Lost contacts, iPhone 4

I too have an iPhone 4S running on 5.1.1 which I never upgrade – lost all my contacts after turning phone off/on. Strange though that they still show up in the left-swipe search function!
Seems more than 100k users are experiencing this nuisance > the view counts in the respective forums are constantly going up (see also this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2641667?start=135&tstart=0)

Tried contacting Apple Support online, but all they told me is that my Apple Care Protection Plan has expired... go figure!

My iPhone 4s on iOS 5.1.1 did the same thing to me. Same symptoms, all apps started to crash, turn OFF and ON, Contacts gone. Don't know when I last backed up the contacts.

Can the apple geniuses please provide some remedy for this?

Thanks

Why has this happened to so many of us at the same time?

All of my contacts have gone apart from the numbers that were "Favourites", those numbers are still there but show the number rather than name so I am now working out who's name goes with what number!!

As for the rest of my contacts they have gone completely. I have just installed iOS 6 which I was not running but this has not brought them back. My PC is broken so I therefore can't sync with that to get them all back!!

This is very frustrating and why have we all experienced it at once?

YES! This totally worked for me! Same problem with everyone else where all my contacts disappeared except for those on my work email exchange. Must be some conflict on syncing with iCloud because I totally forgot that I had to reset my iTunes password a few weeks ago! Saved me lots of potential frustration - thumbs up!!

Same issue on my wife's 4s running 5.1.1

the contacts just all randomly dissappeared.

doesn't sync with icloud, hasn't backed up to a desktop in at least 6 months.

nice job apple, maybe she'll now believe me that the true name of these devices should be iSuck and get a samsung android!

i'd hope they are still in the device and there will be a fix for this eventually.

My girl friend had the same thing happen to her iphone 4... She called apple support and was told that the problem is the work of hackers and that eventually a Trojan would develop and have access to all info on the phone . Then she was told for $99.99 that they could fix the problem for her. This included a 30 software and tech support. Her response was why should we pay for that when software updates and tech support have been and should be free?? Apple is aware of the problem and the solution should be sent out to users ASAP free of charge!!! What are they thinking??

Me too...

First off, I'm on the AT&T network, with an iPhone 4, operating on version 5.1.1

Reinstalled Facebook app, then tried to send a regular text and the message funtion kept crashing. Turned the phone off and gone they were. I don't use iCloud and havent done any updating. Last backup was in January, and I know if I use that backup, I'll lose all my pictures, notes, calendar info, etc. since then. I can't decide which I can't live without! NOT COOL! I'm a huge iPhone believer, so this is a tough pill to swallow. I've got more contacts than I could count, years worth...I'll never be able to do it manually.

Although I have never used iCloud (muliple users on my iTunes acct), I tried turning the contacts on, and that didn't work either.

I have now saved all my pics on my laptop, but I'm concerned about my calendar. How can I sync that elsewhere before I restore from a former backup?

I saved my photos since my last back up to dropbox and emailed my videos so I could save them back later. All of my apps I downloaded after my last phone backup were still there after the restore. My pics are not on the phone that I saved to the dropbox - it's too much trouble to save them back as I can alreay retrieve them easily from dropbox. My notes and calendar stuff had no problems- they are saved to an email account instead of the phone. The restore brought back my contacts!

and now you wonder why this is happening only to 5.1.1....

All these people with the same IOS at the same time lossing their contacts. And all of us are out of warrantee coverage.

My wife updated to 6.1.2 but never got contacts back. Now she has do keep the phone plugged all the time in order to keep the battery charged.

Wee need to get on soc1al media and make some noise. That will definitely get these guys' attention.

Good luck!

I just lost my contacts this morning on my 4S. I did backup on 3/2. What will I lose besides pictures if I perform a restore? Using iOS5.1.1. Not using iCloud. Thank you.

I too experienced this same issue. It happened to me yesterday morning. Several apps kept on crashing, so I rebooted, and all my contacts disappeared.

I'm still on iOS 5.1.1 on a 4S.

Is this some type of virus?

Same thing happen to me this morning after the Note app crashed several times and I rebooted the phone. All contacts gone. And I let me phone fully sync before doing a back up. Now I have to go back a year and a half thru I tunes to get any contacts back.

I"m still on iOS 5.1.1 on a 4.

I had this problem about a week ago while away on Holiday. All contacts gone. No access to the computer at home.

Have tried to sync with iTune but nothing appears back on the phone.

Infact after looking at the contacts stored on the computer, they where the updated version. So it seems the itune sync appears to be syncing but infact contacts stored on the computer weren't being updated if changes were done on the phone!

My wife has just lost all of her contacts too. I'm speechless that it would be possible for all contacts to get wiped from her phone with no specific actions or mistakes on her part.

At a complete loss now as she isn't technical and hasn't backed them up. She has never needed to on any other brands of phone.

Speechless and disgusted with Apple.

Happens to my wife's as well.... I know what to buy next... Samsung here I come 🙂