I have iPhone contacts that refuse to sync to iCloud

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Level 1

4 points

I have iPhone contacts that refuse to sync to iCloud

The situation

On my iPhone in Contacts App>Lists I see an "All Contacts" list with 331 contacts, a "Gmail" list with 89 contacts and an "All iCloud" list with 246 contacts. Note that 246 + 89 isn't equal to 331.

On my Mac Book Pro, in the contacts app, I can tell I am only seeing a subset of the contacts I can see on my phone.

On iCloud.com I see, as far as I can tell, the same list as on my Mac Book Pro.

I want to see all contacts I have on all my devices. But I don't right now, and I can't figure out how to make it happen.

What I've Tried

I have exhausted this help article: If your iCloud Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders won’t sync - Apple Support

Thus, I have tried closing all apps, cycling iCloud syncing off and on on both my computer and my phone, and opening them again. This includes the "Keep on My iPhone" and "Merge" options I was presented with when cycling the sync option on my phone (I was not asked the same on my laptop).

My Interpretation

Something is preventing contacts in the "All Contacts" list on my phone from being a part of the "All iCloud" list. I don't know what that might be. The missing contacts include relatively new entries, so I doubt there is an effect of legacy iOS versions/software updates here.

Posted on Jun 10, 2023 3:04 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ballin73 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 11, 2023 7:58 AM in response to SravanKrA

Thanks SravanKrA. Since posting I more or less figured out that contacts can be added to different services despite being in the contacts app on my iPhone. Before this, I would have thought adding contacts to my gmail account via the contacts app on my iPhone impossible.

Specifically, most of the contacts I wasn't seeing on my computer/iCloud.com were in the Gmail contact list, and somehow I managed to unintentionally made Gmail the list onto-which new contacts were added.

The remaining mystery is, if there were 246 iCloud contacts and 89 Gmail contacts, why were there 331 All Contacts instead of 335?

For anyone else who may have done the same thing, go on the device with the larger list of contacts to Settings>Contacts>Accounts. You should be able to change the default list to which contacts are added back to iCloud. You then need to go to the service to which your contacts were being added and export the contact list in VCard format. Open that exported file on any apple device of yours and those contacts will be added to your iCloud contact list.

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Answer 2

SravanKrA

Level 10

432,608 points

Jun 11, 2023 12:51 AM in response to ballin73

ballin73 wrote:

The situation

a "Gmail" list with 89 contacts

Please log into --> https://contacts.google.com/

And check if you have some hidden contacts under Google Contacts. That will provide you with an answer why the two does not add up.

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Answer 3

Aug 4, 2023 10:16 AM in response to ballin73

ballin73 - THANK YOU! I have had the same issue. I went to delete old groups. Which apparently only deleted the groups but not all the ppl on my lists. So after getting all that organized, I realized that out of 800 contacts only 300(ish) are on my iCloud. The rest were being saved to my Gmail account. Thank you for showing me how to change that. I then exported my contacts from my phone to my MacBook. Opened my iCloud on safari and then clicked and drug is to the contacts. Boom! Done.

Word of advice to anyone else -- DO NOT try to import it to contact app on your Mac or wherever else. Because all it does is create another list and messes things up. Just go to iCloud.com and import it that way. Works much better!

Thank you again for your help. It's not fixed.

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Answer 4

SravanKrA

Level 10

432,608 points

Jun 11, 2023 12:46 AM in response to SravanKrA

SravanKrA wrote:

ballin73 wrote:

On my Mac Book Pro, in the contacts app, I can tell I am only seeing a subset of the contacts I can see on my phone.

I am not sure how did you arrive at this conclusion.

Log into https://www.icloud.com/contacts/ and tap on settings at the bottom left had corner and click Refresh Contacts. Please see the pic below.

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Answer 5

SravanKrA

Level 10

432,608 points

Jun 11, 2023 12:41 AM in response to ballin73

Probably you are aware that Contacts are neither stored on an iPhone nor on SIM. They are synced to an email account that you may have added and enabled Contacts. It could be Google, iCloud, AOL, Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo or any Other email client server.

iCloud Contacts cannot be synced with Gmail on an iPhone. They are independent.

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Answer 6

SravanKrA

Level 10

432,608 points

Jun 11, 2023 12:39 AM in response to ballin73

ballin73 wrote:

On my Mac Book Pro, in the contacts app, I can tell I am only seeing a subset of the contacts I can see on my phone.

I am not sure how did you arrive at this conclusion.

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I have iPhone contacts that refuse to sync to iCloud

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