How to Restore Lost Contacts on an iPhone: Best Methods

How to recover lost contacts on iPhone

Have your iPhone contacts disappeared? Because of how important they are, contact entries on your iPhone were made to be super easy and dynamic to edit, share, back up, and restore. Unfortunately, that also leaves them a bit vulnerable to getting deleted, misplaced, or unsynchronized to your device.

In this article, we’ll help you figure out why your iPhone contacts disappeared and how to get them back. We cover all possible scenarios, including “permanent” deletion, with step-by-step instructions and screenshots.

Reasons Why Contacts Disappear on iPhone

It can be tough to pin down why your iPhone contacts may have disappeared if you’re going in blind. To help you better diagnose your particular case so you don’t waste time on the wrong solutions, here are the 5 main reasons why your iPhone contacts have gone missing:

ReasonData Loss Description
Purchased a new iPhoneIf you’ve purchased a new iPhone and your data wasn’t properly transferred over, this could be why you’re not seeing your contacts.
Software issueAn issue arose during a software update causing data loss to occur.
Recent changes wit email accountIf you have recently deleted your email account from iPhone, the contacts that were synced from it will disappear. This also can happen if you simply changed the password but forgot to re-login into your email.
iCloud issueYour iCloud account could be configured incorrectly or you might have multiple accounts and could have signed into the wrong one.
Accidental deletionYou deleted a contact manually or using a third-party app and you want to get it back.

How to Restore Deleted Contacts on iPhone

Now that we’ve gone over the different situations that you can lose contacts on an iPhone, it’s time to start recovering them. Below, we describe proven ways to restore contacts and provide step-by-step instructions so that you can get your contacts back.

Method 1: Restore Contacts Using iCloud.com

iCloud is Apple’s proprietary cloud storage service. When enabled on your iPhone, iCloud automatically saves certain types of data to a secure online server for later retrieval.

If you have iCloud turned on for your Contacts specifically (before you lost them), it’s possible that a previous version was archived that you can restore via iCloud Web.

This method replaces the contacts on ALL your devices (with iCloud enabled). However, rest assured that the contacts you currently have will be archived instead.

Step 1. On your Mac, open Safari and login to iCloud.com.

Step 2. Click the menu button in the top-right corner of the window (beside your Apple ID photo). Scroll down the popup menu and click Data Recovery.
Data Recovery option in iCloud.com's options menu

Step 3. Click Restore Contacts.
Restore Contacts option in iCloud.com's Data Recovery menu

Step 4. Locate the archive dated before your contacts were lost. Then, click Restore beside it.
Restore button for the contacts archive in iCloud

Step 5. In the popup that appears, click Restore again to confirm the action.
Restore confirmation button for the iCloud contacts archive backup

It might take a few minutes (or longer) to reflect on your iPhone due to the synchronization delay. For the quickest results, make sure your iPhone is charging and is connected to a stable network.

Method 2: Restore Contacts From Your Mail Provider

In the past you may have synced your email contacts onto your iPhone. When someone purchases a new iPhone, those contacts won’t show back up unless the account has been signed into.

Let’s take a look at how to add your mail account back to your iPhone and retrieve the contacts. For example let’s consider Outlook, however you can do it the same way for any other mail service.

Step 1. Launch Settings on your iPhone. Then select Contacts.contacts

Step 2.Select Accounts.
accounts

Step 3. Select Add Account.add account

Step 4. Then choose Outlook.com and put in your credentials. You will then have a toggle where you can turn on your contacts to have them sync.outlook

Step 5. Wait for your contacts to sync. This can take some time depending on how many you have.

Method 3: Restore Contacts from an iCloud Backup

If iCloud was unable to archive a previous version of your contacts, it’s still possible it at least saved an iCloud backup. iCloud Backup is typically enabled on your device by default and includes your contacts in the backup. You get 5 GB of storage space outright for free, which should be more than enough to store your entire address book.

Restoring an iCloud backup requires performing a factory reset of your iPhone, which will wipe all your data. You can’t make another iCloud backup because it will overwrite your old one. If you have important data on your iPhone, we recommend saving what you can to iCloud Drive or creating a backup via Finder on your Mac.

Step 1. Open the Settings app and tap General.

Step 2. Scroll down to the bottom of the menu and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.

Step 3. Tap Erase All Content and Settings (and confirm).

Factory Reset option in the iPhone settings app

Step 4. Your iPhone will restart itself and will eventually greet you with the setup wizard. Go through the steps until you see Transfer Your Apps & Data. Then, tap From iCloud Backup.

