How do I recover deleted contacts not backed up?

by
How do I recover deleted contacts not backed up

If you have accidentally deleted contacts from your phone and don’t have a backup, you may be worried that the contacts are lost forever. However, there are several ways you can attempt to recover deleted contacts even if you don’t have a backup.

Check Recently Deleted Folder

The first thing you should do is check your phone’s “recently deleted” folder if it has one. On many Android phones, deleted contacts are moved to a “recently deleted” folder before being permanently erased. On iPhones, recently deleted contacts may be found in the “Recently Deleted” album in the Photos app.

To check for recently deleted contacts on Android:

  1. Open your phone’s Contacts app
  2. Look for a “Recently deleted” folder or menu option
  3. See if any of your missing contacts are listed there
  4. If so, tap to restore the contacts you want to recover

On iPhone:

  1. Open the Photos app
  2. Go to the Albums tab
  3. Scroll down and tap “Recently Deleted”
  4. Look for any contacts’ photos and select “Recover” to restore them

This should restore any contacts deleted within the past 30 days on iPhone or up to 60 days on Android. Just be sure to act quickly, as contacts are only kept for a limited time before being permanently deleted.

Use a Contact Recovery App

If your deleted contacts are no longer in the “recently deleted” folder, your next option is to use a third-party contact recovery app. There are a few apps available (both free and paid) that can scan your phone and attempt to recover deleted contact files.

Android Contact Recovery Apps

  • FoneDog Toolkit-Android Data Recovery – Scans device for residual data left by deleted contacts and attempts recovery. Free trial available.
  • Dr.Fone – Recover (Android) – One of the most well-known Android data recovery apps. Offers a free trial.
  • Jihosoft Android Phone Recovery – Claims up to 95% recovery rate for deleted contacts. Free trial available.

iPhone Contact Recovery Apps

  • FoneDog Toolkit- iOS Data Recovery – Recovers lost contacts by scanning device for residual files. Free trial offered.
  • iMyFone D-Back – Claims ability to recover disappeared contacts on iPhone. Has a free trial.
  • Tenorshare UltData – Contact recovery app with 4.4/5 rating on Trustpilot. Free trial available.

To use these apps:

  1. Download and install the contact recovery app on your phone
  2. Grant the app the needed permissions to access contacts
  3. Scan your device for recoverable contacts
  4. Preview and selectively recover the contacts you want

Contact recovery apps provide one of the best chances to retrieve contacts if not in your deleted folder. But specialized apps can get expensive, so start with the free trials first.

Try Your Cloud Account

If you were previously backing up your contacts to a cloud service like Google Contacts or iCloud, there is a chance you can recover deleted contacts from the cloud even if they are gone from your phone.

Recover from Google Contacts

If you use an Android phone and previously had contact syncing enabled with your Google account, check your Google Contacts online:

  1. Go to contacts.google.com and log in
  2. Click “More” and select “Deleted contacts”
  3. See if any of your missing contacts are listed here and select “Restore” if so

If you have the Sync option enabled in your Google account on your phone, restoring the contacts here should also restore them to your phone.

Recover from iCloud

For iPhone users signed into iCloud, you can check iCloud.com for recoverable contacts:

  1. Go to iCloud.com and login
  2. Click Contacts to view your contacts
  3. See if any missing contacts are still listed and select to add them back

Restart your iPhone afterward and the restored iCloud contacts should sync back to your device.

Use Your Google Account History

If you have an Android phone and use Google Contacts, another option is trying to find deleted contacts in your Google account history:

  1. Go to history.google.com and sign into your account
  2. Click the gear icon and select “Deleted products”
  3. See if Contacts is listed and click on it if so
  4. Click the search bar to search for names of missing contacts
  5. If found, click the info icon to the right to open the contact
  6. Select “More” and “Restore” to recover the deleted contact

As long as the contacts were synced to your Google account previously, this method can potentially restore contacts deleted months or years ago, even if not recoverable elsewhere.

Check Your SIM Card

Another place contacts may still be retrievable from is your SIM card. If you had previously saved contacts to your SIM card, try re-inserting your SIM in another phone to access the stored contacts.

To check for contacts on your SIM:

  1. Insert your SIM card into another phone
  2. Open the phone’s Contacts app and look for a “SIM contacts” tab or menu
  3. Navigate to the SIM card contacts list
  4. Select any contacts you want to recover, tap Export or Save to save them to the phone

You can then transfer the contacts back to your regular phone from the other device once recovered from the SIM.

Use Google Sync Services

If you had been syncing contacts with your Google account, another place to check is Google Sync services that may have been backing up your contacts:

  • Google Drive – If Google Sync was enabled, contacts may be found in Google Drive
  • Gmail – Check your Gmail contacts if you had added contacts via Gmail
  • Google Calendar – May have contacts saved from calendar events

Log into these Google services to see if any missing contacts can be found and recovered from previous syncing.

Check Social Media & Other Accounts

You may also be able to find contact details like phone numbers and emails from your social media accounts if you had been connected there:

  • Facebook – Check your friends list and search for the missing contact
  • WhatsApp – Open your chats and calls to see if their phone number is still available
  • Twitter – Search Twitter and see if their profile shows contact info
  • LinkedIn – Check your connections for the contact’s profile
  • Other social/chat apps – Look for contact names and info in your connections and chat history

While social media may not have full contact information, you can likely at least recover a phone number, email address, or other data to help restore your contact.

Search Your Email History

Another potential place to find contacts is by searching through your email history if you had previously emailed or exchanged contact information with the person.

Try searching your email with keywords like the contact’s name, company, phone number, etc. You may find emails from or about the person that contain pieces of contact information you can put back together.

Some places to search for emails include:

  • Gmail
  • Outlook/Hotmail
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Apple Mail
  • Your custom domain email if you have one

Recovering a few digits of a phone number or finding an email address can help you gradually restore your missing contacts this way.

Ask Friends and Family

As a last resort, you can try reaching out to friends, family, co-workers, or others who may have been in touch with the missing contact.

Ask them if they happen to have the person’s contact information like their phone number, email, address, etc. saved in their own phone or accounts.

While it may seem like a long shot, you’d be surprised how often someone else has the information you need backed up somewhere. It’s worth asking around just in case.

Some people to ask include:

  • Mutual friends who also knew the contact
  • Family members
  • Co-workers or colleagues
  • Classmates if a student contact
  • Neighbors
  • Anyone else who might have the contact info

By crowdsourcing among people who know the contact, you may be able to regain their information through another source.

Prevent Future Contact Loss

While the methods above may help you recover currently missing contacts, make sure take steps to prevent contact loss going forward:

  • Back up your contacts regularly – Sync contacts to cloud services or external storage
  • Export important contact details – Save a contact info CSV file export for backup
  • Don’t delete contacts hastily – Move to archive instead of fully deleting when possible
  • Add info directly to cloud accounts – Add contacts through cloud storage when possible

Making contacts easier to back up and avoiding mass deletion can help ensure this issue does not happen again in the future.

Conclusion

While accidentally losing contacts that aren’t backed up can be worrying, there are still several places you can check to recover deleted information in many cases:

  • Phone’s Recently Deleted folder
  • Contact recovery apps
  • Cloud backup services
  • Google Account history
  • SIM card
  • Google Sync services
  • Social media accounts
  • Email history
  • Friends and family

Checking each of these locations systematically can help you pick up the pieces of a lost contact and gradually restore names, phone numbers, emails, addresses and other data.

And going forward, be sure to keep contacts backed up in multiple locations to avoid this scenarios again.