to learn more about what's happening, along with ruling out some other possible causes:
Cheers!
Hello Butchcessna,
Thank you for this information. At this point, it would appear that you may be better served to contact Apple Support directly for more specific and real time answers to your questions. You can contact them here: Get Support.
Best regards.
I checked. I have three accounts: Outlook, Exchange, and iPhone. All have contacts enabled. I just went to Contacts>Lists and they had 84, 84, and 31 contacts, respectively. While I watched, those numbers changed three. I'm still watching and the numbers are still changing for no apparent reason. I looked at the contacts and found many missing. Yikes.
Contacts are enabled on both the iPhone and iPad. Storage available on iPhone is 7.83 GB, iCloud storage is 41 GB and Ipad is 23.43 GB. After I checked to see that all 3 accounts had contacts enabled on my iPhone, I went to the contacts list and that is when I saw the number of contacts changing randomly. I was making no inputs and no apps were running. The high was 84, which is about right and the low was 3. My iPad contacts are stable. I've not lost any from that device. Thanks for you help.
BTW, I do not use contacts in iCloud because I want all my contacts stored locally.
iphone contacts