Step 5.  Login with your iCloud account and password.

Step 6.  Select a backup from the list based on the date.

Upon selecting the backup you want to restore, iOS will start setting up your device with your old data. Keep your iPhone charged and connected to a stable network during this process.

Method 4: Recover iPhone Contacts from iTunes/Finder

If you plug your iPhone into your Mac, then it should be backing up. Even if you just plug it in to charge, it should back up to that computer.

You can recover deleted contacts from a backup with the help of Finder or iTunes on older versions of macOS and Windows. The steps in both are very similar, so you can follow the walkthrough below regardless of the version you’re using.

Step 1. Open items and plug your iPhone into your Mac or Windows computer. Then, click on the iPhone icon at the top left-hand corner of the window.

iPhone icon in the iTunes menu

Step 2. Under Manually Back Up and Restore, click Restore Backup.

Restore Backup button in iTunes

Step 3. Use the dropdown menu to select the backup you want to restore (which should have been created before you lost your contacts). Then, click Restore.

Selecting an iPhone backup in iTunes

After clicking the Restore Backup… option, your iPhone will start to restore the lost contacts. This will take some time depending on the size of the backup. Make sure your iPhone is plugged into your computer during this whole process as it can’t be interrupted!

Method 5: Restore Contacts Using Data Recovery Software

If your contacts are nowhere to be found in iCloud or on any of your email accounts, you still have one option — data recovery software. It’s a tool that can scan your iPhone for deleted data and restore it.

We’ll be using Disk Drill for this article because it has the best-looking interface so you can easily follow along with the process. We also found that it restored more contacts than other apps we tried specifically for iOS.

You can download Disk Drill for free and scan your iPhone (and preview any found files) as much as you want. You’ll only need to purchase a license once you’re certain that the contacts you need have been found and are restorable.

Step 1. Download and install Disk Drill on your Mac.

Step 2. Connect your iPhone to your Mac with the appropriate charging cable (tap Trust on your iPhone when prompted to confirm the connection.

Step 3. Open Disk Drill. Click your iPhone on the left sidebar (under Devices) and click Search for lost data.
Disk Drill source selection menu

Step 4. Once Disk Drill is done scanning your iPhone, mark the box beside Contacts and click Recover. You can click Contacts in the left sidebar for a more detailed view and access to more tools (like preview).
Selecting Contacts in Disk Drill's data type selection menu

Step 5. In the popup that appears, choose a location on your Mac where you want Disk Drill to save your restored contacts. Finally, click Next.
Disk Drill destination selection menu

After the recovery process, you should be able to import your contacts back into your iPhone. Don’t forget to make backups after a successful recovery!

Tips to Avoid Permanently Lost Contacts

Depending on how often you add or modify contacts on your device, we recommend adding multiple redundancies so you always have a backup version to restore.

First, ensure iCloud Backup and iCloud Sync are enabled for your contacts. Next, create a backup via Finder on your Mac. Finally, export your contacts through Mail or iMessages. This way, even if you lose or delete a contact, you have multiple copies to fall back on.

FAQ

If you don’t have iCloud Backup or iCloud Sync set up on your iPhone, you have 3 options:

  • Restore a backup via Finder on your Mac
  • If your contacts were synced to a mail account, make sure that account is added to your device and you’re logged in (then wait for it to sync)
  • Use data recovery software to scan your iPhone and extract any contacts it finds

Yes, you can. The simplest method is to restore the contacts from the backup. If you don’t have a relevant backup you can attempt to scan your iPhone with data recovery software.

If you just purchased a new iPhone, simply sign into your iCloud account during the setup process and your contacts will appear on the device.

Yes, you can. If you’re syncing your contacts through Google, the steps below will help get them back onto your iPhone.

  1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Scroll down and select Contacts from the list.
  3. Select Accounts and then choose Add Account.
  4. Sign in with your Google credentials.
  5. Select Contacts from the list of available items to sync.
  6. Wait for the sync to complete.
Joel Lockard, a tech enthusiast with a lifelong love for gadgets, gained experience selling Apple devices and even earned certification as an Apple Sales Professional. When not flying as an Airline Pilot, Joel immerses himself in technology, particularly Apple-related gear… Full Bio
Alejandro Santos
Chief Writer
Alejandro is Macgasm’s Chief Writer and Apple ecosystem enthusiast. He pens the majority of troubleshooting guides and software reviews for this website, tapping into his love for technology and extensive background in technical writing. He started his career by helping… Full Bio