How to Restore Deleted Contacts on an iPhone or Android Phone

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This is for you if… you deleted a contact by mistake, changed phone, or opened Contacts and realised an important number has disappeared.

I was helping someone in Saffron Walden who had deleted a family contact while trying to tidy duplicates. Thankfully, the phone was syncing with iCloud, so we could recover it instead of rebuilding everything by hand.

Before you start

Do not reset your phone, delete accounts or turn off syncing in a panic. First, check whether the contact is hidden, stored in another account, or recoverable from iCloud or Google.

Step-by-step: search for the contact first

  1. Open the Contacts app.
  2. Tap the search box at the top.
  3. Search the person’s first name.
  4. If that does not work, search their surname.
  5. Try a nickname, company name, or part of their phone number.
  6. Check whether the contact is saved under a slightly different name.

Step-by-step: restore deleted contacts on iPhone

  1. Open a web browser on a computer, tablet or phone.
  2. Go to iCloud.com.
  3. Sign in with the Apple ID used on the iPhone.
  4. Open account settings or data recovery options.
  5. Look for Restore Contacts.
  6. Choose a restore point from before the contact disappeared.
  7. Read the warning carefully because restoring may replace recent contact changes.
  8. Confirm only if you are happy to continue.
  9. Wait for the contacts to sync back to the iPhone.

Step-by-step: restore deleted contacts on Android

  1. Open a web browser.
  2. Go to contacts.google.com.
  3. Sign in with the Google account used on the phone.
  4. Look for Trash, Bin or Undo changes.
  5. If the deleted contact is there, select it.
  6. Choose Recover or Restore.
  7. Wait a few minutes.
  8. Open Contacts on the phone and check whether it has returned.

If the contact is on an old phone

  1. Charge the old phone.
  2. Connect it to Wi-Fi.
  3. Open Contacts.
  4. Find the missing person.
  5. Check which account the contact is saved to.
  6. Use sharing, export, or account sync to move it properly.

Need help?

For ongoing help and peace of mind across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, see my membership. For one-off contact recovery help, you can book a visit.

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