“iPhone contacts missing - no names, only numbers: There were reports of iPhone contacts suddenly missing -- showing only numbers, no names (except for Facebook contacts). I’ve heard such news before, and today, this just happened to my phone. All of my contacts on my iPhone just showed no names but numbers. Seems like I have never stored them before. Anyone has a fix?”

“Contacts missing & not listed by name in messaging. Did 11.4 updates and I now have missing contacts? When I’m in messages everyone is listed by number not contact name. Even the contacts that are listed in my contacts are being shown by the number. Everyone’s photo is shown as well. Just no contact names.”

These 2 questions are quoted from Apple Communities. And if you like, you could get more questions alike on Apple Communities. So you will not feel alone if this “iPhone contacts missing no names only numbers” problem ever happens to you. This “iPhone contacts missing names” error happens in various situations, like iOS update, iOS crash, iOS device jailbreaking, iCloud backup and sharing error, or even a random shut-off. Actually, by now, Apple has no official explanation for this error.
This error would bring great inconvenience to our daily iPhone use. For example, when we try to send messages to our friends, make a call, share a contact, etc., we will be lost in these numbers. Therefore a quick and effective solution to this “contact names missing on iPhone” error is quite necessary. In this guide, we would like to try to share some possible solutions to this “iPhone contact names missing” issue. You could freely try any of these suggestions. We hope these solutions would be helpful to you.

Part 1: Fix iPhone Contact Names Missing Error via Rebooting iPhone

Like your computer that could handle ninety percent problems upon a reboot, your iPhone could also fix some errors through a reboot. You could just reboot your iPhone to see if it fixes iPhone contacts missing names error or not. If you are lucky enough, this will be fixed. And don’t ask us why it works, we don’t know either.

reboot-iphone-01

It’s easy to reboot your iPhone. You could:
1. Press and hold the Top (or Side) button until the power off slider appears for iPhone 8 and previous, or press and hold the Side button and either volume button until the power off slider appears for iPhone X or later.
2. Drag the slider to turn your device completely off.*
3. After your device turns off, press and hold the Top (or Side) button again until you see the Apple logo.
Or, you could add a “Restart” option to the virtual Home panel on your iPhone to restart your iPhone via a simple click directly.

restart-on-home-02

1. Go to Settings on your iOS device. Tap on General > Accessibility.
2. Under Accessibility, turn on the “AssistiveTouch” option.
3. Now you’ll notice an AssistiveTouch virtual button on the screen.
4. Tap the button and select Device > More (three dots).
5. Tap on Restart option and then select restart to confirm.
6. The device will now restart automatically.
Adding a Restart button on your virtual Home panel will make it easier to restart your iPhone.

Part 2: Fix iPhone Contact Names Missing Error via Resetting iCloud

You could also reset your iCloud to fix contact names missing on iPhone or iPad since iCloud contact sync will influence the contact information on your iPhone or iPad. This includes 2 sections. If any of these 2 solutions work, skip the other one.
Section 1: Turn Contacts Off/On on iCloud

Turn-iCloud-contacts-on-03

1. Go to "Settings > > iCloud >Turn the Contacts toggle off.
2. Click “Delete from My iPhone” option.
3. Restart your iPhone, then go to "Settings > > iCloud" to turn the Contacts toggle on. Now, your iCloud contacts would be synced to your iPhone.
Section 2: Log out/in iCloud account
This is a nonsense suggestion, but it really worked for some people. You could just go to "Settings > ” option to scroll down to the “Sign Out” option and click it, then open the “Settings” app on your iPhone to sign in again. This won’t bring any damage to your iPhone or make things worse, so why don’t you take a try?

Part 3: Fix iPhone Contact Names Missing Error via Refreshing Contacts Database

Most people who encounter this issue find that contacts names just get lost from the message or phone calls. But when they open the Contact app, everything is OK. All contacts display normally with number and name in Contacts app. So, you can have a try to edit any contact in the Contacts app, or just add more contacts to let the contacts database get refreshed.

Part 4: Fix iPhone Contact Names Missing Error via Restoring Contacts via Siri

If you are used to Siri, it might work for you to ask Siri to bring back all contact information on your iPhone. Siri has been a quite smart virtual assistant to do more things you could ever imagine. It could recognize your orders and the contacts on iPhone so as to bring names back. So, just have a try.

Part 5: Fix iPhone Contact Names Missing Error via Resetting Network

If you have kept your iPhone synced with iCloud in contacts, you will know that a stable sync would be important. The Internet connection will influence the sync. Therefore, you could reset network connection on your iPhone to try if it works. The below steps would show you how to reset network connection on iPhone.

reset-network-on-iphone-04

1. On your iPhone, go to "Settings > General".
2. Scroll down to find and tap "Reset" option to select "Reset Networking Settings" option.
In this way, you will reset your network connection to factory settings. That means all network connections will be deleted. You could re-connect WiFi to stay your iPhone synced with iCloud to refresh contacts.

Part 6: Fix iPhone Contact Names Missing Error via Reporting to Apple Server

Sometimes the Apple Server might encounter a database error. After trying all above-mentioned solutions, if you still see your iPhone contacts names missing, you could try to report this to Apple. If there is an Apple Server error, you have to wait for a while until they fix this one.

Part 7: Fix iPhone Contact Names Missing Error via Restoring Contacts from iTunes Backup

If you have backed up your iPhone to iTunes previously when all contacts are normal, you could delete all contacts in your iPhone and then restore normal contacts from iTunes backup. You could directly recover contacts for iPhone from iTunes backup with iTunes. However, you need to know that recovering iPhone contacts with iTunes will recover the entire iPhone backup from iTunes. You can’t selectively recover what you want. Hereby we would like to recommend you Leawo iOS Data Recovery , a professional iOS data recovery program that could recover up to 14 types of data and files from iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod), iTunes and iCloud backups. What’s more, this iOS data recovery tool enables you to preview and select what you want to recover.
Download and install Leawo iOS Data Recovery, and then follow the below steps to restore contacts from iTunes backup.

Download Windows Version Download Mac Version

Step 1: Choose recovery from iTunes backup

iOS-Data-Recovery-recover-from-iTunes-05

Launch Leawo iOS Data Recovery and then connect your iPhone to your computer. Click the “Recover from iTunes Backup” option.
Step 2: Choose backup to scan

iOS-Data-Recovery-choose-itunes-backup-06

It sill list all backups you’ve backed up using iTunes before. Click the right one and then click the yellow “Scan” button.
Step 3: Choose contacts to restore

select-contacts-recover-07

Open the “Contacts” tab of your iPhone backup and then you will see all available contacts. You could preview and select what to recover. Check the box before the contacts you want to restore, and then click the yellow “Recover” button at the bottom right corner.
Step 4: Recover contacts

select-folder-contacts-08

On the following “Recover Files” interface, set an output directory in the “Save to” box to save restored contacts. And then click the “Go” button to start recovering.
Once the recovering completes, you have successfully restored contacts to your computer. Leawo iOS Data Recovery helps you restore contacts to computer. You could then transfer restored contacts to iPhone with iTunes or 3rd-party iOS data transfer tool.