My husband's iphone and my iphone merged contacts unexpectedly while back. I deleted his contacts from my device which ALSO deleted them from his device...HOW TO FIX?

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Level 1

9 points

My husband's iphone and my iphone merged contacts unexpectedly while back. I deleted his contacts from my device which ALSO deleted them from his device...HOW TO FIX?

I believe the merging of contacts happened around the iCloud timeframe...not sure. We used to have similar problems with music, so he set up his own iTunes and everything is OK there. But the contacts are a funny thing - so all our contacts on our personal iPhones, and were merged together so we both have everything. I wasn't asked "would you like to merge your contacts with all devices?" It just happened. So the other day, on my Personal MacBook, I decided to delete his contacts from my contacts on my computer...bad idea, because all of his contacts ALSO deleted off HIS iPhone...again - there was no warning or message...RRRR. These contacts are now NOT on iCloud either, but the funny thing is...they ARE on my iPad Contacts app.

1. How do I avoid merging contacts ever again between personal devices, unless I proactively say OK?

2. How can I get the deleted contacts sitting on the iPad back onto iCloud and/or back onto my husband's iPhone?

Hope someone out there can help :-)

Thx.

iPhone 5, iOS 6.1.4

Posted on Jun 1, 2013 3:29 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 2, 2015 1:38 AM in response to philly gal

Try this step:

Create two appleid's.

Export the contacts as Vcf

Contacts: Export and import your contacts

Delete the contacts from one phone and import the contacts and delete the one you don't need

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Answer 2

randers4

Level 9

63,519 points

Jun 1, 2013 4:02 PM in response to philly gal

If you are sharing the same iCloud account any data you sync with the account (such as contacts) is merged, and any actions you take on one device (such as deleting contacts) also takes place on the device(s) sharing the account. To fix this, you need to be on separate iCloud accounts.

One of you needs to migrate their iCloud data to a separate iCloud account/ID. In your situation, this might be able to do with his phone. To do this, go to Settings>iCloud on his phone, tap Delete Account, choose Keep on My iPhone when prompted. Then sign back in with a separate ID and choose Merge to upload the data to the new account.

Once you are on separate accounts, you can sign into each account separately on icloud.com and delete the other person's data from each account.

To get the contacts on you iPad into your husband's iPhone and iCloud account, make sure his phone has Contacts turned to On in Settings>iCloud. Download the app My Contacts Backup on your iPad and use this to back up your contacts as an attachment to an email. Send this email to your husband. Have him open it on his phone and tap the attachment to import the contacts to his phone, and to his iCloud account.

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Answer 3

FelipeV

Level 6

10,636 points

Jun 1, 2013 4:00 PM in response to philly gal

You are both using the same iCloud/Apple ID. Therefore whenever someone makes a change on a device, it is pushed to ALL devices using the same ID. So, in order to avoid this in the future, you should each get your own iCloud/AppleIDs.

The only thing I can say about the iPad still having your contacts is that Contact synching was NOT turned on in iCloud, or it is not signed in to iCloud, or both.

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Answer 4

Oct 26, 2013 3:09 AM in response to philly gal

have you tried retreiving your deleted information http://www.enigma-recovery.com/smartphone-recovery-pro2/

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Answer 5

Norma M

Level 1

4 points

Jan 9, 2014 8:35 PM in response to randers4

Thank you randers4! I entered here searching for the same problem as philly gal and read your instructions on how to fix the situation and followed your advice, I downloaded My Contacts Backup app, very simple steps to follow with this app and I sucessfully transfered my contacts to my husband iphone. Your wise advice helped us a lot. Thanks again! 😉

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