how do I find lost contacts from iCloud's presumed "backup"?

Somehow my contacts have gone missing -- approximately 90+% of them(!) after my grandson played with the phone. I have no idea how he did this, and I'm new to the iPhone, so when the "Welcome..." literature said iCloud automatically backed up my phone, I believed it. Now that I need it, how the heck do I find that backup? Yesterday or the day before should do nicely!


THANKS in advance!

iPhone 5c, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Jan 29, 2014 12:12 PM

Reply
1 reply

Jan 29, 2014 12:51 PM in response to TheDragonFlyLady

Welcome to the Apple Community.

To restore from a back up made through iTunes, follow these instructions.

To restore from a back up made through iCloud, try the following:

The difficulty in restoring iCloud data from a back up is that the back up is older than the current version on iCloud and anything that is restored gets removed again when an iCloud sync occurs.

1. Ensure the device is connected to your local network.

2. Start the restore from iCloud back up.

3. Allow the devices settings to restore (watch for the confirmation of completion).

4. As the apps begin to restore pull the connection to your router WAN port (the one that goes to the telephone point).

5. Wait for the time out confirmation.

6. Navigate to settings > iCloud and turn off contact syncing (keep contacts when prompted).

7. Reconnect the router to the internet and let the restore process complete.

8. Delete any iCloud contacts from iCloud.comon a computer.

9. Navigate to settings > iCloud and turn on contact syncing (merge contacts when prompted).

May I suggest that you carry out a back up to iTunes before you try anything, that way should things become even worse, you can at least restore back to where you are now.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

how do I find lost contacts from iCloud's presumed "backup"?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.