How to Fix the Contacts Not Showing Up on iPhone 14/13/12 in Seconds?

"This is a problem I had for about a year since I upgraded to the iPhone X and had through all the iOS updates. All the contacts I enter don't show up on my contact list or my WhatsApp, but if I retype the number or someone calls me, they do. So far, the only workaround I've found for this is to immediately call them after entering. That makes them appear. The ones entered before I started using that method still don't show up even if I call them, so I have to delete and re-add them. You can see how that can be a problem. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!"

- Excerpted from Apple Support Community

Whenever you want to call someone in your contact list, you can do a simple search to find them. However, there are times when saved contacts are not showing up on the iPhone. Why did my iPhone contact names disappear? And how to get my contacts to show back on my iPhone? If you are deeply troubled by the problem, flicking through this guide may enlighten you.

Part 1. Why Are My Contacts Not Showing Up on My iPhone?

Various factors may cause contacts not to load on your iPhone. Generally, you will encounter this error after upgrading or restoring the iPhone 14/13/12. Besides, there are also other culprits for iPhone 12/11 contacts not showing:

• You have signed in with the wrong Apple ID.
• You have switched off the groups.
• iOS glitches.
• iPhone cannot access iCloud contacts.
• iPhone cannot access the contacts synced with Yahoo, Gmail, etc.
• You have mistakenly turned on the Hide All Contacts option.
• iTunes syncing errors.
• You have accidentally deleted contacts.
• Firmware/hardware issues.

Part 2. How to Fix the iPhone Contacts Not Showing Up Issue?

Trick 1. Restart Your iPhone

The first thing you can do is to restart your iPhone. Since a temporary system glitch may cause many common errors, like all contacts not showing on iPhone, app crashes, sluggish performance, etc., a simple restarting of your iPhone may fix the problem.

Trick 2. Ensure to Show All Contacts

Your iPhone usually shows contacts in groups with the associated accounts, and the hiding groups may trigger some contacts not showing up on iPhone. You must enable all contact groups on your iPhone to see them again.

• Open the Phone app on your iPhone and click Contacts.
• Click Groups at the upper-left corner > Show All Contacts > Done.

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Trick 3. Disable and Enable iCloud/Gmail/Yahoo Contacts

You can also turn off and on the iCloud/Gmail/Yahoo contacts to fix the system errors.

iCloud contacts:

• Navigate to iPhone's Settings > tap your name.
• Choose iCloud > toggle off iCloud Contacts.
• Tap Keep on My iPhone on the pop-up window.
• Reboot your iPhone.
• Toggle on iCloud Contacts again.

Yahoo/Gmail contacts:

• Head to iPhone's Settings > Contacts > Accounts.
• Choose the account you have synced your contacts to.
• Switch off Contacts and restart your device.
• Switch on Yahoo/Gmail Contacts again.

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Trick 4. Upgrade iOS to the Latest Version

Another easy way to fix ios bugs when new contacts are not showing up on an iPhone is to update your iPhone to the latest version. Here's how.

• Go to iPhone's Settings > General > Software Updates.
• Tap Download and Install if there is a newer version.

Trick 5. Make All Groups of Contacts Visible

If you have saved a contact to a contact group, but it is not showing up in Contacts, try the following steps.

• Open the Contacts app on your iPhone and click Groups at the top-left corner.
• Ensure you have checked All Groups.

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Trick 6. Sign Out and In Your Apple ID

iPhone contacts are not showing up when something is wrong with your Apple ID. So, you can sign out your Apple ID on your iPhone for a while and sign it in again. Note that it may cause data loss on your device.

• Go to Settings > tap your name.
• Click Sign Out and confirm the operation.
• After a few minutes, open Settings > tap your name > tap Sign In to log in to your Apple ID.

Trick 7. Rebuild the iPhone Contacts

You can also rebuild the contacts to get the missing contacts back. You have to edit one contact and restart your iPhone.

• Open the Phone app and choose one visible contact.
• Tap Edit at the upper-right corner and add some new details, like email, address, etc.
• Hit Done at the top-right corner and restart your iPhone.
• It will force rebuild all contact details when it powers on.

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Trick 8. Re-sync Contacts with iCloud

• Open the Settings app and tap your name.
• Choose iCloud > turn off Contacts > tap Keep on My iPhone to save the synced contacts to your iPhone.
• Turn on the Contacts option. If asked, click Merge on the popup.

Trick 9. Turn Off Short Name

Short Name is designed to make your contacts easier to read, but this feature often conflicts with third-party apps. Thus, you can turn off the feature to see whether it fixes the contacts not showing up on the iPhone issue.

• Open the Settings app > select Contacts.
• Click Short Name > disable Short Name.

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Trick 10. Restore Lost Contacts from iTunes/iCloud Backup

Assume you have backed up your iPhone with iTunes or iCloud before. You can restore the disappeared contacts from the iTunes or iCloud backup file to your iPhone. However, it may delete the existing iPhone data when restoring directly with iTunes or iCloud.

Option 1. Use iTunes

• Connect your iPhone to your computer via a USB cable and launch the latest version of iTunes.
• Tap the iPhone icon in the iTunes window and click Restore Backup under Summary.
• Pick the most recent iTunes backup and hit Restore.
• Wait for the restoring process to be complete.

Option 2. Using Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery

Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery is a handy tool that selectively restores contacts and other data from the iTunes backup file to your computer without connecting your iPhone. As a result, it won't cause data loss on your device.

Free Download for PC

Option 3. Using icloud.com

• Open icloud.com from a browser and sign in with the same Apple ID credentials with which you synced your iPhone contacts.
• Go to Account Settings > Advanced > Restore Contacts.
• Tap Restore next to the iCloud backup file you want to restore.

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Trick 11. Contact Apple Support

If all the above tips fail to get back your contacts, try contacting the Apple Support team for help. You can reach out to them on the Apple support official website and follow their suggestions.

The Bottom Line

We sincerely hope our tutorial will help you resolve the contacts not showing up on the iPhone issue. If you have made a backup of your iPhone with iTunes previously, you can use Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery to restore the missing contacts from the iTunes backup without data loss. Besides, you can also try other methods you want.

Please leave a comment below if you have anything to let us know.

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