"There are reports of iPhone contacts suddenly missing - showing only numbers, no names (except for Facebook contacts). Does anyone have a fix?"
- Cited from Apple Discussions Community
Suddenly find iPhone not showing contact names? iPhone contacts missing names does frequently happen on some devices. The following methods prove helpful if you are bothered by the iPhone contact names missing issue at present.
Part 1. Why Did My iPhone Contact Names Disappear?
Part 2. How to Fix iPhone Contacts Missing Names Issue?
Part 3. How to Recover Lost iPhone Contacts Names with/without Backup?
If iPhone contact names disappeared and only showed up numbers, a software or hardware problem is to be blamed for the issue. Below are possible glitches or bugs to lead to contacts in messages but not in Contacts on iPhone:
When iPhone contact names disappeared from your iPhone, it is not hard to find them back. We have concluded the top troubleshooting solutions here for your reference.
Restarting the iPhone can generally resolve all common glitches. Thus, when iPhone lost contact names, try restarting your iPhone to check whether the contact names come back.
If the contact names disappear from the phone calls or messages but still exist in the Contact app, you can edit any contact in the Contact app or add more contacts to refresh the contact database.
Sometimes, the iPhone contacts missing names result from the syncing issues between iPhone and iCloud. You can disable the Contacts option in iCloud for a while and enable it again to fix the issue quickly.
Then, the contacts will resync to your iPhone.
It is quite common for you to delete an email account that you no longer use from your iPhone. However, the contacts may have been synced to that email account and thus cause the contact name missing. For this, you can add the email account to your iPhone again to get the synced contacts.
Go to the Contacts app > tap Groups on the screen > choose the All on My iPhone option instead of All iCloud to make the contacts appear on your iPhone Contacts app.
This is another trick for the iPhone contacts missing names issue. You can have the issue fixed easily by changing the language and region and restarting your iPhone later.
1. Navigate to the iPhone's Settings > General > Language & Region.
2. Change the region to a different spot and force restart your iPhone.
Force restart an iPhone without the Home button: Press and release the Volume Up button > press and release the Volume Down button > press and hold the Power button until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
Force restart an iPhone with a Home button: Press and hold the Power + Home buttons simultaneously until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
3. Back to Settings > General > Language & Region and change to your region or country.
4. Check the Contacts app to see if the contacts display correctly.
Check more: Best iPhone Contacts Manager: Top 14 iOS Contact Management Apps
You can also ask Siri to get the contacts back. Siri can do much more than you think. Therefore, you can have a try this method.
To do this, you can open any random contact on your iPhone, edit the contact details, for example, adding a fax number, and save changes. Next, power off your device and power it up a few minutes later.
Network connection error may give rises to iPhone contacts missing names, too. To fix this problem, you can reset the network settings on your iPhone. For that, open iPhone's Settings > scroll down to General > tap Reset > choose the Reset Networking Settings option > confirm the operation.
To start with, go to iPhone's Settings > Contacts > Short Name. Next, please turn off the Short Name option and turn it on again. Or completely disable it to check whether the missing contact names return.
In some cases, the system glitches may also generate the iPhone contacts missing names. If you are patient in solving the problem, leave your iPhone alone and wait several days for the contacts to come back themselves.
If all the above ways cannot help, get yourself a professional iOS system recovery software to fix the iPhone contacts missing names issue. In this regard, I will recommend you try iOS System Recovery. It has helped millions of iOS users repair over 32 kinds of iOS system problems, including missing iPhone contact names, charge issues, battery drain, black/red/white/blue screen of death, iTunes error 4005, etc.
As it works for all iPhone models, like iPhone 13/12 Pro Max/12 Pro/12/12 mini/SE/11 Pro Max/11 Pro/11/XS Max/XS/XR/X/8, etc., you can freely give it a try to fix this problem.
Download this iOS System Recovery software for free below:
Here's what you can do:
1. Connect your iPhone to your computer.
Install and launch the iOS System Recovery on your computer. Next, connect your iPhone to the computer using a USB cable and choose More tools > iOS System Recovery on the interface.
2. Diagnose the iPhone problem.
The program will automatically detect the iOS system issue and display it on the interface. Then, tap the Start button to continue to the next steps.
3. Fix iPhone contacts missing names issue.
Confirm the iPhone information on the interface. If incorrect, select the right information from the drop-down lists. Once done, tap the Repair button to start fixing the problem.
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Suppose that you don't want to use any third-party apps to fix the problem. In that case, you can reach out to the Apple Support team for help. You can get in touch with them via the Apple website, telephone calls, or taking your device to the nearby Apple Store. Don't forget the original warranty or the AppleCare+ package of the iPhone with you. Then, you probably won't cost anything to get the problem fixed.
If you don't want to spend time attempting all the troubleshooting methods, there is still one way left - recovering the missing contacts from the iPhone without backup or from the iTunes backup. To do so, you need the powerful data recovery program - Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery.
The highlights of Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery:
* Two modes to get back the disappeared iPhone contacts.
* Recover from iOS Device: Selectively recover the deleted and existing contacts and messages from iPhone to a computer without backup and export the existing notes, calendars, voice memos, photos, music, videos, etc., to the computer for backup.
* Recover from iTunes Backup File: Selectively restore the deleted and existing data from the iTunes backup file to a computer, such as contacts, messages, message attachments, notes, note attachments, voice memos, calendars, Safari, photos, etc.
* Preview all content before recovery.
* No data damages and file format change happen during recovery.
* Support all iPhone models, including the latest iPhone 13, iPhone 12 Pro Max/12 Pro/12/12 mini, iPhone 11 Pro Max/11 Pro/11, etc.
1. Connect your iPhone to the computer.
After installing Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery on your computer, please open it and click the iOS Recovery module. Later, plug your iPhone into the computer via a USB cable.
2. Preview and select the wanted contacts to recover.
Once connected, you will see the interface below. Select Contacts on the interface and tap the Start Scan button to scan the contacts. Once finished, it will display all the contacts on the interface. Choose Contacts from the left panel to preview all contacts information.
3. Recover the disappeared contacts on iPhone.
After preview, check the wanted contacts to recover and tap the Recover to Computer button to save them to your computer.
1. Install Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery on the computer.
Download and run Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery on your computer and select the Recover from iTunes Backup File mode from the left sidebar.
2. Select an iTunes Backup file.
The program will automatically scan the default iTunes backup location on the computer. Please select a backup file from the list and tap the Start Scan button. (Note: If you cannot find the wanted file, please hit the Select button to pick the iTunes backup file from other customized folders.)
3. Restore the lost iPhone contacts from iTunes backup.
Choose Contacts on the data type selection interface and hit the Start Scan button. Once it finishes scanning and displays all the categories on the left, pick the Contacts option and preview all the contact info.
Finally, tick off the contacts you want to restore and press the Recover to Computer button to store them to the computer.
Tip: Don't want to lose iPhone contacts again? Check this guide to see how to back up iPhone contacts.
We hope the methods introduced above can help you fast fix the iPhone contacts missing names issue. iOS System Recovery is the best choice to fix system problems without data loss. Meanwhile, Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery is the ideal way to recover lost contacts in minutes. You can select one way according to your demands. That's all for iPhone not showing contact names.
If you run into difficulties when using the above ways, please tell us in the comments below.
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