Q: iPhone 4: lost contacts!  Restore from Backup only works for 30 seconds after restore job, then contacts disappear!

Yes. I read your incoherent rant.

If you had been syncing your contacts to a contact manager on your computer, or to a cloud service, then you would not have this problem in the first place.

Actually, this fix only works if you have been syncing your contacts.  If you hadn't, there would be no way of "Restoring" them.  I lost my contacts through a third party program, Neat Receipts.  I wasn't using my phone in a way that the manufacture wasn't intending.  In fact, it wasn't my phone, or Apple at all.  Obviously there are other ways in which contacts have been inadvertently deleted, but the fact remains, "$hi# happens."  When it does, its nice to have a way to fix the problem.

@KiltedTim

I'm amazed you replied to an incoherent rant then :-)

Why should I have to sync to an application outside of iTunes ?  Apple should provide the features necessary within the service they provide, surely ?

So you have rejected reality and substituted your own.  Good luck with that.

No answer to an easy question, well my first post as a newby on here has been an interesting one.....

or should that be newbee :-)

Try going back to the beginning of the thread:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946

iTunes will back up the following information

• Contacts* and Contact Favorites (regularly sync contacts to a computer or cloud service such as iCloud to back them up).

* Your contacts are part of the backup to preserve recent calls and favorites lists. Back up your contacts to a supported personal information manager (PIM), iCloud, or another cloud-based service to avoid any potential contact data loss.

Hi getreed,

All my contacts are there in the back up but I don't want to re-install all the other stuff, just the contacts, Apple don't help in this which they should. Why should users have to use third party paid for or not solutions to do this? Apple should offer this as a standard free solution in my opinion via iTunes. Regards, Az

You can not selectively restore any piece of information from an iPhone backup. That's just the way it is.

Whether you think they should offer this is irrelevant. Use the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page and tell them. You are NOT talking to Apple here. You're just beating your head against a wall.

And your point is?

I have all my contacts backed up to iTunes and the Cloud they are not lost but there is no easy way to re-install the "contacts only" on the iPhone without installing all the other apps, photo's, music etc, when will you realise that? Why should I have to use 3rd party software to do it !!!!!

My point is YOU CAN'T DO THAT. Why? Discussing Apple policy decisions is forbidden by the terms of service. Whining because you don't have a feautre you think Apple should give you is assinine. NO ONE here can change it.

Stop already. You're just making yourself look foolish.

Az,

Not sure where the hostility is coming from, this is a discussion forum and your posting isn't outside the relm of what has brought us here in the first place.  I can't think of a way to restore just the contacts.  Im not sure Apple knew (or knows) the extent of the problem with people losing their contacts.  It would be nice to have an easier fix than the one I have outlined above.  I'd have been lost if I couldn't restore my contacts.  I agree with you, I do believe there should be an easier way of doing this and would love to see a better solution.

Good luck, and don't let the actions of a few discourage you from using this discussion board.  I have no Affiliation with Apple at all, but can say, have gotten a great deal of help from posters.

Reed

Oooh Errrrr Missus, shouting, .......maybe moving to Samsung will be the better option, Nite Nite :-)

Please do. Then you can go rant on their forums instead.

Hi getreed, thanks for the positive response, yes the problem of restoring contacts only seems to impact a lot of iPhone users, hopefully Apple can sort it, especially as 3rd parties seem able to do it for a fee. Regards, Az.