Restoring phone then syncing contacts without restoring from backup
This past weekend I went to the Genius Bar to discuss problems I've been having with my iPhone 3GS (software version 4.1) The tech at the Genius Bar told me my best option was to restore my iPhone and I asked if I should restore from backup after and his response was no the same problems I'm having will just reappear. So naturally I asked how I would get my contacts back and he said by syncing them but I am confused. I've owned iPhones for awhile and have never encountered this problem and would like a step by step guide (if its even possible) on how to retrieve my contacts once my phone is restored and set up as new before I go ahead and erase everything off my phone. Thanks in advance for any help anyone has to offer.
Your contacts should be available in an address book application on your computer with or without an iPhone or any cell phone. Not a good idea to depend on your cell phone alone for such important data which can be lost or stolen.
Nothing personal but it is beyond me how so many people that post here don't have their contacts available on their computer, or have email addresses only available for their contacts on their computer, phone numbers only available for their contacts on their cell phone which they have manually entered one by one, and mailing/physical addresses for their contacts who knows where.
Contacts are designed to be synced with a supported address book application on your computer. With a Mac, this can be with the Address Book application and with a Windoze PC this can be with Outlook 2003, 2007, or 2010 along with syncing calendar events and notes, or with the address book application used by Outlook Express with XP and with Windows Mail on Vista and Windows 7 called Windoze Contacts for syncing contacts only.
Before syncing with a supported address book application on your computer if the application is empty, enter one contact in the supported address book application on your computer. This will provide a merge prompt with the first sync for this data, which you want to select. Syncing with a supported address book application on your computer is selected under the Info tab for your iPhone sync preferences with iTunes.
Similar Messages
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After restoring my iphone 4 to factory settings, then restoring from a recent backup, my phone will reboot but keeps coming back to the "new setup or restore from backup screen". How can I by-pass this screen to go directly to the sync apps/music screen?
Well, it's certainly behaving as though the phone that was backed up was synced to a different iTunes library.
I'm going to throw one more thing out there... Yes, you backed it up to this computer... Was the phone previously set up to sync with this computer? Or was it syncing with a different computer and you just backed it up to this one?
You may have to end up setting it up as a new device and rebuilding the phone by manually re-syncing your data, apps, music, etc. to the phone.
Trying to keep your library on a different drive can be tricky. If iTunes starts up and the library isn't available, it may end up generating a new library ID, meaning that you could easily find yourself in exactly the position you're in now...
I'm curious why there was a need to restore your phone to begin with... It may not have any bearing on this at all, but it could. -
After restoring from backup on a new phone (same model, just replacement) all my apps are showing as waiting....I have sync'd but still without any joy - this has been going on for hours
It just means some spammer is using your email address as the sender address for their spam. This is very easy to do - anyone can do it simply by changing the From email address in their email program. It does not mean your account was hacked or you have a virus (there are no current Mac viruses on the loose anyway, nor has there been for years).
There's nothing you can do about it. It can happen to anyone and the spammers will move on to using someone else's email address before long. -
Just bought new Mac pro when I sync my iPhone 4 i lost all my contacts on the phone .tried restoring from backup no luck .is there any way I can retrieve my contacts
Why don't you just restore the to your pc from your most recent backup? You'll get the warning about erasing the media on the phone, but since you'll have all of your media and apps restored from backup, you shouldn't have much of a problem.
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The last time I backed my phone up, my contacts disappeard. So I went back in and "restored from backup." When the restore job finished, I opened up my "recent calls" and the names of my recent callers appeared for about 30 seconds and then they turned back into phone numbers. No contacts appear in my contact list.
I called apple-care and all they're interested in is trying to get me to give them money.
I tried free support from this website but the person on the other end was clueless...utterly clueless....did not even understand what I meant when I uttered the phrase "restore from backup." I had to take him through the process I had just gone through step by painstaking step, and all he could do was ask me why I didn't have my contacts.
Is there anyone here whocan help with this?
PLEASE...help me.Wjosten,
You are absolutely correct, they are very much apart of the backup. I lost all my contacts and did the same thing as you, restored a previous backup. Upon completion of the restore, all my contacts were there. Like you, after 30 seconds, mine too erased. I tried to mess with iCloud with no luck, after re-establishing connection with either wi-fi or cellular, my contacts erased.
