iOS 5 wiped all my contacts. Any help?

lynnfromalberta, you solution worked for me. You are right, iCloud *****.

THANK YOU crypt!!! So relieved! your solution worked for me. Going to settings, mail, but then it took me awhile to figure out how to get to" import sim contacts." i just tried to re-do the steps so I could tell others, but I don't remember how I got there. If you can fill in those steps, others might be as grateful as I am now!

Thank you again!

Heather

am a little lost am really new to iphones, i have back up couple of times on my mac..

but am lost on how you "

find the largest file size mine was around 4.25 gigs, you can check by going to

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup"

please i will be very greatful with your advice

I had the same thing happen to me today. All my contacts got deleted. But the funny thing is, I didnt do anything out of the ordinary. I didnt go to itunes or icloud or connected the phone to my computer. My icloud is turned off.

I did get a popup message asking me that a new version of the OS is available, but i declined to update it. I am now restoring from a backup (I wont be surprised if that will fail... itunes hates me).

What would cause this iPhone to delete all my contacts??? I have ios 5. I'm not impressed with Apple. It's not like I messed up something...I didnt do anything as I said above.

My question is: How do I avoid this happening in the future again?

exact same thing happened to me just now. iPhone messages and whatsapp were frozen so I switched it off and back on again and then my contacts were gone! My favourites are still there but only in the form of numbers. MY messages and whatsapp also have no names associated with the numbers anymore. Tried to re-save my favourites by creating a new contact but the iPhone then decides to associate a completely different person's image with the contact.

SO ANGRY!

apple you are slowly failing.

I was able to restore my contacts successfully. But restore restores everything, not just my contacts. I wish there was a way to restore only the contacts. Anyway, that was last night. This morning the same thing happened! All my contacts got deleted. When I went into the Contacts and even the General icon, it aborted. Then I turned off the phone and on again and it was then that I noticed that all my contacts were deleted. I turned on icloud and got the old ones back (missing more than 60). i turned icloud off. Some time later 50 more showed up, from where I dont know. I've sinec purchased the backup program "copytrans contacts" and exported them to my computer.

When my contract with my cell phone company expires later this year, it's BYE BYE APPLE FOREVER. I don't need all these headaches.

I just had a similar thing happen that hanahan did. I received a text message tonight only to see that no name was associated with it. I recognized the number and then looked in my contacts. All of my contacts (except for about 10) were gone. I was keeping them in icloud, backed up. But, if I go into icloud, they aren't there either. I don't understand what the problem is. I didn't do anything special, but everything is gone. I'm wary of doing a restore since I think this is 100% Apple's fault. I want to know why no one from Apple is answering this quesiton. This is ridiculous and unacceptable to lose all of my phone contacts without having done anything wrong.

I just did a stupid thing... upgrading my wife 4S phone, IOS 5.0 to 6.1 before the backup (the last back up was about a year ago)... don't know what to do now... How can I recover all of the information that was accumulated on the iphone since the last back up? Thanks

**** man you are a master

thank u so much

I just experienced the same thing. Out of the blue ALL contacts have been deleted - this moring they were there, this afternoon got a text with just the number...ops, where's they all go APPLE??? This is not the iphone I signed up for (and yes, i've been loyal since the first iphone came out). But now I'm just ****** like other on here seem to be. If I can't find a fix quickly, it's off to Samsung. My contract is up so I'm a free agent and honestly it feels great to have an option at this point.

same issue. talked with the rep with no help. the reps made me pay 80 dollars to take a look at this issue just to get my iphone to reset to factory setting with no use. i am so mad! if anyone comes up with a solution let me know.

Found the solution. This is what I did

1) make sure you have the back up always.

2) reset to factory setting (thank fully I do not save anything on my phone)

3) once the phone is restored,without setting up ICloud with you password (skip) go to the phone.

4) your contacts should be there.

I believe this issue is due to ICloud and IPhone sync up.

One thing I decided, I will drop apple once this contract is done. its too much a hassle.

Thank you for your simple yet effective response to this problem. My phone was acting stupid so I turned it off and when I turned it back on my contacts were gone. Did a google search, came across this thread and your response. Took about a minute and was done (hopefully they are all there, I don't know how many I actually had). Thanks again 🙂.

Okay so I guess I'm going to add my story...

iPhone 4S

iOS 5.1

Sync frequently with pc running Windows 7

Don't use iCloud

Woke up this morning and none of my texts had names attached to them. All of my contacts were gone but my favorites were still there - just as numbers, no names attached. I do sync with my pc running Windows 7 quite frequently so here's what I've tried:

First, tried a sync - contacts didn't come back. Then restored to a previous backup - contacts didn't come back. Then updated to 6.1.2 - contacts didn't come back. Tried the swipe to the left and search - no contacts listed. Checked to make sure all groups were being shown - no luck. Tried turning iCloud on, merged contacts - no luck. Turned iCloud back off choosing to keep contacts - no luck...

Not sure what else to try :-/ but open to all suggestions...

The only thing I can think of is that Apple didn't give sufficient warning that when you upgrade your iTunes version it could be to one that doesn't support any of the contact/calendar/notes functions as it used to. They, for what ever stupid reason, are requiring that all of the backup for those things now be one via the cloud. I updated my iTunes software on my PC and it was the same day that all contacts were wiped from my phone (I wasn't backing up to the cloud, but rather relied on iTunes for that). Seems, once again, like very poor planning on Apple's part. I've found NO way to get my contacts back. Good luck to others.