If you have accidentally deleted important contacts from your phone, don’t panic. There are several ways you can try to recover deleted contacts on both iPhone and Android devices.
Quick Summary
Here are some quick answers to common questions about recovering deleted contacts:
- On iPhone, recently deleted contacts may still be in the “Recently Deleted” folder in the Contacts app for up to 30 days.
- On Android, deleted contacts may be in the Trash folder of the Contacts app for up to 30 days.
- You can restore contacts from a previous backup of your phone – either iCloud backup on iPhone or Google backup on Android.
- Third party apps like Fonelab can extract contacts from a backup and allow you to selectively restore deleted contacts.
- If the contacts were synced with an account like Gmail, you may be able to restore the deleted contacts by syncing the account again.
Recovering Recently Deleted Contacts on iPhone
If you have an iPhone, your recently deleted contacts may still be lurking in the “Recently Deleted” album inside the Contacts app. Here’s how to check:
- Open the Contacts app on your iPhone
- Scroll down and tap “Groups” at the bottom
- Scroll down and tap “Recently Deleted” to open it
- If you see your deleted contacts here, tap the contact you want to restore
- Tap “Recover” to restore the contact back to your contacts
Contacts will only stay in the Recently Deleted album for up to 30 days after being deleted. After 30 days, they will be permanently deleted. So make sure to recover important contacts before they are gone for good!
Recovering Deleted Contacts from Trash on Android
Many Android phones will send deleted contacts to the Trash folder, where they remain for up to 30 days before being deleted forever. Here’s how to check the Trash for your deleted contacts:
- Open the Contacts app on your Android phone
- Tap the Menu button (3 vertical dots)
- Select “Trash”
- If you see your deleted contacts here, tap to open the contact you want to restore
- Tap “Restore” to move the contact back to your contacts
As with iPhone, deleted contacts only stay in the Trash for up to 30 days on Android. Make sure to recover important contacts before that period ends.
Recovering from App or Cloud Backup
If your deleted contacts are no longer in the “Recently Deleted” album on iPhone or the Trash folder in Android, don’t lose hope yet. You may still be able to recover them from a backup:
- iCloud backup – On iPhone, your contacts may be stored in an iCloud backup that you can restore from.
- Google backup – On Android, your contacts are usually backed up to your Google account automatically.
- iTunes backup – If you used to sync your iPhone with iTunes, an old iTunes backup on your computer may contain the deleted contacts.
Here are the basic steps to restore contacts from a backup:
- Make sure you have a recent backup from before the contacts were deleted.
- Select the option to restore your phone data and settings from the backup.
- Once the restore is complete, your deleted contacts should reappear.
Note that restoring an entire backup will overwrite your current phone data and settings. If you only want to selectively recover deleted contacts, use a dedicated contacts recovery app like Fonelab instead.
Using Fonelab to Recover Deleted Contacts
Instead of fully restoring a phone backup, tools like Fonelab allow you to selectively recover deleted contacts from an iCloud or iTunes backup on iPhone, or a Google backup on Android.
The key steps when using Fonelab for deleted contact recovery are:
- Connect your phone or the backup file to Fonelab.
- Scan for deleted contacts within the backup.
- Preview and selectively restore the deleted contacts you want.
This table compares the different options for recovering deleted contacts:
| Method | Phone Types | Success Rate | Restore Other Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recently Deleted / Trash | iPhone, Android | Moderate | No |
| Full Backup Restore | iPhone, Android | High | Yes |
| Fonelab | iPhone, Android | High | No |
As you can see, Fonelab provides the most targeted solution to recover deleted contacts without disturbing your other phone data.
Syncing Contacts to External Account
If your deleted contacts were saved to an external account such as Gmail, Exchange, iCloud, or another address book that syncs with your phone, you may be able to restore the deleted contacts by syncing that account again.
On iPhone, make sure the external account sync is turned on in Settings > Contacts > Accounts. Then pull down to sync on the Contacts screen.
On Android, go to Settings > Accounts, tap the account type, and make sure Contacts sync is enabled. You can also open the Contacts app and tap Menu > Accounts to sync.
This will reorder your contacts based on the sync account. Check if the previously deleted contacts reappear after the sync completes.
Using Contact Backup Apps
Some third party apps like Syncios can backup your contacts separately from your phone system. If you had used such an app before the contacts were deleted, you may be able to restore the contacts from the app’s own backup.
Similarly, if you used to sync your contacts to Outlook or another address book on your computer, you may have an old contacts file (.vcf file) that contains the deleted contact details.
When Deleted Contacts Are Gone for Good
In some situations, your deleted contacts may be permanently gone and unrecoverable through normal means:
- You deleted contacts long time ago, not recently
- You don’t have a recent backup that contains the contacts
- The contacts were not synced to any external account
If you find yourself in this position, your last resort is to use professional data recovery services to attempt to extract contacts from your phone. However, this is expensive, has low success rate, and risks further data damage.
To avoid this situation in future, make sure to regularly backup your phone and sync contacts to multiple sources. Enable deleted contact recovery features like Recently Deleted album on iPhone.
Conclusion
Here are some key tips to summarize how to recover deleted contacts:
- First check the Recently Deleted album on iPhone or Trash folder on Android soon after deletion
- Restore contacts from iCloud or iTunes backup on iPhone, Google backup on Android phones
- Use Fonelab to selectively recover contacts from backup files
- Resync accounts like Gmail to restore synced contacts
- Restore from third party backup apps if available
- Set up regular backups and sync contacts externally to avoid permanent deletion
With the right tools and techniques, you have a great chance of getting back accidentally deleted contacts. Act quickly if you notice contacts are missing to improve your chances of recovery. Avoid third party data recovery as much as possible as it is expensive and risky.