Lost all contacts after restart

Question

Level 1

8 points

Lost all contacts after restart

It all started with that i couldnt open any apps, when i pushed the icon the window opened up and then closed back down. I fixed this by restarting my Iphone. When i later recieved a textmessage i noticed that the senders name did not show, instead I could just see the telephonenumber, I then opened Contacts and it was empty. Is there anyway to get my contacts back?

I dont use iCloud, and I recently bought a new computer so I havent installed iTunes yet, so no copy on the computer either.

The phone is a 4S with iOS 5.1.1(havent upgraded to iOS 6 because I was afraid to lose my contacts......the irony)

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1.1

Posted on Mar 21, 2013 3:28 AM

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Answer 1

dilbert41

Level 5

6,530 points

Mar 22, 2013 10:56 AM in response to PainNTheMac

This might be worth a shot.

Go to Contacts.

At top left of screen press Groups.

Make sure you have the correct group ticked. (On my phone, Exchange, Show all.)

If the wrong one is selected it looks like your contacts are gone !!!

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Answer 2

Mar 22, 2013 10:41 AM in response to Gotland86

Here is where you want to join in and make some noise!

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4776038?start=90&tstart=0

I too lost my contacts. Went to bed and they were gone the next morning. Over 100 contacts gone and most of them are for my business. I do a left swipe and I can see the associated names within text messages. I click on the search result name, and it takes me to the text conversation, but the person is listed as a phone number. I could go through and manually re-enter their names, but I don't text my clients. so those people are lost. I'm running iOS 5.1.1 as most everyone else is that lost their info. I have no iCloud backup, and iCloud was never turned on. I think it was a silent background update that is the cause and Apple is to blame.

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Answer 3

wjosten

Level 10

95,369 points

Mar 21, 2013 3:51 AM in response to Gotland86

iPhone contacts are designed to be synced either over-the-air or with a supported contact application on your computer. Not doing, as designed, risks losing this data, as you've found out. Sorry, but with no backup & the data not residing anywhere, there is no way to restore it to your phone.

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Answer 4

Gotland86 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 22, 2013 3:20 AM in response to wjosten

Thank you wjosten for your reply.

I regularly synced my iPhone on my previous up until a month ago when I bought a new one. But I have now accepted the fact that all my contacts are lost. But what I cant understand is, that because I did not sync my iPhone in a months time,"not doing, as designed", its my fault that the phone froze up and deleted all my contacts. Sorry but I just dont buy that. The phone should not delete my contacts. Anyways, thanks wjosten that you took your time.

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Answer 5

wjosten

Level 10

95,369 points

Mar 22, 2013 3:31 AM in response to Gotland86

Gotland86 wrote:

The phone should not delete my contacts.

Correct, it shouldn't, but have you ever heard the expression: "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong." Fact is, you need to always backup important data. Failure to do so almost always guarantees you will eventually lose it.

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Answer 6

Gotland86 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 22, 2013 2:20 PM in response to Gotland86

A weird thing is that when i tried to copy the contacts from my SIM(only factory contacts e.g. Towtruck) some of the contacts hade pictures that I had used for my old contacts, the ones that went missing.

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Answer 7

Dec 25, 2013 10:29 AM in response to dilbert41

Oh my gosh, you just saved me! All of my contacts disappeared last night (Merry Christmas!) and I was freaking out! But your tip worked! I just clicked on the groups button and then hit done and all of the names popped back up! Thank you and have a wonderful holiday!!! 🙂

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Answer 8

Gotland86 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 22, 2013 2:16 PM in response to dilbert41

I dont have the Groups icon in my Contact. Dont know if it disappeared when I restarted the phone or if its never been there in iOS 5.1.1. But thanks for the tip!

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Answer 9

Gotland86 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 22, 2013 2:23 PM in response to PainNTheMac

Thanks for the link!

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