How to recover a deleted contact from your iPhone address book. How to Recover Deleted Contacts on iPhone

If you use technology from Apple, then you have the opportunity to recover lost numbers. There are several ways to get back deleted contacts; which one you choose depends on whether you have synchronized your device with Apple servers or not.

When to restore contacts on iPhone

The need to restore contacts arises if they were lost for some reason. For example, you accidentally deleted the numbers, or the SIM card on which the contacts were stored was damaged. If you decide that you need to return deleted contacts, then first of all, disconnect your phone and the devices synchronized with it from the Internet so that information about your contact book is not updated on the ICloud and iTunes servers.

How to get back lost or deleted phone numbers

If your device is synchronized through an account with ICloud or iTunes servers, then use one of the following instructions.

Via iTunes

Every certain period of time, a backup copy of the data stored on your phone, including contacts, is sent to the iTunes server. If you have not disabled this function, you can return one of the deleted numbers or all at once at any time. But remember that replaying the restore process will roll back all changes made to the device until the last backup was created.

We connect the phone to the computer via a USB cable and open iTunes.
In the section with information about your device, go to the “Overview” subsection.
In the “Backups” block, click on the “Restore from copy” button.
If you have activated the “Find iPhone” function on your phone, be sure to disable it before starting the operation. Otherwise, the system will not allow the recovery to begin, and you will see a corresponding notification.
In the window that appears, click on the device you want to restore and click the “Restore” button.

Via iCloud

Using a computer, go to the official ICloud website http://icloud.com/ and log in using the account with which the iPhone with lost contacts is synchronized.
In the list of applications that opens, click on the “Contacts” icon.
In the left list, select a contact and click on the gear icon.
In the menu that opens, select the “Export to VCard” section.
After this, the file that needs to be transferred to your phone will be automatically downloaded to your computer. Thanks to him, you can restore contact.

Through re-syncing with ICloud servers

If you managed to disconnect your Internet connection before the contact list information was updated, then this method will help you:

Open the Settings application on your phone.
Go to the iCloud section.
Disable contact synchronization by turning the slider to gray.
Select the “Leave on iPhone” option.
We connect the device to the mobile Internet or Wi-Fi.
Through the ICloud settings, enable contact synchronization by moving the slider to green.
You will be prompted to combine the contacts stored on the ICloud server and those located on your phone. Confirm the merger.
The process may take several minutes, after which the lost contacts will return to their place.

Via Windows, Mac OS or Microsoft Outlook email

If the Contacts application is installed on your computer and synchronized with your phone, then you can export any of the saved contacts in the desired format for your IPhone:

On your computer, launch a file manager or simple explorer.
Navigate to the folder where your contacts are stored. It usually looks like this: Drive name/Users/Account name/Contacts. Select the contact to be restored.
Click on the “Export” button.
Save the file in the "Folder with files.vcf" format.
Specify the folder where the files will be saved.
One of the methods (via email or USB cable) transfer the received file to your phone.
Run the file and click on the “New Contact” button, then fill in the required fields and save the number.

Exporting and transferring a file to Windows and Mac OS is no different. If you use iTunes synchronization through Microsoft Outlook, then all steps follow the same order, but the “Export” button can be found if you expand the “File” menu. And the object itself must be saved in the VCard extension.

Via iBackupBot

This recovery method also occurs using a data backup stored on iTunes servers and a third-party application IBackupBot:

Download the application from the official website of the developer (http://www.icopybot.com/itunes-backup-manager.htm) and install it.
After launching the application, scanning files will automatically begin, which will allow you to find backup copies for recovery. After the process is completed, you will see detailed information about the device.
The left column Bakups contains a list of available backups. Let's choose one of them.
Expand the “File” menu.
Select the Duplicate section and specify the path to the folder in which the copy will be saved. This is done so that if the main backup copy is damaged, you will have a spare one.
Now in the Whats in Backup block, which is located under the device information, click the Contacts button.
A list of all available contacts will open; select the one you want to restore.
Expand the Export menu by clicking on the corresponding icon.
Click on the Export as vCard file button.
Skip the registration section. To perform this operation, you only need the free version of the program.
Select the folder in which the contact file will be saved.
Transfer the file to your phone via email or USB cable.
Open it, click the “New Contact” button and add the number to the contact book.

Via iPhone Backup Extractor

iPhone Backup Extractor is a paid analogue of the IBackupBot application. You can download it from the official website (

Thanks to it, you can do everything you can with its free replacement, IBackupBot. So that you can evaluate it, a trial version of the application is available on the site, through which you can restore no more than 4 contacts, after which you will have to pay.

