iPhone Contacts Missing By Accident? How to Quickly Get Them Back

iPhone contacts missing happens in our daily lives. It could be just some contacts disappearing, or all of them have gone from an iPhone XS/XR/X/8/7/6s and even an iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro. This is a really common issue!

If you encountered, you are not the only one who is suffering this. Some iPhone users have reported before that their contacts lost after updating iOS 13 or iOS 12. In addition, contacts missing or disappearing often happen after mistakenly deleting, iPhone jailbreak, iPhone water damaged, iTunes restore problem, iTunes sync issue, and more.

We do know the thing is how to find those missing contacts from iPhone and get them back. Don’t worry. we collected 4 methods to help you with your iPhone contacts disappeared issue. Just follow the list and start your recovery process.

Part 1. Fix Contacts Disappeared from iPhone on Device Directly

iPhone contacts missing would happen in many situations. Here we will present some quick and simple tips to retrieve them back directly.

1. Toggle on Contacts off and on in iCloud

If you have enabled iCloud to sync your iPhone contacts, then it will still save them in iCloud. So go to Settings > Tap iCloud > Find Contacts> Toggle it off if it is on, and then toggle it on again; While if it is off, turn it on > Then iCloud will ask you if replacing your iPhone contacts with iCloud contents, select Delete from My iPhone. And your contacts will get back again.

2. Restart Your iPhone

Restarting iDevice can work for many iPhone iPad problems. And it is easy to operate. Hold on the power button to show Slide to Turn Off > Turn it off > Hold on the power button to launch your iPhone again.  If your iPhone screen was stuck or frozen, there are still some methods to force restart your iPhone device.

3. Reset Network Settings

You can also give it a try with network resetting to fix the issue of contacts disappeared from iPhone.

Step 1 Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

Step 2 Enter your passcode when requested.

Step 3 You should see a warning message that this action will delete all your network settings. Choose Reset Network Settings to continue.

Step 4 Check if your contacts disappeared from iPhone are back.

Part 2. Fix iPhone Contacts Disappeared with iTunes Backups

If you have backed up your iPhone before to iTunes, and missing contacts are included in the backup, restoring from iTunes would be the first option and easiest way to get them back. But you must know that iTunes does not enable users to view backup files, so you never know whether the iTunes backup contains your disappearing iPhone contacts. Besides, iTunes restoring is a process of replacing the whole device with backup files, so all existed data on iPhone will be erased. Not friendly enough.

To help you find the right missing contacts, without iTunes limits, you can give a try with PhoneRescue for iOS. Because this program enables you to preview contacts on your iTunes backup file in advance, so you can easily know whether your lost contacts are saved on the iTunes backup so that you can directly extract any contacts from backup to your iPhone contacts app directly.

So why not download it now, and then follow us to get back iPhone contacts disappeared?

Step 1 Run PhoneRescue for iOS on your computer > Choose Recover from iTunes Backup option (Connect your iPhone to it if you plan to recover missing iPhone contacts to the device directly) > Click the right arrow to continue.

Step 2 Then all iTunes backups will be displayed. Choose the one contains what you need > Click right arrow > It will pop up a screen for choosing what kind of exact data types you would like to scan. Choose Contacts > Click on the OK button to go on.

Step 3 It will start scanning all contacts in iTunes backup. After finishing, select the one(s) you would like to recover > Click on the To Device button to download them to your device directly.

Part 3. How to Fix iPhone Contacts Disappeared with iCloud Backups

If you failed to find missing iPhone contacts from iTunes backup, or have no iTunes backups, you can go to check when your last iCloud backup was created. To check the create date of the last iCloud backup with detailed steps below.

Firstly: Check the Date of the Last iCloud Backup

On your iPhone, go to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Backup > Check the create date of last back below Back Up Now.

If you have an available iCloud backup, and this backup may contain the disappearing iPhone contacts, you can restore them from iCloud backup. But Apple does not provide iCloud backup previewing, so you never know what files will be backed to your iPhone until the whole process is finished. Besides, iCloud restoring also leads to all existed data on iPhone being erased.

So in such a situation, PhoneRescue will also be the first choice to help you view contacts in all iCloud backup files. You can check whether the iCloud backup includes what you want. Besides, after it helps you find your missing iPhone contacts, you can selectively select any items and restore them to your iPhone without data erasing.

Secondly: Get Back Disappeared Contacts from iCloud using PhoneRescue

So why not download it now, and the follow us to get back iPhone contacts disappeared from iCloud backup?

Step 1 Run PhoneRescue for iOS on your PC/Mac > Choose Recover from iCloud (Connect your iPhone to it if you plan to recover contacts to the device directly) > Click the right arrow to continue.

Step 2 Sign in your iCloud account.

Step 3 Choosing the iCloud Backup option.

Step 4 Then it will show all iCloud backups. Choose the one probably including the missing contacts > Click Download > Then it will pop up a page to choose what kind of data type to download. So check Contacts > Click OK button to continue.

Step 5 After downloading, all contacts in the iCloud backup will be displayed. Choose the one(s) disappearing from your iPhone > Click To Device button to recover them to your iPhone, or To Computer to save them on your PC/Mac.

Part 4. Fix iPhone Contacts Disappeared If You Have No Backup

There is no doubt that not all of you have the habit of backing up. Or sometimes, even though you have backed up your iPhone, the backup files don’t contain your missing iPhone contacts. Under such occasions, what can you do with it?

Normally, many people will tell you that you never find disappearing iPhone contacts without iTunes & iCloud backups. But the truth is that there is still a chance, with some third professional iOS data recovery applications. PhoneRescue for iOS is just the best one of them.

PhoneRescue for iOS can scan your iPhone and list all the deleted or missing files as long as they have not overwritten, and allows you to preview these files before getting them back to iPhone or computer. Download it now, and follow the steps below to scan your iPhone, and check if the disappeared iPhone contacts are overwritten or not.

Step 1 Run PhoneRescue for iOS on PC/Mac > Connect your iPhone to it > Choose Recover from iOS Device > Click right arrow.

Step 2 At the popping-up page, select Contacts > Click OK button.

Step 3 It will start scanning your iPhone > After scanning, all contacts will be showed. Choose the one(s) you plan to recover > Click To Device button to recover them to your iPhone, or To Computer to save them on your PC/Mac.

The Bottom Line

You are welcomed to share your idea on how to fix iPhone contacts disappeared problem in the comment section below. And of course, you can also discuss your iOS 13 problems here.