Contacts won't sync from iPhone to icloud

What a totally useless reply!

I came here looking for a solution to the same problem - about which I see many complaints going back years. Most often answered in the same unhelpful way as this one.

Shame on you, Apple, for leaving technical support to apparently untrained staff.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

I was having same trouble and found that Google was showing as my default for contacts and I couldn't get it to stay on iCloud under settings, so since I never use Google for my contact list, I went to settings, contacts then Accounts, Gmail and turned off contacts.. now anything I now add is syncing from iphone to icloud contact list.

If you still need help

If you still need help, contact Apple Support.

Hi Tim! I had the same problem and I think I just solved it.

After adding a few e-mail account into your iPhone, some automatically propose you to synchronise, e-mails, contacts, calendars and reminders. Thus, they steal your default contact account and save new contacts into your e-mail account instead of iCloud. (I notice this happened to me even when I selected iCloud as my default account in Settings > Contacts.)

My recommandation:

• Go into Contacts and scroll down to see how many contacts you have,
• Into Contacts clic on Groups (top left corner) and unselect iCloud to see which contacts are out of your iCloud account,
• Repeat prior step and only sélect one account like Gmail to locate where missing iCloud contacts are saved,
• Export your contacts from your Gmail account and import them in iCloud.

When you've done that and to avoid other problems, go to Settings > Contacts and unselect/reselect iCloud as your default account and go to Contacts > Groups and only sélect iCloud.

Hope this will help and that you’ll understand my frenchglish!

Check that contact syncing is enabled on under Settings>iCloud and make sure your phone is connected to Wi-Fi as well. They should sync automatically. Occasionally, Turning off Contact syncing and re-enabling it can also help.

I have a few questions, if you don't mind! Some of the questions may sound elementary, but I am just trying to get a good grasp on your situation.

1. Is your iCloud storage full?

You can check this by going to Settings > iCloud, and across the top it will tell you how much storage you have and how much you have used.

2. If you go into Settings > iCloud, is "Contacts" switched to ON?

EDIT: I just thought of another question...

3. If you use multiple email addresses (identified as "Accounts" in the Mail app), might you have saved contacts under an Account that was not iCloud?

I have a few thoughts with varying level of risk.

Suggestion #1 - Minimal Risk

Go to www.icloud.com and see if there's anything in there that you can delete. This is going to sound weird, but after you've made more space in iCloud, go into the Calendar app. At the bottom middle, you will see "Calendars." Touch that. It will bring up a list of your calendars. Swipe down on that screen. I've found that Contacts and Calendars are linked and by refreshing one, you refresh them both.

Suggestion #2 - Somewhat Risky

Go into Settings > iCloud. Slide the Contacts option to OFF. It will ask you if you want to keep your Contacts on your device. Save them on your device. Restart your phone. Go back into Settings > iCloud and switch Contacts back ON. You'll get a message asking if you want to merge your contacts, say yes. It should merge what's saved on iCloud and what's on your iPhone. I say, "somewhat risky," because this is an ideal situation. If there is something weird going on with your iOS or Contacts app, the outcome could be unpredictable.

Suggestion #3 - Somewhat Risky

Go into Settings > iCloud. Sign out of iCloud. Sign back in. I recently did this and had no problems with my contacts, but again... if you have an issue with your iOS or the Contacts app, the results could be unpredictable.

Same problem here and it is very ****very*** frustrating. Some details; MacBook Pro with Mac OS X10.12.1 and my iPhone is a 6s plus with iOS 10.3.1, my iCloud storage is 3.46 GB out of 5 GB according to my mac, **BUT** 1.54GB according to the phone. To clarify a few points; There is no longer a settings > iCloud option. What we now have is settings, contact card?, Name,Phone Numbers, Email, followed by passwords etc and payment. Then a second setting for iCloud. Clicking this iCloud setting shows a set of on off sliders for various apps. I have ever item flicked on to green. The odd thing is, any contact made on iCloud online, or on my mac, finds it way to my iPhone as a new contact. So far so good. But any contact made on the phone absolutely will not sync out of the phone, and I have tried every reset and reboot combination listed online.

#1 and #3 didn't work for me but #2 worked like a charm. My issue was I had my default contacts set to iPhone so every time I created a new contact on my iPhone, it was not in my iCloud contacts list. I merged the lists by following the suggestions in #2 here, then set my default contact list to iCloud. Now when I make a change to the contacts on my iPhone, they automatically sync with iCloud.

Number 2 was my solution, with some additional steps. I did the suggested steps and then also went onto my mac, turned off contact sync and turned it back on, closed the contacts app and reopened, and they were there! I had to restart imessage too. It took a minute, but I think I have everyone's names!

TimK - Did you ever find a fix?

I've been through Apple chat, on the phone with them ....still not working. My problem was my default was set to an email account, not iCloud. This happens when you turn iCloud off, it has to pick a default. I don't know when this happened; however, I have many contacts linked to that email account. I've deleted the email account and added it again (per Apple), that didn't work. I've turned iCloud off, on.. while merging in the process but it doesn't merge email contacts to iCloud, reset phone, etc. I guess I need to duplicate the contacts or copy the contacts from the email account and add them to iCloud... does anyone know if this is possible? Thank you!

Hi TMHahn - I did #3 and can't get it fixed. My problem was my default was set to an email account, not iCloud. I know realize this happens when you turn iCloud off, it has to pick a default. I don't know when this happened; however, I have many contacts linked to that email account. I've been through Apple chat, on the phone with them ....still not working. I've deleted the email account and added it again (per Apple), that didn't work. I've turned iCloud off, on.. while merging in the process but it doesn't merge email contacts to iCloud, reset phone, etc. I guess I need to duplicate the contacts or copy the contacts from the email account and add them to iCloud...is this even possible? Or any other suggestions? Thank you!

I have the exact same problem. Yesterday I waited almost one hour for a technician to pick up the phone. The technician spent probably 2 hours and could not solve the problem. He forwarded me to an advisor. Spent over an hour or so with the advisor and nada. Then he asked me to download icloud for windows and told me the steps I need to take. He said he will get back to me today to see if the issue is resolved. The issue is not resolved and he did not get back to me. I left a VM as well. Seems like an open issue that Apple can't handle.