5 Effective Ways to Fix iPhone Not Showing Contact Names Issue

“I didn’t do anything to my contacts while my contact names disappeared from iPhone all of a sudden. Now, I can only see phone numbers without knowing who it is on my contacts app. What can I do to get my contacts back with names?” - Jessie

Many iPhone users have met the same problem of losing iPhone contact names, especially after iOS 11 update. To fix iPhone contacts missing names issue, this post is worth reading. Just read through the following solutions to find a fix.

Way 1: Use Siri to Restore iPhone Contacts

Siri works with many apps on iPhone, such as contacts, messages, calendars, etc. Therefore, it is the most direct way to restore iPhone contacts. You can place a phone call to someone by speaking to Siri like “Call Lucy’s mobile”. If Siri gives a response and begin to call, then you will know the exact person behind the contacts missing names.

Way 2: Find Contacts on iCloud

Make sure you have turned iCloud on before you lost contact names. You can go to Settings > iCloud/ Settings > Apple ID > iCloud to check it. If you have already synced contacts to iCloud, restart your iPhone, then you can find them easily. However, if you still can’t find your contacts, you can bring them back with the steps below:

Step 1: On your iPhone, go to iCloud settings to turn off contacts syncing option.

Step 2: When asked to keep or delete contacts from your iPhone, choose delete. 

Step 3: Switch the “Contacts” option to on and then you will get your contacts back.

Way 3: Recover Contacts from Email Account 

Go to Settings > Contacts > Accounts to check which email account(s) you have synced your contacts to. Choose an email account and turn on contacts under this account to restore your contacts.

Note: If you have synced to an email account deleted from your iPhone, you can re-add this email account to your iPhone and get your contacts back as well.

Way 4: Restore Contacts from iTunes/iCloud Backup

Actually, this method is not recommended if you only lost contacts names on iPhone. If you adopt this solution, you have to restore your iPhone and the existing data on your iPhone will be totally replaced by the backup you choose to restore from. If so, you might as well try Way 5!

Way 5: Most Effective - Recover Contacts with Software for Free

No matter whether you lost contacts names or even deleted the whole contacts on iPhone, this is the most effective and ultimate way to get your precious contacts back. All you need is a recovery software - Jihosoft iPhone Data Recovery.

This software enables you to find and preview your lost/deleted contacts for free as well as extract contacts form iTunes/iCloud backup effortlessly. You can check the “Guide” on this software download page to learn the details on how to use this software or simply look at this video:

How to Recover Lost/Deleted Contacts on iPhone for Free

How to Restore Contacts on iPhone X/8/7/6/5 for Free

Every establishment of Apple’s products will make a huge stir, including the newest iPhone X and iPhone 8 (Plus) released with iOS 11. Luckily, even without the newest iPhone, one can still update to the newest iOS 11 for better experience. However, many people find iPhone contacts missing problem after upgrading to the newest iOS 11. Have you met the same problem? If yes, what can you do to get contacts back on iPhone?

Actually, no matter what causes your iPhone contacts missing problem, you can restore contacts on iPhone X/8/7/6/5 for free with the following methods.

Method 1: Retrieve Deleted Contacts on iPhone with iCloud Backup

If you have synced your contacts to iCloud, you can go to iCloud and sign in with your Apple ID first; then click “Contacts” to find the contacts you have backed up; next, you can choose the contacts you want and click “Export vCard” to save these on your computer; finally, you can send the vCard file as an email to yourself and receive it on your iPhone.

Note: If you want to recover all the contacts at one time, you can tap the gear and click “Select All” and then tap the gear again to click “Export vCard”.

Method 2: Get Contacts Back on iPhone from Google Contacts

You can also recover deleted iPhone contacts from Google contacts backup. Follow the steps to get them back to your iPhone:

Step 1: Go to Settings>Mails, Contacts, Calendars>Add Account>Google;
Step 2: Sign in with your Google account and then tap “Next” in the top right corner;
Step 3: Make sure to toggle the “Contacts” switch to “On” and then tap “Save” in the upper right corner.

Method 3: Recover Deleted Contacts from iPhone with Recovery Software

Even if you don’t have iCloud or Google backup of your contacts, you still got a chance to recover them. All you need is Jihosoft iPhone Contacts Recovery software.

This software enables you to recover contacts from iPhone X/8/7/6/5 directly. Just download this software on your computer and see how to do with it:

Step 1: Launch this software and you will see as the following picture shows.

Step 2: Connect your iPhone to the computer. Make sure to tap “Trust” on your iPhone if you are asked during the process.
Step 3: Click “Start Scan” to let the software scan your iPhone data once your iPhone connected successfully to the computer.
Step 4: Preview the deleted data, choose “Contacts” and click “Recover” to restore them.

Related video:
How to Recover Deleted Contacts on iPhone for Free