Contacts Not Showing Up On Your iPhone? Here Are 7 Things To Try

Adding people to your Contacts application on your iPhone means you expect them to always be at your fingertips. Generally, that’s what happens. But you mustn’t take this for granted because sometimes you might be disappointed.

Suppose you need to call someone urgently, and you open the Contacts app on your phone. But, alas! Some or all of your contacts are not showing up on your phone.

Fortunately, all’s not lost because there are a few methods to fix this problem. However, before delving into the fixes, taking proper precautions to avoid losing your contacts would be best. As soon as you start using your phone, you must backup iPhone contacts. You can back up your contacts within minutes using the AnyTrans application or iCloud. You can even back it up to your Gmail account.

Now let’s look at how to fix the problem of contacts not showing up on your iPhone.

1.   Restart Your Phone

If you have been using your phone (or computer) for a long time, you already know that most problems are easily solved by restarting your device. Generally, the most common issues are caused by a temporary glitch, and refreshing the system can put things back in order.

So, if you cannot see the contacts on your phone, restart it.

2.   Update ios

A software incompatibility or a bug may have affected your iPhone’s contacts from not being displayed to you. This can be solved by updating the iOS.

Also, check whether the Contacts and Phone applications are updated. If not, update them.

3.   Check The Settings And Ensure The Contacts List Isn’t Hidden

If you have hidden your contacts, they will not be displayed. Therefore, before losing your mind, you must check whether it is set to hidden.

Open the Phone or Contacts app on your iPhone > tap Lists > tap All Contacts to view all the saved contacts. Then, check whether you can see the contacts that were previously missing.

4.   Re-sync Contacts with iCloud

Re-syncing the Contacts app with iCloud may solve the issue and display the missing contacts.

You must first disable iCloud access to the Contacts app and then re-enable it. To do this, open the Settings app > tap on your name > choose iCloud > Show All > toggle off Contacts under the Apps using iCloud page > choose Keep on My iPhone to save copies of the synced contacts to your phone. You can even choose the Delete from My iPhone option if you wish. And do not worry because choosing this option will not make your contacts disappear.

Next, re-enable Contacts and Merge the existing contacts.

Check whether the contacts are restored. If not, continue reading for more fixes.

5.   Change the Contact Account Settings

The visibility of the contacts might be affected due to the Account settings. First, you must ensure all your connected accounts have Contacts sync enabled. You can do this by going to the Settings app > tapping Contacts > selecting Accounts under Contacts > tapping each account and ensuring Contacts is toggled on.

If a contact from any of your connected accounts was not showing up, this may help to resolve the issue.

6.   Disable Short Name

Short Name is a setting in the iPhone Contacts application that ensures it is easier for you to read the contacts. Although this feature is intended to help you, it may sometimes interfere with third-party applications. You can disable this feature to see if the contacts are properly displayed on your iPhone.

To disable Short Name, open the Settings application on your phone > tap Contacts > Short Name > disable Short Name by swiping the toggle button to the left.

7.   Get Tech Support From Apple Support

So, have you tried all the steps mentioned above? Has nothing worked?

If your contacts are still not showing up on your iPhone, you may want to seek help from the Apple Support team. The tech team’s assistance might be the last resort to display your contacts and get you out of this pickle. The technicians will assist you in getting to the bottom of the issue and will solve it for you. But, unfortunately, you have to go down to the Apple service center and may have to stay away from your phone for a few hours or days.

Alternatively, you can browse through the Apple support community to look for solutions offered by iPhone users. You can even post your issue on the form and seek help from other users.

The Bottom Line

So, these are the things to try if you cannot see your saved contacts on your iPhone. Also, remember to always back up your iPhone contacts, so you have the peace of mind they’re saved somewhere and can be retrieved whenever you want.

Has a different solution worked for you than the ones mentioned above? Do not hesitate to share.