Contacts disappearing or not syncing with iCloud under iOS 7.1.2? Here's the fix!

[Guest Allyson Kazmucha]

 

Did you add a contact to your iPhone running iOS 7.1.2 only to find that it doesn't show up in your Contacts app? Or perhaps it isn't syncing to your other devices via iCloud like it's supposed to. I recently had a friend experience this issue and a few days later I did too. As it turns out, the problem isn't actually iCloud at all. Luckily, the fix is super simple!

 

How to default back to saving new contacts to iCloud

 

 

For most folks experiencing this problem, the issue is that their iPhone or iPad somehow defaults to the On my iPhone contacts group after upgrading to iOS 7.1.2. The problem actually isn't iCloud sync at all. This explains why they aren't showing up across devices as well. All you've got to do to fix the issue is change the default in Settings back to iCloud.

 

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
   
2. Tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars — you'll need to scroll down a ways.
   
3. Under Contacts, tap on Default Account.
   
4. Make sure iCloud is selected and NOT On my iPhone.
   

 

 

Unfortunately, there's no way to toggle where contacts are saved to after adding them so to get the missing contacts into iCloud, you'll need to copy the numbers and create new entries after you've defaulted back to iCloud syncing. Here's how to find the missing contacts so you know which ones you need to re-add:

 

How to weed out disappearing contacts on your iPhone or iPad

 

1. Launch the Phone app on your iPhone or iPad.
   
2. Tap on Groups at the top left.
   
3. Uncheck All iCloud and check All on My iPhone.
   
4. Tap Done at the top.
   
5. You should now see a list of all the contacts that aren't syncing or are missing from other devices.
   

 

 

For most folks, the problem group will be All on My iPhone. Once you have a list of who you need to re-add, just be sure you have iCloud selected under groups before re-adding. The easiest way to make sure is to hide the On My iPhone group again.

 

If you've had strange issues with contact syncing under iOS 7.1.2, give the above steps a try and see if you can not only find your missing contacts, but fix the issue permanently.

 

 

 

 

 

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