iOS 4 Update: Lost All Your Contacts on Your iPhone? Here’s How To Get Them Back
Note: I haven't bothered to try iCloud yet. Commenters below demonstrate this process works in iOS 5 and with iCloud.
I first posted on this process back in May of '09. After the release of iOS 4 on June 21st, I noticed a big jump in traffic to my blog post. So I thought it was time to update the post using screenshots from iOS 4.
I sync my iPhone, MacBook and iMac over MobileMe. I like that a change in an appointment or contact on one device shows up on the other two. But on a few occasions I have opened my iPhone to find that all my Contacts were gone. This calamity mysteriously happened on its own. (I did not make any setting changes to lose my contacts.) But here's how I got them back.
Assumption: This process assumes that you are using MobileMe to store your contacts. Before you begin the steps below, I suggest you go to your MobileMe account and confirm that your contact are there. Assuming your contacts are on MobileMe, here's the way to get them back to your iPhone.
1. On my iPhone I went to "Settings" and picked "Mail, Contacts, Calendar." All the email accounts you have on your iPhone will be there as choices along with your MobileMe account. See below.
2. Under accounts I selected my MobileMe account. You get a list of all the data that MobileMe is syncing. See below.
3. I turned Contacts "Off." (It's the only sync I turned off.) You get the dialogue box below asking you if you really want to do this. I chose "Delete from My iPhone" since I did not want to run the risk of duplicating contacts. (Remember, that I had already confirmed that all my contact are backed up on my MobileMe account.)
4. As the process of deleting progressed, I got this confirmation.
4. Once the process was finished, I waited a few seconds then I went back to the screen in Step 2 above and turned Contacts back "On."
Re-synching your contact to your iPhone takes a new minutes - don't panic!
When I reopened my iPhone contacts, initially they were all gone. But I could see the sync icon running and after about 5 minutes all my contacts were back. Your time will depend on how many contacts you have and whether your are running on a wifi network. Note on this last step you might have to open and close Contacts a few times to get your iPhone to force a MobileMe sync.
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09/10/2010 at 9:06 am Permalink
Uh, it’s not working for me. My mom’s angry at me for losing all her contracts and apps, and the iPhone was given to her by someone who couldn’t handle the taxes/bills, and I doubt the person knows both his MobileMe and iTunes account. Am I screwed?
09/10/2010 at 4:51 pm Permalink
Hi Jack,
You don’t want to get in trouble with mom!
The iPhone would have needed to have been activated using iTunes. iTunes doesn’t use a password to sync with the iPhone. iTunes password is used to access iTunes store.
To use the method above you need to be using MobileMe to sync. But you don’t give enough detail to troubleshoot your problem.
I’ve found that the Apple discussion groups can be very helpful – search on your problem or post a question. Apple has done a clever job of outsourcing it’s tech support to it’s discussion forum readers who get status point for solving problems. Here the link to the iPhone sync forum.
link to discussions.apple.com
Hope that helps!
12/01/2011 at 3:37 am Permalink
When i did sync my iPhone4 with outlook contacts. then i got message want to marge or replace. I choose replace. and then when finished SYNC. i saw in iPhone4 no contacts. So i lost my all contacts. How can i restore again in iPhone4. Do you have any helpul advice for me or suggestion????
13/01/2011 at 9:34 am Permalink
Hi Mohammad,
I don’t use Outlook, so I don’t have any experience with the problem you have. I did find some useful info at the Mac discussion board. Here’s a link to some of the discussion and solutions on the iPhone / Outlook sync link to tinyurl.com
Good luck!
07/03/2011 at 9:11 pm Permalink
Thank you – it worked like a charm
07/03/2011 at 9:42 pm Permalink
Alison,
Glad to hear it’s back. Losing all that data is frightening!
Cheers ~ Peter
08/05/2011 at 8:46 am Permalink
I don’t have mobile
Me and for some reason I lost all my contact how do I get this back. Not even able to retribe it on my computer. Please help me
08/05/2011 at 4:25 pm Permalink
Hi Will,
I’m not sure that this will apply to your situation. But by best suggestions is to
[Go to Settings, click on Mail, Contacts, Calendars>hit/click Import SIM Contacts.]
I hope that does the trick. ~ Peter
13/07/2011 at 1:46 am Permalink
hey there peter,
not sure how to retrieve my phone’s contacts after a restore. im pretty sure i did a back up correctly and everything. im kind of dumb in this part of apple. im pretty savvy with apple but this is stumping me. ive tried importing sim contacts, but nothing. i tried looking under app support and could not find anything on mobile me. please if you can help me! thanks
-derek
13/07/2011 at 12:31 pm Permalink
Hi Derek,
I’m not sure what’s going on at your end.
