How to Retrieve Deleted Contacts on iPhone

Accidentally deleted important contacts? Don't worry — if you've backed up your iPhone, there's a good chance you can recover them.

When you sync your device with iTunes, Finder (macOS Catalina or later), or the Apple Devices app (Windows), a backup is created that includes your contacts. Using iBackup Extractor, you can browse your backup, recover deleted contacts, and restore them to your iPhone.

Why use iBackup Extractor?

There are a couple of different ways to get your deleted contacts back, but iBackup Extractor removes the need for a full restore of your iPhone backup.

• iCloud, iTunes, Finder & Apple Devices app: Restoring from backup replaces the current data on your iPhone with the data from the backup. This means any photos, messages, contacts, etc. added after that backup was made could be lost.
• iBackup Extractor: Lets you open your backup and recover only the contacts you need — without performing a full restore and without overwriting your current iPhone data.

This makes iBackup Extractor a much safer way to retrieve deleted contacts from a backup.

Recover and Restore Contacts - Video Tutorial

Watch our step-by-step video showing how to recover deleted contacts using iBackup Extractor and restore them to your iPhone:

Prefer written instructions? Follow the steps below.

Step 1: Recover Deleted Contacts from Your Backup

1. Download and install iBackup Extractor on your computer.
2. Open the app and select the iPhone backup you want to access.
3. If it's encrypted, enter your backup password when prompted to unlock it.
4. Click "Contacts".
5. Select contacts you want to recover (Ctrl+click or Cmd+click to select multiple).
6. Save your contacts as:
   • VCard - ideal for importing into iCloud or other address book apps.
   • CSV - perfect for importing into Google Contacts or for use in spreadsheet managers like Excel.

Step 2: Restore Contacts to Your iPhone

Your recovered contacts are now saved on your computer. Restore them to your iPhone using one of the following methods:

• Sync contacts with iCloud
• Sync contacts with Google Contacts
• Sync contacts using iTunes or Finder