How to recover deleted contacts on iPhone

Introduction

It is quite common to find yourself in need of recovering certain kinds of data like contacts after accidentally deleting or losing them for whatever reason. If you are one of such people and seek help with restoring deleted/lost contacts on your iPhone or some other iOS device, follow this guide with various ways to return the missing contacts to your device. Losing important contacts from your iPhone can be a frustrating experience, especially if you rely on your phone for communication with friends, family, or business associates. Whether it was an accidental deletion or a software malfunction, the thought of losing valuable phone numbers, email addresses, and other contact information can leave you feeling helpless. However, the good news is that recovering deleted contacts from your iPhone is possible, and there are several methods you can use to retrieve them. In this article, we will guide you through the step-by-step process of recovering deleted contacts from your iPhone, using both iTunes and iCloud backups, as well as third-party data recovery software. With these techniques, you can quickly and easily restore your lost contacts and get back to communicating with the important people in your life.

Download recovery tool

You can use a great and easy iOS data recovery tool called Tenorshare UltData. It will help you recover various kinds of data, including deleted contacts without fully restoring your iPhone. It is worth noting that the success of the recovery process may vary depending on how long it has been since the messages were deleted and whether they have been overwritten by new data. If UltData does not manage to recover your contacts, feel free to try the other methods we discussed below. For now, let us demonstrate how to use UltData.

Download Recovery Tool

1. Download and install UltData on your computer from the Tenorshare website. Once installed, launch the program.
2. Connect your iPhone to your computer using a USB cable. If prompted, enter your passcode and trust the computer.
3. Once your iPhone is detected, click on Recover from iOS Devices from the main interface, choose Contacts or/and any other data you need, and then click on Scan.
4. The program will start scanning your iPhone for deleted contacts. Once the scan is complete, you will be presented with a list of recoverable contacts.
5. From the displayed list, select the contacts you want to recover and click on Recover to Device. You can choose to recover the messages directly to your iPhone or to your computer.
6. Wait for the program to complete the recovery process. Once done, you should be able to see the recovered contacts in the location you selected.

1. Restore contacts from iCloud.com

It is possible that you have an available iCloud Backup that can be used for recovering your contacts and other data. To do it, you will need access to either a Windows PC or Mac and a USB cable. If all of this is right at your hand, let’s begin with the recovery:

Please note that restoring from an older backup may overwrite new contacts or other data that have been added to your phone. If you are afraid to lose anything new, make sure you make a backup of it.

1. Open iCloud.com and sign into your account using Apple ID.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and choose Data Recovery.
3. Select Restore Contacts.
4. Find an archive that you think contains the deleted contacts and click Restore next to it. Click Restore again.
5. Wait until the restoration process ends and enjoy your contacts back on your iPhone.

2. Restore contacts using iTunes

If you have an available iTunes backup, then you can use it instead. Note that the major difference between this and the previous method is that this alternative will overwrite the whole existing data on your iPhone. Thus, if any of the new data is not in your iTunes backup, you are likely to lose it after restoring it. Therefore, make sure you create an extra backup of your iPhone if you deem it necessary.

1. Connect your iPhone to Mac or Windows PC where the backup was made.
2. iTunes should recognize your iPhone and display a number of sections on the left pane. Go to the one called Summary.
3. On the right side under Manually Back Up and Restore click Restore Backup.
4. Choose your iPhone name and click on Restore.
5. Now wait until your phone finishes the restore process. Once done, check if the necessary contacts have been restored.

Conclusion

We hope this guide was useful and eventually helped you with restoring the missing contacts back to your iPhone. It is also advised to back up your device once in a while to make sure the deleted or accidentally lost data can be recovered without issues and sweating. If you ever deal with any other issues on your iPhone/iOS device, feel free to seek relevant articles on our website. We have a number of guided articles dedicated to resolving various iPhone/iOS topics.