Have you tried a hard reset on the phone?
1. On your iPhone 4 press and hold both the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button for about ten seconds. After ten seconds you should see the white Apple logo showing up. Then the screen goes fully black.
2. Wait 30 seconds and press them both a second time to restart your phone.
I use it whenever my phone gets buggy – seems to fix many ailments.
02/08/2011 at 6:03 pm Permalink
Peter! Thanks a lot, your article saved me! My contact photos somehow all became muddled up so I followed your advice and restored all contacts from mobileme perfectly. Problem solved! Cheers mate.
02/08/2011 at 9:13 pm Permalink
Reuben,
Glad it worked for you!
24/08/2011 at 11:19 am Permalink
Hi Peter, I sync my iphone 3G and upgraded to version 4.2.1. My contacts sync to Windows contact. All look fine except that I couldn’t get my contacts back and I am afraid that I lost them. Can you or someone to please help me how to get them back?
However, I am using Windows 7 and I tried the following Windows link in my C:\drive:
Windows:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup
24/08/2011 at 11:30 am Permalink
Hi Zizo,
Sorry, I don’t have any fixes for your problem. I can point you to a good resource over at Apple Support Communities. I suggest you try posting your question there.
link to discussions.apple.com
Hopefully someone else has an answer.
Best of luck ~ Peter
14/10/2011 at 5:03 pm Permalink
I had the same problem when I upgraded to ios 5. This worked like a charm. Thanks.
14/10/2011 at 8:21 pm Permalink
David,
I’ve already seen a spike in traffic to this post, so I’m guessing others are having the same problem. (2200+ visits to this post since iOS 5 came out.) Thanks for letting me know that this process still works.
I’m on the road in Turkey right now and haven’t updated to iOS 5. I plan to do a new version of this post when I get back home.
~Cheers, Peter
16/10/2011 at 8:47 am Permalink
This just saved me from throwing myself off my balcony! Im going to post this link on my Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr for anyone else who has the same problem.
Thanks so much
16/10/2011 at 10:22 am Permalink
Bella,
Glad I could talk you down off the ledge. You have so much more to live for!
Cheers,
~ Peter
27/10/2011 at 10:55 am Permalink
seriously! thank you SOO much. simple and all of my 84 contacts are in place. THANK YOU!
27/10/2011 at 3:25 pm Permalink
Charisse – you’re very welcome!
07/11/2011 at 10:25 am Permalink
how can i delete an apple id
07/11/2011 at 5:37 pm Permalink
The Apple ID is not pretty. I appear to have two of them and never can remember which goes to what device. Apple has published a guide which should help you sort this out.
Click here.
12/11/2011 at 5:21 am Permalink
I am nine months pregnant and didn’t need the angry adrenaline rush I had when I thought I lost my contacts – thank you SOOOOO much for these directions, I am so relieved to have all my contacts back, which includes years worth of friends, important work numbers, etc.
I never had “MobileMe”, but it added “iCloud” with this newest update and the screens looked identical to yours above… and it worked like a charm! Thanks so much!!
12/11/2011 at 1:54 pm Permalink
Genevieve,
Glad I could help with the contacts. No adrenaline rush needed. Now practice that breathing … and all the best in the days ahead!
Peter
25/11/2011 at 9:07 am Permalink
hi i did the ios 5.0.1 update on my iphone 4 and it deleted all my pictures how do i get them back
25/11/2011 at 2:05 pm Permalink
Hi Harris,
Sorry to hear that news. I haven’t had the problem. But you might finds some help here. How to Recover Lost Photos in iPhone Camera Roll after iOS 5 Update
Best of luck!
30/11/2011 at 10:51 am Permalink
I updated the iOS 5 on my Verizon iPhone 4 and now I have all of my contacts 5 times, plus my brother’s contacts. How do I get the ones unwanted deleted without doing it by hand?
30/11/2011 at 12:10 pm Permalink
Hi Sarah,
Sounds messy … even got your brother’s? It seems that duplicate contacts has been a problem with iOS 5 upgrade.
Here’s some resource info that might help you.
link to forums.tipb.com
Best of luck
17/12/2011 at 3:02 pm Permalink
Every time I lose my iPhone contacts or they become semi-duplicated (or even triplicated!) this is where I come for the directions! I still panic but it always works!
17/12/2011 at 6:12 pm Permalink
Kerry,
Glad to serve as your Plan B. Who needs triplicated?
~ Peter
29/12/2011 at 7:21 pm Permalink
Hello! Like an idiot – i synced my boyfriends iphone 4 with my itunes accidently and lost all of his contacts. Needless to say he is not happy . Apple says that since I did not make a back up of his settings they are gone. This cant be true…Please heeeelp!
