How to Fix: Contacts Disappeared from iPhone X/8/7/6s/6/5s

“All my contacts disappeared from iPhone 6s after iOS 12 update. I can check all contacts are in my iCloud at iCloud.com, but not appear in my iPhone 8. How can I get back them?” – one iPhone user said recently after installing iOS 12.”

iPhone contacts missing happens a lot in our daily lives. It could be just some contacts disappearing from your iPhone X/8/7/6s/6/5s, or all of them gone. But why did iPhone contacts disappeared?

iOS update losing contacts must be the first and most common factor. For example, we have received much feedback from users about contacts missing from iPhone after iOS 12 update, just as same as the user mentioned above. Besides, mistakenly deleting, jailbreak, iPhone water damaged, restoring, iTunes syncing, or someone deleting without your notice, and more.

However, the real problem is how to find those iPhone missing contacts, and get them back. Don’t worry. Here our team has collected four methods to help you with iPhone contacts disappeared issue. Choosing the one suitable for your situation.

Part 1. How to Fix Contacts Disappeared from iPhone on Device Directly

In many situations, contacts are missing from iPhone temporarily. After you change something or do some operation on iPhone, they will come back. While not every time, these methods work. If below methods do not work for you, please move to the other parts for more solutions.

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.

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. How to 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 those iTunes limits, you can give a try with PhoneRescue for iOS. Because PhoneRescue for iOS enables you to preview any iTunes backup file in advance, you can easily make sure of whether the iTunes backup contains what you want. At the same time, it also supports selectively recovering. You can just choose the contacts disappearing from your iPhone X/8/7/6s/6/5s, and retrieve them directly to your Contacts app.

So why not download it now, and the 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 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 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:

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 situation, you need help from some third professional data recovery application.

PhoneRescue for iOS is just the tool we need. It enables users to view all iCloud backup files before restoring, so you can check whether the iCloud backup includes what you want. Besides, after it helps you find your missing iPhone contacts, you can selectively choose them, and recover them directly to your iPhone 8/X/7/6s/6/5s, without data erasing.

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 without Backups

There is no doubt that not all iPhone users have the habit of backing up. Or sometimes, even though you have backed up your iPhone to iTunes or iCloud, they 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 about how to fix iPhone contacts disappeared problem on the comment section below. And of course, you can also discuss your iOS 12 problems here.