Let's launch the application. Information about the last saved backup copy will automatically appear in front of you.
By expanding the Select backup block, you can select one of the other available backups.
Opposite the folder icon, click on the Extract button (the numbers are the number of contacts). In this case, all contacts will be saved in several files in .csv and .vcf formats, and each number will be saved separately in .vcf format. If you want to create only one file, then follow these steps.
Expand the Extract menu.
Click on one of the first three items: Contacts as VCards, VCard, CSV.
Transfer the files to your phone, open them and add the numbers to your contacts list.

How to prevent contacts from disappearing on your phone

To avoid the situation where accidentally deleted contacts cannot be returned, follow a few simple rules:

After deleting a contact, immediately turn off your phone’s Internet access so that it does not have time to synchronize the data changes with the backup copy stored.
Manually update your backup regularly to ensure it only contains the latest data.
Create more backups so that each one stores device information for a certain period of time. For example, one copy will contain data that was on the phone a year ago, and the other will contain information from a month ago.
Set up synchronization of contacts and other data with ICloud servers.

If your device is synced with iTunes or iCloud, then you have the opportunity to recover lost contacts in several ways. In any case, you will need to have a backup copy. Otherwise, if your iPhone has not been synchronized with any of the Apple servers, you will not be able to restore the number.

Any owner of an Apple smartphone can restore deleted contacts on an iPhone; fortunately, this operation does not require any special knowledge. The main condition for success is the presence of synchronization with iCloud storage or backup in iTunes. If everything is done correctly, the lost contacts will be back on the phone.

Important: turn off the Internet on your smartphone as soon as you discover that the desired number has been deleted. This will eliminate synchronization with the iCloud service, which you will subsequently use to return lost numbers to your iPhone.

Sync with iCloud

There are several ways to recover using iCloud.

First way

The first method you should try is synchronization with the iCloud service. This method will work if you disconnected your phone from the Internet immediately after discovering that the numbers on the SIM card are missing.

Second way

There is another way to return contacts to a SIM card via iCloud. To implement this method, you need a computer with Internet access.

The contact you select will be saved on your computer. To return it back to your smartphone, attach the vCard file to the email. Open the email on your iPhone and save the new entry instead of the deleted one.

iTunes Backup

If you created iPhone backups through iTunes by connecting your smartphone to your PC, you can quickly restore lost numbers.

The main disadvantage of this method is that you will receive the iPhone in the same state as it was at the time the backup was created. Any changes made later will be cancelled. If this is critical for you, then you will have to resort to the help of the iBackupBot program, which allows you to extract individual data from an iPhone backup.

This process is described in more detail in the following video.

Recover individual contacts from iTunes

Run the iBackupBot utility and wait until it detects the iPhone backups on your hard drive. The developers recommend creating a duplicate of the existing backup, but you can do without it.

The contact will be saved as a vCard file on your hard drive. You can use email, the Windows Contacts app, or iTunes to transfer your restored number.

Quite often, a harmless miss on the sensor causes a lot of problems. Most often this happens when subscriber numbers on an iPhone are erased, which are simply problematic to restore. Therefore, the question quite rightly arises: how to recover deleted contacts on iPhone. Let's try to figure it out.

Recover Contacts from iTunes Backup

Do you often sync your iPhone using tuna? Don't be lazy to create backups every time. This will ensure that the data can be returned. Even if you accidentally delete one or two important numbers, they can be restored from a copy in the phone book.

It is worth mentioning that using iTunes we roll back data, i.e. Not only will the contacts have the latest backup version, but so will all other information, so any data that has appeared since the last backup was created will be erased, so use the Restore from Backup function wisely.

So, let's say there is already a ready-made copy for the iPhone device. Let's look at how you can restore addresses:

connect the iPhone to the PC using a USB cable and launch iTunes;
In the menu bar, go to the “File” tab and select our iPhone. Then in the window click on the “Browse” tab;
Information about the iPhone will come up. Click the “Restore from copy” button;

Attention! If you have activated the “Find iPhone” search function, then before performing the operation, you need to disable it.

From the list that appears, the most recent save is usually selected (there may be several of them). Select the desired version and click “Restore”;
We are waiting for the operation to complete.

