- If contacts are not showing up on your iPhone, there are several ways you can troubleshoot and fix the problem.
- There are a lot of potential settings to check: make sure no contacts are hidden and that contacts are enabled for each email account.
- You can also turn iCloud backup on and off and make sure all your iOS devices are set up to back up properly.
When you add someone to your iPhone’s Contacts app, you expect that person to always be close at hand. And usually it is. But sometimes your contact list is not working as expected and some of your contacts are not showing up on your iPhone.
There can be many reasons, but here are seven ways to troubleshoot and fix the problem when your contacts are not showing up on your iPhone.
Restart your iPhone
If you troubleshoot computer (or smartphone) issues from time to time, you’ll quickly learn that many common problems are caused by a temporary software glitch, and it’s often easily fixed by simply restarting your phone. If you need a refresher, here’s how to restart any iPhone. After the phone restarts, check if the contacts you are looking for are still missing.
Sometimes the reason you can’t see all of your contacts is obvious in hindsight; for some reason they were previously set to hidden. To check this possibility, start the application where the contacts are missing, such as the Call the app or the contacts app, then press Groups on the top corner left. Were some groups not selected? Faucet Show all contacts at the bottom of the screen then Do.
If some contacts are missing, you may be hiding some groups.
Dave Johnson/Insider
If you have multiple email accounts on your iPhone, be aware that each account can also have its own contact list. Contacts may be disabled for one or more of these accounts. To check, run the Settings app, then press Mail. On the Email page, tap Accounts. Check each account: tap an account name and, if it has an entry for contactsmake sure it’s enabled by swiping the button to the right.
Make sure you haven’t disabled contacts from any of your email accounts.
Dave Johnson/Insider
You’ve probably backed up your iPhone to iCloud before, and part of that backup includes your contacts. But if you have multiple devices, you should back them all up to iCloud. If you added a contact on your iPad, for example, unless you sync both the iPad and your iPhone with iCloud, the new iPad contact will never reach your phone.
On your iPhone, start the Settings app and press your account name at the top of the screen. Faucet iCloud then make sure contacts is activated by sliding the button to the right. Now repeat this process on your iPad to ensure that all contacts end up on both devices.
Make sure to sync all your contacts across all devices via iCloud.
Dave Johnson/Insider
Resync with iCloud
It’s possible that some of your contacts are stored in iCloud but for some reason aren’t getting to your phone when iCloud regularly syncs with your devices. You can often fix this problem by turning off iCloud and then turning it back on. To do this, start Settings on your iPhone and tap your account name at the top of the screen. Faucet iCloud then turn off contacts by sliding the button to the left. From the context menu, choose Keep on my iPhone. Wait a moment, then slide this button to the right to turn it back on. Select Merge to combine your phone contacts with iCloud.
After a few minutes, all of your contacts should resync and hopefully your missing contacts will appear.
Disable short name
Short name is a setting for contacts that makes it easier to read your contacts, but sometimes this feature may conflict with third-party apps. Try disabling this feature to see if it fixes the problem: Start the Settings then choose contacts. Faucet short name and turn off short name by sliding the button to the left.
Try disabling short names to see if that fixes your contacts issue.
Dave Johnson/Insider
Check for iOS updates
Finally, it’s always possible, but unlikely, that a bug or software incompatibility on your iPhone has affected the Contacts app’s ability to display all of your contacts. You should check that your iPhone’s operating system is fully up-to-date and ensure that the Call and contacts apps are also updated.