I tried several times and was able to finally get my contacts copied over from the restore, here is how but only works if you have the restore available with the contacts still present.
1. Restore from the previous backup (you must watch your phone because you have to be ready for the next step)
2. When your phone restarts, immediately place your phone in "airplane mode" to stop it from connecting to the cloud and wiping away your contacts. (Your contacts will remain until airplane mode is turned off)
3. Within iTunes, search for and download "My Contacts Backup" which is FREE and does not need to connect to the Internet to work.
4. Within iTunes, under the iPhone, navigate to the App's tab and find "My Contacts Backup" and click the install button to have it installed onto your phone.
5. After installed, run the "My Contacts Backup" and follow the prompts. Do not change any settings, they are already properly set up. After it copies all the contacts, it is ready to e-mail out. Email them to an address you can get on your phone.
6. Turn off airplane mode (this will delete the contacts as said above but we have a backup.)
7. Open the e-mail and click on the attachment. Follow the short steps and all your contacts will re-populate.
If you are like me, this fix also took care of my iMac and iPad contacts. I have all 400 contacts back. I hope this helps if you haven't found a fix or anyone that finds this page in the future. While trying to fix this, I stumbled across software that was over $100.00 to fix this problem. This is the free way
FYI - I had the iPhone 5 running 6.0.2
Good luck,
Reed -
ihone 4s lost all contacts. I tried to restore from backup but the error message now says there is not enough room. I have deleted all the apps without making any more room on iphone. Why did contact disappear and how do I get them back?
In the simplest sense, archiving a file means making a copy that you never change and never discard. You already know how to do that.
iPhoto has built-in archival features, in the sense that it saves all versions of an image that you've modified. As long as you have adequate backups, you don't necessarily have any reason to archive an iPhoto library. If you want to delete images from the working library but still have access to them in case you change your mind, then you do need to archive those images. I don't have a specific suggestion as to how you should do that. You might post a question in the iPhoto forum. -
Hi i have a question, I'm trying to back up my iPhone to iTunes but it says restore from backup or setup up as new device. if i setup as new device will everything be deleted? if yes then how would i back it up without anything being deleted
Following is a link to instructions on how to backup (either via iTunes and via iCloud) http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766
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Hi, I upgraded my girlfriend's iPad 2 using my iMac, however, her iPad was sync with her PC. Although I've made backup earlier, when I restore from backup the apps doesn't sync back, neither her documents on pages. How can I put then back to her iPad?
The backup saves many settings, but it copies photos and other files from the computer back to the iPad after IOS5 wipes the disk. Plugging it into her computer will re-sync it.
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My iPhone has crashed during a sync and now I can't restore from backup as it is asking for password to load the backup yet neither the lock code for the phone or my iTunes Password are working... I have no other password to call upon and need the restore to retrieve info onto my phone, I am a real novice to this...... please help, !!!!
If anyone else is looking for a solution to this same problem, I was able to get it working looking through several older discussions.
The solution was to use the password that I had on my iTunes account the very first time I set up the iPhone about a year ago. I changed my iTunes password about 10 months ago; but apparently, the backups continue to use the password that existed when the phone was first set up.
A couple of troubling things with this are that 1) I didn't apply a password when I did the backup this afternoon so I don't understand why it was required when I did the restore a few hours later. and 2) it makes zero sense why iTunes would not be smart enough to use the current accout password when requiring the password to restore from a backup made with no password.
I thought iTunes and Apple were smarter than that. With so many posts stating exactly the same problem, it is clear that this is bug in the software.
Best,
Craig -
I upgraded fro iphone4 to iphone5. i restored from backup in iCloud, and almost everything is there perfectly. there was one app on the phone, which i clicked on to finish the install, but it then disappeared. in my iTunes, under library/apps, this app still shows there. how do i reinstall this app. it was a paid app, and i searched the app store, and apparently it is no longer there.
any help would be greatly appreciated.It appears to be fixed, he had multiple versions of iTunes installed (since he put his iTunes in a different folder) the iTunes icon launched the old iTunes, even though the new was installed. it's working now.
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play a song from itunes? it will show the art work then skip three or four songs and start playing! How can I get it to play the songs I touch? This is a new phone but has been restored from backup. Not even all my icloud music is showing
Hi amorg1876,
If your iPhone is skipping over certain songs, you may want to check out this article:
Troubleshooting songs that skip
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3217
Cheers!