Export a contact from Microsoft Outlook, Windows, MAC OS

This method will only be useful if the desired contact is saved in one of the email programs. Let's look at it using the utility as an example Contacts from Windows. With this program we will be able to export contact cards saved in the PC memory to a location convenient for us and with a suitable .vcf extension, which can then be successfully recognized by the iPhone. To unload data from Windows memory, you need to:

enter the “Users” folder;
open a subfolder inside with the name of your account;
go to Contacts;
select the file where the saved contact to be restored is located;
On the top panel, click “Export”. A window will open in which you need to click on the bottom line “Business cards” and confirm your choice by clicking on the “Export” button;

In the browsing window that opens, select the desired folder. Next, click “OK”.

Thus, the numbers from the copy of the address book will be extracted and displayed in the specified folder (extension.vcf)

we send them through an email client to the iPhone’s e-mail address;
open the file received in the letter and click on “New contact”;
The numbers will be automatically loaded into the iPhone phone book.

For the MAC OS X operating system and the MS Outlook service, the export of addresses is identical.

How to Recover a Deleted Contact Using iCloud

Again, this method is only relevant if you have the iCloud backup function activated.

If the iPhone automatically synchronizes your Apple account with iCloud, the data is automatically reset every time you connect to the Internet. Therefore, after deleting information about the subscriber, you need to immediately turn off the Wi-Fi network. Otherwise, subsequent synchronization will delete the contact from the cloud and it will be impossible to restore it from the server in the future.

Let's first look at a way to recover all contacts from iCloud. After turning off Wi-Fi, do the following:

go to iCloud settings and switch the “Contacts” lever to “Disabled” mode;
the system will clarify what to do with contacts. We make the choice “Keep on iPhone”;

after this, you need to connect to the Wi-Fi network and switch the slider to the “On” position;
iOS will warn you that your contacts will be merged with iCloud. Click “Merge”.

As you can see, everything is simple. If for some reason you need a specific contact from a friend’s Apple ID, for example, then the procedure will be as follows:

Log in on the iCloud website using your Apple ID;
click on the “Contacts” icon;

select the desired entry and click on the icon located in the lower left corner;
An action menu will open in front of you, in which you need to select “Export vCard...”

Subscriber information will be saved on your computer in a file with the extension .vcf. Next, we perform the same operations as in the previous paragraph, namely, send the file by mail, open it in the iPhone and record it again.

Using special utilities

Option 1. iBackupBot

You can even download a trial version on your PC;
launch the application. It will recognize all saved copies of iTunes, but it will take a little time;
in the main iBackupBot window, under the iPhone description, there will be a “What’s in backup” section. Before performing any actions, play it safe and make a backup. To do this, you need to select the desired backup copy in the “backups” window, enter “file” and click “Duplicate”. Next, set the location where we want to save the duplicate;
then, returning and selecting the backup copy again in the “backups” window, we look down the window and find the blue inscription “Contacts”;
By clicking on this link, the program will display the contacts that are included in it. By clicking on each of them, more detailed information about the entry appears on the right;
in the main window, immediately under the “Contacts” tab, there will be an “Export” button. By clicking on the arrow, a small list of actions will appear, which will offer several options.
to restore, select “Export as vCard file”;
A window will pop up asking you to activate the program. Click “Cancel”;
set the copy path;
You can transfer contacts several at a time. Click on “Export as multiple vCard file”;
We indicated how to send a vcf file with contacts to iPhone in the previous paragraphs.

Option 2. iPhone Backup Extractor

launch the application. You will be prompted to select a backup from the list. If it hangs in a different place, then in the drop-down list click on “Select another backup folder”;
We are looking for the third block “Available data”. The number of numbers is indicated next to the “Contacts” line. Click on the inscription “Extract...” and set the path where we want to unpack them (they will be transferred to a common file);

You can see how this works in the video below.

Sometimes there are situations when contacts from your iPhone's phone book may disappear. Although there are many possibilities for this event, from a system failure to accidental deletion, you can try to recover them using the recommendations in this article. This possibility arises due to the fact that during use, your smartphone is regularly synchronized with other devices and the cloud.

How to restore without someone's help? We will look in turn at three ways in which you can carry out the required operation and return important but lost information. However, first you need to figure out the reason for the disappearance of contact information, because depending on it, you will need to choose a recovery method.

Why might contacts disappear?

