iPhone Contacts Disappeared After iOS 16 Update? How to Fix

When iPhone contacts are missing, it could be all of your contacts disappearing from iPhone or iCloud, iPhone contacts missing names or iPhone deleted contacts randomly, etc. Those happen on all models of iPhones including iPhone 14 and earlier iPhones. This is a really common issue!

How to find those contacts after disappeared from iPhone and get them back? Don’t worry, we collected the proven methods to help you fix contacts disappeared from iPhone and get back contacts to iPhone. Just follow the list and start your recovery process.

iPhone Contacts Disappeared? Why?

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

1. iOS Update or Downgrade

You may find your iPhone contacts missing after you update to the new iOS 16/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 are probably caused by this reason.

2. iTunes Restore/Sync Problems

You may suffer kinds of iPhone system issues or iTunes problems when restoring or syncing with iTunes, which can also cause the contacts to disappear from your iPhone. Your iPhone contacts may get erased or lost suddenly.

3. 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.

4. Accidentally Deleted iPhone Contacts

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.

Recently, some users have reported, Not all contacts were deleted, one or more of the contacts may be read-only. We will also discuss the issue and try to fix it as below.

Further Reading: If I Restore My iPhone Will I Lose My Contacts >

How to Fix All Contacts Disappeared from iPhone

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. Restart Your iPhone

Restarting the iDevice can work for many iPhone iPad problems. And it is easy to operate. Hold on to the power button to show Slide to Turn Off > Turn it off > Hold on to 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. 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 existing data on iPhone being erased.

4. Get Contacts Back from iPhone Backup

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, and replace it with the backup file.

To help you find the right missing contacts, without iTunes limits, you can give it a try with PhoneRescue for iOS:

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 your iCloud backup.

3 Ways to Restore Missing Contacts on iPhone 2022 [Video]

5. 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.

Recover Disappeared iPhone Contacts without Backup

If you haven’t backed up, PhoneRescue for iOS can scan your iPhone and list all the deleted or missing files as long as they have not been overwritten. Also, it 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 find missing contacts:

Step 1. When you connect your iPhone to computer, choose Recover from iOS Device > Click right arrow.

Step 2. On 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.

Not All Contacts were Deleted on iPhone?

The error message “Not all contacts were deleted, one or more of the contacts may be read-only” appears and prevents certain contacts from being getting deleted.

If you plan to delete some contacts after transferring to a computer for backup, but not all contacts were deleted. Then, you can only read contacts. This error usually means that iPhone contacts’ syncing error to Gmail or iCloud. You can go to Settings > Contacts > Accounts to Delete Account and add it again. Also, you can use PhoneRescue for iOS to fix contact deleted errors by repairing the iOS system.

Why Do My Contacts Keep Disappearing?

Except for the above methods to restore iPhone contacts and get the iPhone contacts disappeared issue fixed, some users reported that their contacts keep disappearing after restoration. 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.

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 from “unknown” people, users reported. And you can try to change the Language & Region to fix it. Here’s how:

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 the 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.