iPhone Contacts Disappeared After iOS 15 Update? How to Fix

iPhone contacts missing happens. It could be just some of your contacts disappearing from iPhone or iCloud, or all of them have gone. This happens on all models of iPhones including iPhone 13 and earlier iPhones. This is a really common issue!

We do know the thing is how to find those contacts after disappeared from iPhone and get them back. Don’t worry, we collected the proven methods to help you restore contacts on iPhone and fix contacts disappeared issue to prevent happening again. Just follow the list and start your recovery process.

Why Did my Contacts Disappear from my iPhone?

There are some possible reasons you may meet that can cause iPhone contacts disappeared issues like:

• New iOS software update or iOS downgrade – You may find your iPhone contacts missing after you update to the new iOS 15 or downgrading to the previous iOS. That’s mostly because contacts are not synced back with iCloud or some problem occurs during the process. And some of the contacts missing probably caused by this reason.
• iOS system issues or iTunes restore/sync problems – You may meet kinds of iPhone system issues or iTunes problems, which can also cause the contacts to disappear from your iPhone. Your iPhone contacts may get erased or lost suddenly.
• iPhone Jailbreak – Jailbreak your iPhone is fun, but you may be stuck on kinds of system issues when you jailbreak your iPhone. That’s can also be the reason why iPhone contacts missing.
• Mistaken deletion or operation: Some users may mistakenly delete. Or, you may operate wrongly with iCloud contacts sync, which makes the lost contacts on iPhone. And if you lost all of your contacts, which is most likely caused by this reason.

iPhone contacts missing would happen in the above situations. How to get iPhone contacts back became a serious problem. Here are some detailed tips to restore disappeared contacts from iPhone.

Restore Contacts from iCloud

1. Turn Off and Turn On iCloud Contacts

Simply re-sync your iPhone contacts with iCloud may fix this issue quickly. So go to Settings > Tap iCloud > Find Contacts> Toggle it off if it is on > Choose keep on my iPhone, and then toggle it on again; While if it is off, turn it on > Then iCloud will ask you what would you like to do with existing local contacts on your iPhone > Tap on Merge. And your contacts will get back again.

2. 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 for iOS 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.

Get Contacts Back on iPhone without iCloud

If your contacts disappeared but are not on iCloud, then you can try to restore iTunes backup files. However, the iTunes app does not enable users to view backup files, so you never know whether the iTunes backup contains your disappearing iPhone contacts. Besides, restoring with iTunes will erase all the existing data on the iPhone, replaced by the backup file.

To help you find the right missing contacts, without iTunes limits, you can give it a try with PhoneRescue for iOS. No matter you are accidentally deleted contacts on iPhone, or contacts missing from iPhone due to syncing errors, you can recover contacts that disappeared from your iPhone here:

• Check if the missing contacts are included in your iTunes backup.
• Choose to restore contacts only.
• No harm to the existing data on your iPhone.
• After scanning, you can view all the contacts, including names, numbers that are stored on iPhone.
• What’s more, PhoneRescue for iOS allows you to recover deleted contacts without backup.

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

Step 1. Run PhoneRescue for iOS on your computer > Choose Recover from 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 that contains what you need (Note: If you choose the backup that was created on a date, absolutely the data will be updated on that date.) > 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.

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.

Recover Disappeared iPhone Contacts without 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 been 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 shown. 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.

How to Fix iPhone Contacts Missing

Here are some fixes that you can apply and try to fix the bugs that caused iPhone contacts to miss. To fix iPhone contacts disappeared:

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.

Reset Network Settings

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

• Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
• Enter your passcode when requested.
• You should see a warning message that this action will delete all your network settings. Choose Reset Network Settings to continue.
• Check if your contacts disappeared from iPhone are back.

Why Do My Contacts Keep Disappearing?

Except for the above methods to restore iPhone contacts and get iPhone contacts disappeared issue fixed, some users reported that their contacts keep disappearing after restore. Normally, because of the new iOS instability or software glitches. And to prevent iPhone contacts from missing again, you need to confirm that you had a contacts backup even an iPhone backup. So you can restore them at any time.

To restore contacts from iCloud with an earlier version, just go to iCloud.com > Click Account Settings > Scroll down and find Restore Contacts from the Advanced panel. Here you can check if your contacts just are deleted due to unknown reasons and keep disappearing.

Further Reading: How to Fix iPhone Contacts Missing Names >

What to Do When iPhone Contacts Missing Dashes?

If you found some of your contacts missing, such as missing dashes to separate the phone number. It will cause some messages were from “unknown” people, users reported. And you can try to change the Language & Region to fix it. Here’s how to do:

Step 1. Go to Settings > General > Language & Region > iPhone Language > Choose another language and back to English (USA) or others that you’re using.

Step 2. Open Region > Click another region then back to the United States.

How do I Recover Contacts from iPhone after Deleting Email?

Some users reported that their iPhone contacts disappeared after deleting the email account because changed a job or changed a new exchange email. If you are syncing contacts with your email, deleting an email account on iPhone will delete contacts. That’s why contacts missing after deleting email account.

And you can first go to Settings > Contacts > Accounts > Add Account to recover contacts. Besides, you may try to restore contacts synced with iTunes or iCloud earlier, which may be included the contacts that were deleted from the email account.

The Bottom Line

That’s all for how to get back disappeared contacts after the new iOS update, or you made a mistaken operation when using iCloud sync, etc. You can retrieve contacts and other data with or without backup with PhoneRescue for iOS. Give it a try now! You are welcome to share your idea on how to fix the iPhone contacts disappeared problem in the comment section below.