There may be several reasons. The most common of them are the following, and it is with them that we will fight:

Incorrect connection to PC. If you previously synchronized your smartphone with a computer and decide to connect it again, then if there is an error in reading the data, all user information may be deleted from the gadget, since the backup data will be considered reference;
Incorrect synchronization with the cloud. A similar situation can occur when updating data in the cloud. An unstable Internet connection or other reasons will prevent the contact list from being loaded correctly from a backup copy, as a result of which the smartphone produces , perceiving the cloud data as true;
Account error. If your account was attacked by hackers or a failure occurred, then when you connect to the network, data may be completely or partially deleted, including your contacts;
Human factor. Perhaps you yourself pressed the wrong button by mistake, which resulted in complete or partial clearing of your smartphone’s memory. Unfortunately, your contacts were also included in the list of deleted data.

Each of these problems must be solved differently, because backups may be in different places. Let's look at three main methods for solving the above problems.

Method one. Using Third Party Software

In order to restore contacts on an iPhone, you can use programs that allow you to open backup copies of your device made using a computer and iTunes. The thing is. That such a copy is an archive with data that cannot simply be subtracted. Software like Backup Extractor correctly opens these archives, and can even work with corrupted copies that even iTunes itself rejects, and allows you to convert the data into a readable form.

Working with the program is very simple. To recover data, you need to prevent your phone from connecting to the Internet by any available means. Then run the program, select the backup location, indicate “Contacts” in the restored information column and wait until the process is completed. If backups have always been made regularly. There shouldn't be any problems with recovery. After recovery, be sure to synchronize with the cloud, indicating the source of current information is the smartphone’s memory, so that the contacts are copied again and they are not lost.

Method two. Retrieving information from the cloud

Suitable if contacts were deleted accidentally. How to recover contacts from iCloud, knowing your username and password and without using a computer? You should prevent your smartphone from synchronizing with cloud storage as quickly as possible so that it does not have time to delete them from your account. After this, the gadget settings should be changed to prohibit synchronization with the cloud, and then connect to the network and return synchronization permission. The user will be asked if he agrees to download data from the cloud storage to his device. Having agreed with it, in a few minutes you will see all your contacts in the form in which they were at the time of the last synchronization with your iCloud account.

Third way. Downloading a contacts file from iCloud

Perhaps it can be called the simplest of all the listed methods. It is suitable if you are sure that the cloud backup copy is not damaged and still contains your contacts. For that. to get them, just go to icloud.com and enter your account information, that is, your Apple ID login and password. Once in the interface, go to the contacts menu and find a subsection that will be called “Export contacts”, or will be as close as possible to this name.

After selecting this item, a file containing the entire contact database that is on the cloud on your behalf will be downloaded to your hard drive. All you have to do is download this file to your smartphone and run it. The copy will unfold within a few seconds and all contacts will be restored. It is noteworthy that you can use the same method when switching from an iPhone to an Android smartphone, since this file is universal and is accepted by all mobile operating systems. Now you know how to restore contacts on iPhone in almost any situation, having at least some backup copies.

How to protect yourself from data loss

As can be seen from the above recovery methods, a very important factor is the timely creation of backup copies both on your computer and in the cloud. Equipment can always fail, even if it is from the premium price segment. Therefore, it is always worth playing it safe and keeping an ace up your sleeve in the form of regular copying of important data. And this applies not only to phone numbers, but also to all information that is important to you personally. You can delete backups only if more recent ones have already been made.

Video instructions for restoring contacts on iPhone

You can restore your contacts, calendars and reminders, or Safari bookmarks and reading list from an earlier version that was automatically archived in iCloud. For example, you might want to restore an earlier version of your contacts to recover some that were accidentally deleted.

When you restore an earlier version, your current version is first archived in iCloud so you can change your mind and go back to it.

Restore your contacts

You can restore your contacts and contact groups from an earlier version that was automatically archived in iCloud.

If you change your mind, you can restore the contacts you were using. Just follow the steps above to restore the most recent version available.

Restore your calendars and reminders

You can restore your calendars and events together with your reminders and reminder lists from an earlier version that was automatically archived in iCloud.

If you have shared calendars or shared reminder lists, all sharing information is removed when you restore calendars and reminders. You have to share your calendars and reminder lists again, and ask other people to reinvite you to share their calendars and reminder lists.

Note: If you don't have any shared calendars or shared reminder lists, you can skip steps 1, 2, and 5.

The restored calendars, events, reminders, and reminder lists appear on all your devices set up for iCloud Calendars and Reminders.

If you change your mind, you can restore the calendars, events, reminders, and reminder lists you were using. Just follow steps 3 through 5 above to restore the most recent version available.

Restore your Safari bookmarks and reading list

If you change your mind, you can restore the Safari bookmarks and reading list you were using. Just follow the steps above to restore the most recent version available.