Contents of address book have been deleted

What is happening to my address book in my iPhone 14? Contacts that have been in there and active for many years have been removed. If I go through recent texts, the phone number is there, but the name of the contact is missing. I then have to create a new contact name in the address book as the contact has been removed. Is this caused by a virus or a hack?

iPhone 14, iOS 18

Posted on Aug 16, 2025 03:19 PM

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4 replies

Aug 16, 2025 03:53 PM in response to PjTwigs

The Contacts on the iPhone can be managed in multiple ways, but they are all email accounts. You are either using iCloud, or another email account. Have you signed out of or deleted an email account. If you check your email accounts, is the Email setting turned on or off? Contacts cannot just disappear without any reason. You say the numbers are still there but just the names are missing? Try a Force Restart on the iPhone and see if that helps. Force restart iPhone - Apple Support


Let me ask, are you referring to the Contacts app on the iPhone, or something else. You say Address Book, I want to make sure you are referring to the same thing.

Aug 17, 2025 10:16 AM in response to PjTwigs

Given that you are experiencing a problem with Contacts and Calendar, I would suggest checking to make sure that you are signed into iCloud and have Contacts and Calendar both turned on. Go into Settings>[your name] then tap iCloud. At the top you should see your name, that will show you are logged in. Then scroll down just a little and you will see the section Saved to iCloud. You probably won't see everything there, but you should see the command See All just to the right, tap on it. Make sure you have iCloud calendar on, then also that Contacts is turned on as well. If they are, if you did the Force Restart I suggested earlier and it did not help, then try the steps in this support document. Restore your calendars and events on iCloud.com - Apple Support


Contents of address book have been deleted

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