iCloud won't sync all contacts from iPhone to iCloud

When you go to the groups page in contacts, there is a sync/refresh button. All I have to do is hit that and all mine are synced to the cloud. I find this happens when I add new contacts when I don't have service.

MrCheg, thanks very much for the reply, and yes, that would normally work. After I posted my response above, I discovered part of the issue: The iPhone contacts that wouldn't sync were Yahoo contacts, which won't sync with iCloud. I then turned off iCloud syncing, hooked up the iPhone to the Mac with a cable, and used iTunes to sync the contacts. It worked just as advertised (on a different discussion thread). I just hadn't realized that the main issue was with the contact group (Yahoo, in this case). Thanks again

I tried this too but it doesn't just let me select contacts to back up (it backs up my whole phone) which exceeds the 5GB memory on iCloud... how did you get around this?

So this did not work for me either. Only about 75% of my contacts are on the cloud and i cant seem to get the rest on there. Things I have tried,

Doing what gophigure said above

Going to Mail, Contacts, Calendar and turning default to iCloud

Went to my contacts app, went to groups, thats when i realized i had checkmarks next to an Exchange account and my college email as well as icloud. So that means some of my contacts are saved somewhere else. But how to i move them to the icloud account?

You could try an app such as Speed Names to move the contacts from your exchange account into the iCloud group. (iCloud only syncs contacts in the iCloud group.)

i might resort to that randers4. however is there a way to even see which contacts are saved to which group? I would just do it manually if i knew exactly which contacts were saved to which one

In the Contact app, there's a button upper left named Group. It allow you to only show specific contact account.

This button is only shown when more that one contact account is turned on in the Settings->Mail contacts calendars-> your accounts.

Yes i know this. But there is no way to know if "Bob Smith" is saved to my Exchange account or to my iCloud. Under Settings>Mail contacts calenders>Accounts and you click on iCloud, it just has contacts ON/OFF. It doesnt say which contacts are on the specific account. So how do i know where "Bob Smith" is saved to? My college account? my exchange?... it doesnt say under the Contact App>Groups either.

Is the only way to move them all to iCloud an external app like Speed Names?

Activate both account with their respective on/off buttons in Settings. THEN, open the Contact app; upper left corner there's button Groups. You can select which account to show. You can also go in any contact at the bottom, you'll see with which account the contact is listed; iCloud, Exchange l, etc.

Thanks for trying to help SeaBeast though im a bit confused now.

"Activate both account with their respective on/off buttons in Settings"?? not really sure what this means. If i turn contacts off from Exchange it asks if i want to delete the contracts... i dont wanna do that.... but maybe thats not what you meant?

But ok yes, i now can choose which Group to view and i can see who is in Exchange vs iCloud ect.... So how do i resave or move those who are saved on Exchange to my iCloud?

You cannot move contacts between groups on your device without an app. If you want to view which contacts belong to each group, open Contacts, tap Groups at the top, then tap the group containing the contacts you want to see until it is checked and tap all other groups until they are unchecked, then tap Done. Your contacts will then display only the contacts that belong to the groups that are checked. But to move contacts between groups you will need an app.

Looks like im buying Speed Names. I hope it works without too many hickups. Thanks for all your help. Ill let you know how it goes

You're welcome.

What I meant is that if you haven't activated contact for at least 2 accounts, you will not see Group option in the Contact app. When you deactivate a contact's account, contacts are only deleted on your iOS device, not the account.

If you are on a Mac, you can export/import contact between group using Contact for free too.

Speed Names App wroked like a charm. A little bit confusing at first, but i figured it out. All my exchange contacts on my iPhone have now been synced to iCloud. as well as flawlessly imported to my iPad. Thanks again for all your help everyone!