Restore outlook contacts on iPhone w/iPhone after using Fast Cleaner to merge duplicate contacts

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Restore outlook contacts on iPhone w/iPhone after using Fast Cleaner to merge duplicate contacts

Duplicate contacts in outlook on iPhone mini 12. Tried to merge using ‘Fast Cleaner’. They didn’t merge. They disappeared. They are not in iCloud contacts, Outlook contacts, or All contacts. Apple was not able to restore. Method 1 says ‘Done only w Outlook Acct involving absence of iCloud & iTunes. Most of my contacts are stored in iCloud. I was assured all my contacts were stored in iCloud. Apple tells me, “Well, they weren’t!” Now some are in iCloud, some in outlook. The missing contacts aren’t showing up in either contact list. Meanwhile I set my mini 12 not to back up!!! Very important complicated contacts w many individuals, titles, hrs, etc. CAN THESE CONTACTS BE RESTORED?

Thanx, Judy T

iPhone 12 mini, iOS 16

Posted on Jul 3, 2023 2:08 PM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

159,406 points

Jul 3, 2023 2:22 PM in response to WINNIEmia

There are no shortages of these "cleaner" apps out there and not just for iPhones. Regardless, most if not all of them, tend to cause more issues than resolve them ... and it appears that you have "learned this lesson the hard way."

Unfortunately, there is a good chance that your "missing" contacts are now gone for good. Apple only provides you with the option to restore them from backups that you have had your iPhone doing to either iCloud or a computer. You also have mentioned the use of Microsoft's Outlook, and I believe Microsoft does offer some options for restoring Outlook-based contacts from their equivalent Cloud service, OneDrive.

I'm assuming that you have explored both iCloud and OneDrive and could not find these missing contacts. If that is the case, AFAIK, there is no other location where you could possibly find them ... except another Apple device that you log in with the same Apple ID, and have been syncing with iCloud.

... and in that case, you will want to temporarily disable iCloud syncing on those other devices because, once they connect to iCloud any potential missing contacts will be removed from that device.

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Restore outlook contacts on iPhone w/iPhone after using Fast Cleaner to merge duplicate contacts

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