iOS 5 wiped all my contacts. Any help?

OK I had this problem earlier tonight - Iphone 4 - IOS 5.1.1 - I went to send a text message, crashed a few times, shut down and restarted, contacts were gone. I BELIEVE I had icloud on ORIGINALLY BUT when i went into the settings on my phone everything was ON but the icloud backup at the bottom tab was switched to off..... I went to icloud.com, logged in, there were 171 contacts there (I have 867 contacts on my phone).

However, I was able to get my contacts back. All of them. Heres what I did - This is going to be a long winded detailed instruction on how I got my contacts back, so sorry for the novel.. This might not work for everyone, but it worked for me.

FIRST OF ALL, before I go on, I will say that my itunes has always been checked to backup to this computer (I don't know if this is WHY i was able to get my stuff back, but I believe if it wasnt for that i would have been screwed.

OK, I believe you have to do this BEFORE YOU PLUG IN YOUR IPHONE TO SYNC WITH ITUNES (if you have already done this it might not work - cant confirm or deny, just speculating)...... Since itunes automatically syncs and backups, i think this is why you have to do this step plugging in your phone to your computer) . Also, this will only backup the last time your iphone was synced (luckily mine was set to sync wifi so it had done it 2 days ago so i did lose the last 2 days of texts/photos/etc. BUT i got my contacts back up until that so i am more than cool with that)

On your computer go to your backup folder for itunes on your computer. Google this location for mac, but for PC:

Windows XP:
\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

Windows Vista or Windows 7:
\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

(Replace USERNAME with your personal account name)

There is a folder that is in the backup folder that is a long number and letter named folder.... If your itunes backs up to your computer that is all the info from the last backup. COPY THAT FOLDER and PASTE IT ON YOUR DESKTOP.

Then plug in your iphone. Let it sync. Then in itunes go to where it says backups... the "restore from backup is prob unclickable (mine was). Click on backup - let it backup.

Then go BACK to that folder where the orig backup was (USERNAME\application data\ apple computer\mobilesync\backup). now take that long number/letter folder OUT of there... just cut and paste it somewhere else OTHER THAN YOUR DESKTOP so you won't get it confused with the previous folder.

Now take the folder on your desktop (the orig backup) and Copy/PASTE it into where the itunes stores the backup data (USERNAME\application data\apple computer\mobilesync\backup).

In Itunes, go the "restore from backup" button should be clickable at this point. Click it.

It should restore from the OLD backup BEFORE the screwup happened providing you havn't synced. At least mine did.

Hope this helps someone.

BTW If you DO get the contacts back, you should prob back them up to another program just in case. personally I used a program called memova - you can sign up for it at my.memova.com for free and download the app on your phone, sync, then export to a .csv (excel/outlook) file.

- I have an iPhone 4S with iOS 5.1.1

- Yesterday, Safari was closing when navigating websites.

- I've restarted the phone (soft restart, not the hard one).

- Safari it's working fine now, but the phone has lost all contacts!!

If you're phone is running iOS 5.0 or iOs 6.0 then look no further and try iCloud else utilities like imacsoft iPhone Contact to Mac Transfer. I've heard a lot about Copytrans too.

In the past two months, my phone ha randomly deleted all contacts on FOUR separate occasions!

I have not download any apps or anything.

The phone typically locks up and restarts all on its own or I turn it off and on because it is acting funny. Then, BAM!, all contacts are gone.

The first time it happened the Messages app would not stay open. I would click it and it would come up and close right away. I rebooted the phone (turned off and on) and all my contacts were gone. Second time it happened I was using Safari and the whole phone locked up and suddenly the screen went blank and the little swirly circle appeared. Then the lock screen came up and in unlocked and my contacts were gone. Their time I didn't notice anything. I just opened my text messages and saw that no names were there a just numbers. Looked at my address book and all contacts were gone again. Now, just today, I restarted my phone because my battery was dying rather quickly and I figured it had been a while since I turned it off and on. It came back on with the swirly circle in middle of screen nd I knew I was screwed - all contacts gone.

I do not use the cloud except for one backup I made after the first time it happened, so I keep losing new contacts.

A simple Google shows thanks happened a lot lately for people with iOS 5 as myself but no admission or help from Apple. Ironically my AppleCare just ended in February.

This is just insane.

Sorry for the typos above - am on my iPhone right now. Haha.

It's as if there was some delayed bug iOS 5 that has been triggered.

This is exactly what happens to me the last few months. It would see as the previous post above mine that alot are having this issues on 5.1.1 or prior. I just as I was typing this lost all of mine again but luckily I am a backup freak and i have several older backups across multiple gaming computers that I have maintined and build over the years haha. But regardless, we do not need to have to restore our phones everytime this happens. I am looking for a solution but it looks like its strictly on their end becuase when this was the latest release I do not believe it was as widespread though don't quote me on that specifically. It seems in the last few months starting in Janurary have I had this problem personally. ( I go into more deatil on this post here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4776038?answerId=22176344022#22176344022). However, perhaps because the phones are connected all the time that some packets of corrupted data has specficially targeted these phones running this iOS version? The tech world is crazy and scary haha !

It's not a real solution, but now I have my iPhone contacts synced with iCloud to prevent future problems.

@ alyhxml:

Well, at least you got your iMessages back lol.

It's always good idea to back up. It's even better if you keep written record of your contacts, in case technology lets you down. The good old way, works. I have personally NEVER lost any iPhone contacts; but I do know you can get iPhone contacts back, with tutorials like these: How to get back your iPhone contacts. You do need to check all specs and compatibility etc.

Or you can check some of the other suggestions made in this thread.

Goodluck!

Hooray it worked! Thank you!

MAAAAN! You are a life saver! I searched for about an hour trying to find a solution! It totally worked! I had lost almost 100 contacts!

A Million Thanks Brother!!!!!

To restore data back to your iPhone's USB, connect your device to your computer. Open iTunes and select the menu bar, View > Show Sidebar or select it under Devices in the Library menu. If you're running iTunes 10.7 or earlier, right-click (or Control-click) the device in the sidebar and select Restore from Backup iPhone/iPad/iPod backup extractor app.

If your iPhone has iOS 7 installed you will need to turn off the Find My iPhone feature. Open Settings > iCloud > Find My iPhone. In order to turn it off, you will need your Apple ID.

If for some reason you just need to restore your contacts, calendars, notes and so on, but not the entire system, click on the Restore Backup... button under Backups. Typically this data is stored on your iCloud account and learn how to extract iPhone from iTunes backup

genius! it worked! thank you!!!!!

good it worked out for you! This worked for me : Download(it's not free but it works! someone got his stuff from 3 years ago back with this download).

Hm, I think that Step 4 should read "Right-click on the iPhone icon and select "Restore from Backup" as described here:

http://www.copytrans.net/support/how-to-extract-iphone-contacts-from-iphone-back up-via-itunes/

and not "Right-click on the iPhone that’s connected and click ‘Backup’". Selecting "Backup" will simply backup the currently existing data on the iPhone (i.e. the empty contacts records) and will not delete or restore the iPhone as suggested.

I'd personally prefer the iCloud method as I really do not trust iTunes and what it coul do to my iPhone.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!