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K__atie__
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Missing Messages & Contacts After iPhone Upgrade

Hello! I recently switched from an iPhone 15 Pro to an iPhone 18 Plus. Everything worked fine at first, but about a week after turning in my old phone, most of my contacts disappeared. Now I’m also getting notifications for texts that show the phone number instead of the contact’s name, and the message isn’t even showing up in Messages.


This has happened with multiple numbers, including my husband’s. He’ll show me that he sent a message, but I can’t see it. It doesn’t happen with every message, just randomly.


I’ve checked my iMessage Send & Receive settings and have both my phone number and iCloud email enabled, and my contacts are turned on in iCloud. What could be causing this, and how can I fix it?

Posted on Oct 1, 2026 8:51 AM

2 replies

Lawrence Finch
User level: Level 10 (244,490 points)

Oct 1, 2026 8:53 AM in response to K__atie__

The master copies of contacts are not stored on your iPhone, they sync to one or more email accounts. If you delete an email account that is hosting your contacts they will disappear from your phone. Go to Settings/Contacts/Accounts to see which accounts contain the master copy of your contacts.


  • If it is iCloud, then see this→iCloud: Restore contacts, calendars, and more in iCloud Settings
  • If it is any other type of email account (e.g, AOL, Yahoo, gmail, hotmail, Outlook) then you need to use whatever tools your email provider offers for recovering contacts
  • You may also just not be viewing the contact “groups” in the Contacts app - open the app and tap Groups (iOS 15 & earlier) in the upper left corner and make sure all groups are checked, or tap Lists in iOS 16 or later and tap All Contacts.


K__atie__ Author
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Oct 1, 2026 9:20 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

I appreciate this unfortunately I guess my contacts are gone. I already tried to restore my contacts from September 15th but that didn’t do anything. Still confused why numbers that are in my contacts are popping up without names and I’m not able to see said message when I know they sent a message. Just frustrated.

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256368566