If you have lost or mistakenly deleted iPhone contacts, there is still hope! Apple has gotten much better at keeping your data private, so your missing contacts might be safe and sound in an iPhone backup on your computer or in iCloud. This post will walk you through five alternative strategies on how to recover contacts on iPhone.
Don’t forget to back up your iPhone regularly so that you can recover your vital data if something happens to your device. It’s also a good idea to back up your iPhone before installing iOS, as previous releases have created problems for customers.
How to recover contacts on iPhone
If you are looking for ways to recover contacts on your iPhone, below are some of the methods you should consider:
Read also: How to Get iPhone Emojis on Your Android Device (2023)
Method 1: Restore Contacts from iCloud
There are several methods for recovering contacts from iCloud. Let’s look at the two alternatives below…
Option 1: Restore iCloud Contacts (iPhone)
If your iPhone is enabled to sync Contacts with iCloud, you have this choice! iCloud has become a very useful feature for iPhone users in that it allows you to save files that you might not be able to fit on your limited iPhone storage space. It also implies that you can quickly sync your data between your Apple devices (for example, you can view your contacts on both your iPhone and your MacBook)!
This also implies that if some of your iPhone contacts vanish, you can simply access the cloud and retrieve them. Here’s how to use your iPhone to sync contacts from iCloud to your iPhone.
- Take out your iPhone and launch the Settings app.
If you have iOS 10.3 or later, touch your name, then iCloud. If you’re on iOS 10.2 or before, all you have to do is tap iCloud.
2. Look for “Contacts” in the list.
3. Select “Keep on My iPhone”.
4. Finally, turn Contacts back on.
5. Finally, press the “Merge” button.
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Option 2: Retrieve Contacts from iCloud (icloud.com).
Visit iCloud.com to view what is saved to your iCloud. Contacts, Photos, Calendars, Notes, and other information synchronized from your iPhone will be visible.
- Launch your web browser (for example, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari…).
2. Navigate to iCloud.com.
Source: macgasm
4. Choose the “Restore Contacts” option and select the archive that you believe contains the desired contacts
Source: macgasm
5. When selecting an archive for restoration, your current contacts will be backed up and saved, ensuring you can easily revert back to them without any data loss concerns.
See here: How to delete apps on iPhone permanently
After you’ve copied your contacts to your computer, you may import them into your contacts program, such as Outlook. This keeps your contacts secure and easily accessible. You may then use iTunes to transfer your contacts to your iPhone!
Method 2: Recover Contacts by restoring your iPhone from iTunes
If you previously backed up your iPhone to iTunes, your backup may have saved your contacts (even if you don’t recall generating a backup, you may still have one!). Every time you connect your iPhone to iTunes, iTunes creates a backup.
You may restore such a backup to your smartphone using iTunes. This indicates that your iPhone will be restored to the moment when the backup was created. Unfortunately, this implies that you will lose any data that has been added, changed, or deleted since the backup. Only use this procedure if you are willing to restore your iPhone to the time when your backup was created.
To restore an iPhone from an iTunes backup, follow these steps:
- Open iTunes on your computer and plug in your iPhone.
- Select your device by clicking on its icon.
- Click “Restore backup” in the “Summary” box.
- Choose the backup you want to restore from.
You may need to disable “Find My Phone” on your iPhone before you can use iTunes to restore it. To do so, navigate to your iPhone’s iCloud settings, touch “Find my iPhone,” and then toggle the option off.
Restoring your iPhone from a backup replaces its existing content with that of the backup. If you don’t want to do this, I recommend utilizing iBackup Extractor or iCloud instead.
Method 3: Retrieve Contacts from an iTunes backup
This method is ideal if you are concerned about restoring backups to your iPhone and potentially overwriting your content. Rather than restoring the whole backup of your iPhone, you may just extract the data you want using professional software such as iBackup Extractor.
If you don’t recall making an iTunes backup of your iPhone, you may still have one! Every time you sync your iPhone with iTunes, iTunes creates a backup of it.
In the event of lost iPhone contacts, you may extract the contacts you require from an iPhone backup and save them to your computer. The contacts may then be transferred to your iPhone using iTunes. Here’s how it’s done:
- Download and install iBackup Extractor on your Windows or Mac computer.
- From the list, select an iPhone backup to examine its contents.
- Select the “Contacts” tab to view the backup contacts.
- Select the contacts you want to copy to Outlook / Contacts / Address Book and press the “Copy to Outlook / Contacts / Address Book” button.
- Launch iTunes and plug in your iPhone.
- Select “Sync Contacts with” from the device’s Info menu.
- Choose Outlook, Windows Contacts, or Address Book.
- Transfer by clicking “Apply”!
Method 4: Use Contact Transfer to transfer data from an old iPhone or Android device.
You could have an outdated phone lying around that still has all of your key contacts saved on it.
Contact move allows you to move contacts from an old Android or iPhone to a new iPhone.
Contact Transfer enables you to connect your devices to your computer and quickly transfer contacts between them. This is wonderful because it eliminates the need to rely on internet services like iCloud, as you perform these transfers locally on your PC.
This approach is accessible for Windows 10 and 11.
Here’s how to use Contact Transfer to transfer contacts from one device to another:
- Install Contact Transfer on your computer.
- Start Contact Transfer by selecting your Source and Destination devices. The Source device contains the contacts you want to save on it. Then press the Continue button.
- Connect all of your devices. Check out the instructions for connecting an Android or iPhone to Contact Transfer.
- After your devices have been linked, click Continue.
- Select the Contacts from your Source device that you want to transmit.
- Click Transfer to begin the copying procedure!
Method 5: Ask your pals
The last approach is the simplest, but it is also the least resilient. If you are only missing one or two important contacts from your iPhone, you may find it easier to retrieve the missing information from others.
For example, if you are lacking a friend’s contact information, why not call a common friend (for whom you do have contact information) and request that they email you the necessary information?
Open the “Contacts” app on your iPhone. Choose a contact to share with a friend. Scroll down and select “Share Contact”. You’ll be able to share the contact through Messages, Mail, WhatsApp, and more! If you require more than a handful of contacts from pals, this will take a long time, therefore we recommend adopting one of the aforementioned approaches if you need a more comprehensive solution.
Related:
- How to Connect an iPhone to Windows 1
- How to Transfer SMS from Android to iPhone- Step-by-step Guide
