I accidentally lost all contacts from my iPhone. Is there any free iPhone data recovery method to restore those deleted contacts?
Losing contacts from your iPhone can be a distressing experience, especially if they are important contacts. Whether it happened due to accidental deletion, formatting, system error, or a device sync issue, there’s no need to panic. Fortunately, several iPhone data recovery methods are available that you can try for easy and quick recovery of deleted contacts on iPhone.
In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk through different methods on how to recover deleted contacts on iPhone, including how to use iCloud, iTunes, and third-party iPhone data recovery software. Let’s get started.
Common Reasons Why iPhone Contacts Get Deleted
Before you apply any method to restore deleted contacts on your iPhone, it’s important to understand why your contacts disappeared. Knowing the root cause helps you determine an adequate recovery workaround and avoid facing the same issue in the future. Some main reasons include:
- Accidental Deletion: You might have accidentally lost contacts while editing or cleaning up other files and folders on your iPhone.
- iCloud Sync Issues: If your iPhone isn’t properly synced with iCloud, it can sometimes result in missing or incomplete contact lists.
- Factory Reset: Resetting your iPhone to factory settings restores it to its original state by erasing all content — including apps, contacts, and other personal data — making the device as good as new.
- Account Removal: Removing an email account (like Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo) linked to your iPhone can remove contacts that were synced through that account.
How do I Recover Lost Contacts on an iPhone?
Now that you are familiar with the reasons for your lost contacts, it’s time to proceed with adequate recovery workarounds to retrieve deleted contacts on iPhone. Just go with the following methods one by one:
Method 01: Check if Contacts Are Hidden
Sometimes, your contacts are not actually deleted – they’re just misplaced or hidden. In such cases, it’s important to check whether the contacts are simply turned off or hidden in your iPhone settings. To verify this:
- Launch the Phone or Contacts app.
- Now, click Groups (or Lists on newer iOS versions) from the top left corner.
- Check if the All iCloud, All iPhone, or other contact groups are selected.
- Lastly, click Done and check if you are able to access those missing contacts.
Method 02: Restore Contacts Using iCloud.com
If you’ve synced your iPhone with iCloud before the contacts got deleted, try to restore deleted contacts on iPhone from iCloud’s archived backups. Follow the below steps to recover your deleted contacts from iCloud.com:
- Open a web browser on your computer and visit iCloud.com.
- Sign in with your Apple ID.
- Click on your account name from the top right corner and select Account Settings.
- Scroll down to the Advanced section, then click Restore Contacts.
- From the list of archived contact backups displayed with their dates, choose the one you wish to restore.
- Click Restore and wait till the process completes.
Method 03: Retrieve Deleted Contacts on iPhone Using iTunes or Finder Backup
Along with iCloud backup, you can try to recover lost contacts on iPhone using iTunes (on Windows/macOS Catalina or earlier) or Finder (on macOS Catalina and later). Here’s how:
- Firstly, connect your iPhone to the computer that you’ve used for backup.
- Open iTunes or Finder (depending on your device OS).
- Select your iPhone from the list of devices and click Restore Backup.
- Now, choose the backup you want to restore (select a date before the contacts were deleted).
- Click Restore and wait till the restoration process completes.
Method 04: Recover Lost Contacts Using Third-Party iPhone Data Recovery Software
Instances may happen when you don’t have a backup of your lost or deleted contacts. In such cases, you can use third-party iPhone data recovery software such as Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone to restore deleted contacts on iPhone. Not only contacts, this all-in-one recovery tool allows you to restore deleted photos, videos, documents and other types of files of multiple formats.
Here’s how to recover deleted contacts on iPhone using this amazing data recovery software:
- Step 1: Firstly, download and install the Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone tool on your Windows PC or Mac. Also, connect your iPhone to that device using a USB cable.
- Step 2: Launch the software and from the main screen, select Recover from iPhone and choose the type of data you need to restore. To recover contacts, select Contacts & Call Logs and click Next.
- Step 3: Click Scan and wait till the scanning process completes. After that, preview the list of recoverable contacts.
- Step 4: Select the contact(s) you want to recover and click Save to export them in formats like CSV, VCF, or HTML.
Additional Tips to Prevent Contact Loss in Future
Once you’ve successfully recovered your deleted contacts, take a few precautions to prevent it from happening again.
- Backup Contacts Regularly: Back up all your important contacts regularly using cloud services like iCloud, iTunes/Finder, or a trusted third-party backup tool.
- Sync Contacts with Multiple Accounts: Use an additional account, like Google or Outlook, to sync your contacts. This ensures you have a secondary copy.
- Avoid Random App Access: Be cautious when granting apps access to your contacts. Some third-party apps can modify or delete contact data without notice.
Conclusion
If you ever find any contacts missing from your iPhone, go with the aforementioned recovery methods one by one to retrieve deleted contacts on iPhone. Begin by carefully checking the Contacts app to confirm that the contact isn’t just misplaced but actually deleted. Next, check cloud backups like iCloud.com or iTunes to see if contacts can be restored from there. If you don’t have any backup, use third-party iPhone data recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone to quickly and safely recover deleted contacts.