- Ari -
I lost my iphone4 and replaced it with a 4s. It's been a year since my last sync. Do I set up my phone as "new" or "restore from backup?" Im hoping game center will automatically have a current record of game data...please help or advise.thx
Restore from backup.
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All contacts disappeared on iPhone - Can't restore from backup, iCloud now gone too
Just sitting and watching TV and having some minor text conversations on my phone (5S).. Next thing I know a message pops up without a name and the +1 area code an number.. The message is from the same person and number I was just texting. Strange I thought.. Pulled up my contacts and "no contacts" is displayed. Checked my settings.. iCloud contacts are still enabled.. reset my phone.. reset network settings.. nothing helped.. I thought, no big deal.. I backup every night.
First time restoring from backup, I saw all the contacts there and thought i was in the clear.. 10 seconds later, they disappear before my eyes! Getting very frustrated i tried an older backup. They don't even show up. I log into iCloud on my laptop and they are there for 2-3 seconds and disappear.
I've been using iPhone's since the original and have the new phone every year.. I pretty good with these phones, but this has me stumped/very frustrated. Has anyone experienced this or found a solution? I'm out all my contacts from the last 8 years.. Thinking I never had to worry because I've backed up!
Any help is greatly appreciated!!
RyanI don't think that is the case.. I noticed they were there when I would first complete a restore from backup but as soon as my apps started loading they would disappear again.
I got them back by immediately turning on airplane mode as soon as I completed the restore. I the turned off iCloud sync and selected keep contacts on this phone. turned iCloud back on and selected merge contacts.
First time I tried that it worked for a minute until the apps started to update again, I believe it might have been WhatsApp, then, what do you know, contacts gone again. I repeated the process and, this time, I deleted all my apps. Seems to be working ok now. All contacts have stayed.
Is it possible that an auto update for an app that accesses your contacts could have a bug that does this? Whatever it was, I am very glad I got them back.
Ryan -
Hi. I have an iphone 4 that I have just installed ios7 onto. I had backed up the phone prior.
After the software install the phone rebooted and showed the 'Hello' setup. I am stuck because as part of the setup it asks me to 'restore from backup via itunes". I dont understand why i need to do this as I thought the ios7 install procedure would restore the phone with it's content.
I tried to restore from backup but it says I cant because there is not enough space on the phone. If I connect the phone to itunes, it shows that the phone has all my content, especially since iphoto launches and I can see all the photos it wants to download to iphoto off the phone.
I am caught in a loop. My phone has it's content, but the startup procedure on the phone will not let me progress until I have restored from backup via itunes. But it cant because the phone has no space!!
The only other option it gives is 'Set up as new phone".
Can anyone help please. Thanks.You should be syncing your contacts with an app on your computer or cloud service (iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, etc), and not relying on a backup. If you haven't been doing this, start now and then restore your old backup. You will then be able to sync the new contacts back into the phone. However, you will lose all messages, etc newer thant the backup.
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I have fully up-to-date everything on my iPhone and computer and iTunes. I have an iPhone5 and MacBook Pro. I synced my iPhone this morning and it has 12 or so gigs of free space (even with my music and some photos on it). Then I deleted some voice memos in iTunes, and wanted to sync again to reclaim the space. When I tried, it said I had 29G of "other" data and that my phone was way over capacity and can't sync. I tried a few online solutions to force it to recalculate, but now it says it is about 90% "other"!! Only 8G of 64G free, and "other" is the ONLY thing in the summary bar.
I un-checked music for syncing, thinking that must be the problem. It did not help. Now there is nothing on my phone except "other", according to iTunes (not even photos).
I cannot restore from backup now, since the backup includes the giant "other". I don't want to delete my info on my phone knowing a corrupted backup is my only alternative.
Help!Thanks so much Meg. Unfortunately, iTunes is the program I use to perform syncing. I don't really have other outside options. It is also the location of the backup I would use to restore my phone, and my only way to reclaim important data. I am concerned that, since the last backup occurred when the "other" bar was only moderately huge (around 29G I think), that a backup would replicate the problem back onto my phone.
My contacts, etc. are all in address book and the calendar app on my Mac. As far as I know, iTunes is the way to get them back, but iTunes is where the problem is.
Any thoughts on this?
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