30/12/2011 at 2:37 pm Permalink
Hi Lisa,
Without a backup, I think you’re stuck.
Sorry … Peter
PS. Can I recommend a good couple’s counselor?
21/01/2012 at 5:18 pm Permalink
Hi my name is anna reed and all my contacts are erased can u help me please
27/01/2012 at 6:46 pm Permalink
Hi Anna, Sorry to hear that. Did you try the process described below?
27/03/2012 at 10:12 pm Permalink
I synched my iphone 4S using the windows address book…..i seemed to have lost all my contact information. I’ve tried using the above methods but to no avail. Need help if possible. Thanks
28/03/2012 at 9:34 am Permalink
Hi Dan,
I’m not very familiar with the PC side. Sorry I can’t help you. Perhaps another reader has some ideas.
Cheers,
Peter
01/05/2012 at 6:21 am Permalink
I do not even understand how I finished up here,
however I believed this publish was great. I don’t recognise who you might be but certainly you are going to a famous blogger for those who aren’t already. Cheers!
28/05/2012 at 12:54 am Permalink
hi i have iphone 4 and i have lost my contacts and photos when i installed jailbreak in my iphone 4 now all my contacts are deleted please help me to take them back.
thank you!
28/05/2012 at 3:02 am Permalink
hi peter well as i mentioned my problem that i installed jailbreak on my iphone4 and i lose my contacts and pics and i dont have mobileme on my accounts so icant try it is there any other way?
28/05/2012 at 8:22 am Permalink
Hi Mohammed, I don’t know another way to get them back. Plus I don’t have experience with jailbreak phones. I’m sorry I can’t be of help ~ Peter
09/06/2012 at 8:56 am Permalink
Hey peter, my father, gave me an iphone 4 last year, and i registed itm in my itunes, with my old card, but then i gave the iphone to my father and he started to use his card, but today he asked me , to put some music in his iphone, i sync to itunes, and my iphone id, just took over the iphone, and my dad lost all his stuff, i could just save the contacts, he doesnt have any mobile me or icloud, or an apple ID, he just used the iphone wihtout sync, do you know any method to regain his stuff back?
09/06/2012 at 12:18 pm Permalink
Jorge – I think your stuck without mobile me or icloud, or an apple ID. Seems like it’s become your iPhone. Sorry ~
30/07/2012 at 9:33 am Permalink
Thank you so much! Worked like a charm!
26/11/2012 at 4:04 am Permalink
hello all,
i really need your help as i felt like killing myself.
today i lost ALL m phone book contacts and that includes all my
business contacts.
my livelihood and future income are gone.
i own a iphone 3gs.
can you pls advice me on how to recover back my phonebook.
pls help, i beg you.
thanks
alan lau
27/11/2012 at 1:28 pm Permalink
Sorry to hear about your plight Alan. But what I know is in this post. You might also explore the message boards at Apple Forum
30/11/2012 at 12:47 am Permalink
There are some iPhone data recovery software available on the internet!
link to iphone-data-recovery.net
20/03/2013 at 6:03 am Permalink
Hi
Ok twice my iPhone 4S has switched itself off and each time erased all my contacts.
1. Does any one know why this is happening and how to stop it?
2. How do I get them back?
20/03/2013 at 9:58 am Permalink
Hi Emma,
Sorry about your mess. If you have been backing up to iCloud, you can use the same process in this post to get your contact back. As to your phone shutting off… it seems that the latest iOS 6.0 update has been a bit of a mess. Problems like yours and others who are loosing their speaker sound on iPhone (my wife is suffering this one). Best I can guess, is that’s a software problem that Apple will have to sort out.
27/03/2013 at 3:20 pm Permalink
Hi!
I have a iPhone 4S. For some reason (unknown to me), I lost all of my contacts . I did not have an icloud, and my computer does not recognize my iphone, it ´s like a new iPhone to it.
After that, when I started to put some names back to the contact list, suddenly, some pictures (that used to be on the old list) appeared associated with wrong names.
What do you think about it? Do you think that my contacts are still there?
Thank you so much
27/03/2013 at 5:28 pm Permalink
Wrong photos with new contacts?? I wish I had an easy fix for you – but this one baffles me. Have you tried a reset of iPhone (holding on/off and home button simultaneously). Sometimes that will fix your ills.
If you were backing up to a computer, then hopefully all the contacts are still there. Have you tried connecting the phone to the computer, selecting the phone in iTunes and forcing the contacts to be replaced on the phone in the Advanced settings (bottom) portion of the Info tab in iTunes?