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How to recover contact list on iPhone 3GS?

We have 2 iPhone 3GS in the household, call it iPhone #1 and iPhone #2. iPhone #1 has the contacts, calendar sync to Mac Mail and iCal, respectively, via iTunes. iPhone #2 only synchronized via iTunes for songs, podcast, etc. but the contacts were not sycned. We have accidentally deleted the contact list on iPhone #2 when setting up an exchange email account. Is there any way to recover the contact list? Is it in any backup?


The OS is Mac Snow Leopard.


Thanks for your help in advance.

Posted on Jul 26, 2011 10:23 AM

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Posted on Jul 26, 2011 11:04 AM

Firstly, if the contacts you've lost from iPhone #2 are the same as the ones on iPhone #1, and you've been syncing them with the same Mac, then you should be able to simply turn on contact syncing for iPhone #2 and they should be restored via the iTunes sync process.


If they aren't the same, or if there were contacts on iPhone #2 that aren't stored on the Mac, then assuming you haven't synced iPhone #2 with iTunes since the contacts were removed, or if you have a backup of your computer from before the contacts were removed, you could try restoring iPhone #2 from the last backup iTunes made.


It's important to note that if the backup is old enough that it doesn't include things you do want (like text messages you've received, or photos you've taken since the backup was made), because restoring an iPhone from a backup replaces all the information on it with what the backup has, those things will be lost as well.


If you're unsure if the backup iTunes has of iPhone #2 was made before or after the contacts were lost, ensure iPhone #2 isn't connected, then open iTunes, click the iTunes menu, Preferences, then on the Devices tab, check the date/time of the backup listed next to iPhone #2.


If the backup is from before the contacts were lost and you want to restore iPhone #2 from it, first ensure that in that same window, the box next to "Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically" is ticked, click OK, connect iPhone #2, once it shows up in iTunes, right click it in the iTunes source list (on the left), select Restore from Backup... and choose the backup you want to restore from.

4 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jul 26, 2011 11:04 AM in response to JCSC

Firstly, if the contacts you've lost from iPhone #2 are the same as the ones on iPhone #1, and you've been syncing them with the same Mac, then you should be able to simply turn on contact syncing for iPhone #2 and they should be restored via the iTunes sync process.


If they aren't the same, or if there were contacts on iPhone #2 that aren't stored on the Mac, then assuming you haven't synced iPhone #2 with iTunes since the contacts were removed, or if you have a backup of your computer from before the contacts were removed, you could try restoring iPhone #2 from the last backup iTunes made.


It's important to note that if the backup is old enough that it doesn't include things you do want (like text messages you've received, or photos you've taken since the backup was made), because restoring an iPhone from a backup replaces all the information on it with what the backup has, those things will be lost as well.


If you're unsure if the backup iTunes has of iPhone #2 was made before or after the contacts were lost, ensure iPhone #2 isn't connected, then open iTunes, click the iTunes menu, Preferences, then on the Devices tab, check the date/time of the backup listed next to iPhone #2.


If the backup is from before the contacts were lost and you want to restore iPhone #2 from it, first ensure that in that same window, the box next to "Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically" is ticked, click OK, connect iPhone #2, once it shows up in iTunes, right click it in the iTunes source list (on the left), select Restore from Backup... and choose the backup you want to restore from.

Jul 27, 2011 12:43 AM in response to JCSC

hopkapi, thanks. It worked. I figured out what the problem is. I tried to set up iPhone #2 with a new exchange server in a new company. The contact list in iPhone #2 was sync-ed to the old company's exchange server. When I remove the email account with the old server, the contact list is removed as well. Is there any way to copy the contact list and store it locally on the iPhone #2 and then sync them to outlook on a new PC? Yes, I now would like to sync iPhone #2 with a PC. Then, totally separate from iPhone #1 and the Mac.


Thanks.

Mar 3, 2015 1:57 AM in response to JCSC

I found this way to recover deleted contacts from iPhone via iTunes:

1.Connect your iOS device to your computer via USB.

2.Open iTunes, then select your device in iTunes.

3.Click the Info tab at the top of the iTunes window, then adjust the following settings in the Info pane: If you were missing contacts, select both "Sync contacts" and "All contacts."

4.Click the Sync button.

Mar 31, 2015 8:07 PM in response to JCSC

You can restore iTunes backups to your iPhone at any time. Follow these steps to choose a backup and sync the data to your iPhone.

Connect the iPhone to the computer with a USB cable.

Open iTunes.

If you have a new or erased iPhone, iTunes will prompt you to restore from backup.

Otherwise, Control-click on your iPhone under DEVICES in the left menu.

Select Restore From Backup.

Choose the backup you wish to sync and click the Restore button. Hope this method can help you recover contact list of iPhone. You can have a try!

How to recover contact list on iPhone 3GS?

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