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iPhone Contacts Disappear – How to Retrieve Lost Contacts on iPhone 7/8/X/XR/XS

What should you do if you lose contacts on iPhone 7/8/X/XR/XS? When you access to the Phone app of iPhone, you might find some important contacts are not available. Whether the contacts are lost due to the iOS update, wrong settings for contacts, or even iPhone factory resetting, you can use the 4 best methods below to retrieve missing contacts on iPhone from the article.

Lost Contacts on iPhone

Part 1: How to change settings to get disappeared iPhone contacts

If the contacts are still available in iPhone, but due to the wrong contacts account settings, the iPhone contacts disappears, you can get them back from your iPhone directly.

Enable Find Contacts

Step 1: Go to “Settings” app of your iPhone, choose “Contacts” option from the drop-down list to allow contacts to access.

Step 2: Tap the “Import SIM Contacts” to import the contacts from your iPhone SIM Card to iPhone Contacts.

Step 3: Tap the “Siri & Search” menu. Make sure the “Find Contacts in Other App” is turned on.

In the way, you can get some unconfirmed contact suggestion from SIM card as well as other Apps. If you turn off the option, some iPhone contacts may be lost.

Part 2: How to recover lost contacts on iPhone from iCloud

What should you do if you cannot get the contacts from settings? Recover lost contacts on iPhone from iCloud is another useful solution. Here are 2 methods to get the contacts from iCloud with ease.

Merge lost contacts from iCloud to iPhone

When the lost contacts on iPhone are still available in iCloud backup, you can merge iCloud account and the iPhone Contacts to get back all the contacts information.

Step 1: Log into your iCloud account with Apple ID and passcode to check whether the lost contacts are still available in “Contacts” option.

Step 2: Go to “Settings” > “iCloud” on your iPhone, after that you can turn off the “Contacts” to tap the “Keep on My iPhone” option.

Merge Contacts iCloud

Step 3: Turn on the “Contacts” again and choose the “Merge” option to see the deleted contacts back on your iPhone.

Import lost contacts from iCloud to iPhone as VCF

In order to import lost contacts on iPhone only, you can also export the deleted contacts from iCloud to computer. After that you can import lost contacts from iCloud to iPhone as VCF.

Step 1: Login iCloud with Apple ID and password. Go to your iCloud account and make sure the lost contacts are available.

Step 2: Click on the “Contacts”, you can click on the cog icon and press “Export vCard…” option in “Settings”.

Export Contacts iCloud

Step 3: After that you can send the VCF files to email or use some iPhone Transfer apps to import lost contacts from iCloud to iPhone.

Part 3: How to retrieve lost contacts on iPhone via iTunes

If you have backed up contacts to iTunes, you can retrieve the lost contacts on iPhone via iTunes. But there are some drawbacks of this method, you cannot view the contacts or selectively restore the lost contacts.

Step 1: Connect iPhone to computer with the original USB cable. Usually the iTunes will launch automatically.

Step 2: Select the iPhone from the Device list. Choose the “Restore Backup” from the “Summary” left menu.

Restore Contacts iTunes

Step 3: Just check the size and data to get the backup with the lost contacts. Click the “Restore” option to restore lost contacts on iPhone, as well as other files.

Part 4: How to restore missing iPhone contacts without backup

What should be the best methods to restore missing iPhone contacts, even if you have not backed up the contacts on iTunes or iCloud? Apeaksoft iPhone Data Recovery provides a flexible method to recover lost contacts from any iPhone, iPad and iPod with the latest iOS version.

iPhone Data Recovery

  • Restore lost contacts on iPhone from iTunes backup, iCloud backup and iPhone directly.
  • Preview backup contacts before restoring lost files to computer while keeping current ones intact.
  • Download and retrieve contacts and other 18 kinds of data from iCloud backup files as iCloud backup data recovery software.
Download for WinDownload for Mac

Step 1: Download and install iPhone Data Recovery

Once you download and install the lost contact recovery for iPhone, you can launch the program and connect iPhone to computer with the original USB cable. iPhone Data Recovery will recognize the device automatically.

Connect iPhone to Computer

Step 2: Scan iPhone to check the lost contacts on iPhone

Select the “Recover from iOS Device” mode. After that you can click on the “Start Scan” button to scan iPhone to retrieve lost contacts as well as other files on iPhone directly without backup.

Connect iPhone

Step 3: Preview and retrieve the lost contacts on iPhone

After scanning, you can find all the file types are listed on the interface. Select "Contacts" and click on "Recover". Then, choose a folder to save your restored files. Then the program can retrieve the lost contacts.

Recover Contacts iOS

Besides the method to retrieve lost contacts on iPhone directly, you can also use the program to get missing contacts from iTunes backup or iCloud backup selectively. It should be the ultimate solution to get the contacts back without problem.

Conclusion

How to recover lost contacts on iPhone? If you cannot find iPhone contacts from SIM card or other applications are missing, you can get them back from settings. When the contacts are lost due to factory settings or broken iPhone, you can get lost contacts on iPhone from iTunes backup or iCloud backup.

As an ultimate solution, Apeaksoft iPhone Data Recovery is able to retrieve the lost contacts from iPhone directly, iTunes backup and iCloud backup. Moreover, you can preview the files with detailed information before restoring the files. If you have any query about how to retrieve missing contacts on iPhone, you can share more detailed information in the comment.

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