Lost phone number formatting on 4S

Question

Lost phone number formatting on 4S

Got my 4S on Verizon today, and restored from my 3GS backup.

All phone numbers on the 4S's contacts have lots its formatting. Dashes, parenthesis, prefix, etc.

So when a phone call comes in with a xxx-xxx-xxx, it's not able to map to a contact.

The Recents in the Phone app also is not mapping correctly.

Looks like the workaround is to add a 1 to each contact.

Anyone else having similar issues?

iPhone 4, iOS 5, 4S

Posted on Oct 14, 2011 5:22 PM

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Answer 1

Bayville

Level 1

4 points

Oct 18, 2011 5:29 PM in response to [macnn]milhous

I am having the same problem. I tried to reset the phone (saw that in another thread) but it didn't work.

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Answer 2

Kyu Kim

Level 1

54 points

Oct 18, 2011 5:33 PM in response to [macnn]milhous

Make sure your region settings are correct in your settings. Sometimes, changing it to another country and back will also help give it the kick.

Settings > General > International > Region Format

If this doesn't work, try manually inserting the dashes in the desired formatting and try saving it.

Best of luck.

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Answer 3

Oct 18, 2011 6:40 PM in response to Kyu Kim

Thanks, I checked that initially in my testing, picking something else, then going back to US, with no luck. But since then after restarting the phone a couple times, it's correctly formatting as 1 (123) 456-7890.

It seems force quitting and restarting the Messages app started to map the numbers correctly.

I think what's happening is that Verizon (and perhaps Sprint) doesn't send the +1 international code in their caller ID information, while GSM carriers send the fully international qualified number. Because I switched from AT&T to Verizon, I'll probably have to leave the +1 out of Verizon phone numbers, and keep +1 on GSM numbers.

But that's a real inconvenience, and hope I can just leave +1 on all the numbers and let the iPhone suppress it as needed so it matches.

It does appear that phone number formatting is local to the device. Since the iPhone will format US phone numbers as "1 (123) 456-7890", I've set the formatting in the Mac Address Book, connected to iCloud, as "1 123 456-7890".

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Answer 4

Oct 23, 2011 4:45 PM in response to [macnn]milhous

Got my iPhone 4S yesterday and I'm having the same problem. On hold with Apple now and will report back when I know something.

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Answer 5

Oct 23, 2011 5:32 PM in response to [macnn]milhous

FOUND THE PROBLEM! SEE BELOW 🙂

I found the solution on an outside forum: http://forums.tipb.com/iphone-4s-forum/221242-iphone-4s-contacts.html

This seems to only affect Verizon devices. If you are not using Verizon, this fix will not work for you.

Here is the summary of the steps I took to correct the issue:

1) Open the Phone and dial *228. This is a Verizon over-the-air programming number.

2) When the system answer press 1 for "Program or activate your phone"

3) Wait for the call to disconnect. You should get a prompt stating something like, "Settings updated."

4) Open the Task Manager and kill the Phone, Message, and Contacts Applications

5) Wait a few minutes (I waited 3 just to be extra safe)

6) Open the Message App to verify the fix.

If you are still broken, kill the Message App again, then reboot your phone.

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Answer 6

Oct 23, 2011 5:33 PM in response to heresSOMEhelp

I found the solution on an outside forum: http://forums.tipb.com/iphone-4s-forum/221242-iphone-4s-contacts.html

This seems to only affect Verizon devices. If you are not using Verizon, this fix will not work for you.

Here is the summary of the steps I took to correct the issue:

1) Open the Phone and dial *228. This is a Verizon over-the-air programming number.

2) When the system answer press 1 for "Program or activate your phone"

3) Wait for the call to disconnect. You should get a prompt stating something like, "Settings updated."

4) Open the Task Manager and kill the Phone, Message, and Contacts Applications

5) Wait a few minutes (I waited 3 just to be extra safe)

6) Open the Message App to verify the fix.

If you are still broken, kill the Message App again, then reboot your phone.

Reply

Answer 7

Nov 6, 2011 8:35 AM in response to heresSOMEhelp

Thanks for posting. I am trying to follow your steps but I don't know where Task Manager is. Can you advise?

Thanks again!

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Answer 8

Nov 6, 2011 9:06 AM in response to Swimdancer

Double-click the home button, the shelf of applications appears.

On the application you want to kill, tap and hold it until it starts jiggling. Then tap the red minus in the upper left-hand corner to close the app. Repeat the process for other apps.

Then re-launch the apps you want.

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