Did you ever come across a situation where your contact names are not showing on iPhone? Ever wondered what could be the reason? And more importantly, what can you do to rectify the issue?
Well, most people rush to the nearest Apple Store for resolution, especially those who don’t come from a technical background. If you’re among those, the following quick fixes might save you time and funds.
7 Tips to Fix Contact Names Not Showing on iPhone
Here, you will learn some commonly used troubleshooting methods if your iPhone contact names disappeared for no reason.
Tip 1: Reboot Your iPhone
This is the simplest solution of all and most issues are rectified when you reboot your iPhone. For newer models, you can just press the Volume Up button, then the Volume Down button, and finally the side button. After that, you will see the Slide to Power Off button. If you are using old models, the buttons might be a little different.
Another way is to turn off your device from Settings. All models apply.
- Go to Settings.
- Go to General.
- Scroll down and tap Shut Down.
- Slide the bar that appears at the top to the left to shut down your iPhone.
- Wait for a few seconds and then long press the Sleep/Wake button to restart the phone.
- Check if the issue is resolved.
Tip 2: Turn off and Then Turn on Contacts in iCloud Settings
Your iCloud account contains all the contacts that your iPhone has. When you turn off ‘Contacts’ from the ‘iCloud’ screen and then turn it back on, the information is refreshed and most likely you will get all the iPhone contact names disappeared back in place. To turn ‘Contacts’ off and on from ‘iCloud’ settings:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap your name from the top of the Settings screen.
- Tap iCloud from the Apple ID screen.
- Scroll down and tap the Contacts switch.
- On the confirmation popup saying Turn Off Contacts, tap Keep on My iPhone.
- Next, tap the turned-off Contacts switch again.
- On the Existing Local Contacts popup, tap Merge to turn Contacts back on.
- Check if the issue is resolved.
- If the problem persists, tap Delete from My iPhone when the Turn Off Contacts popup appears while turning off the Contacts switch and see if it helps.
Tip 3: Turn off and Then Turn on Contacts in Mail Settings
If you have synced your email account with your iPhone’s Mail app, and you have synced the contacts of your email to your iPhone, you can turn off ‘Contacts’ and then turn the option back on. This removes and restores the contact names to your phone, thus fixing the issue. To do this:
- Go to Settings.
- Scroll down and tap Mail.
- On the Mail screen, tap Accounts.
- Tap your email service provider.
- Tap the Contacts switch on the next screen.
- On the confirmation popup, tap Delete from My iPhone.
- After this, tap the turned-off Contacts switch again to turn it back on.
- Check if you can now see the iPhone contact names that disappeared.
Tip 4: Restore Contacts from iCloud
Although turning off ‘Contacts’ from iCloud and Mail settings, and then it turning back on should fix the issue of contact names not showing on iPhone, if it doesn’t, you can use a PC to sign in to your iCloud account and restore the most recent version of your ‘Contacts’ information from there. The process is given below:
- On your Windows or Mac computer, launch your favorite web browser.
- Sign in to your Apple ID.
- Click Account Settings from under the greetings message.
- Scroll down the iCloud Settings page.
- Click Restore Contacts from the Advanced section.
- On the next box, ensure that the Restore Contacts tab is selected.
- Click Restore representing the most recent archive.
- Click Restore on the Restore Contacts confirmation box.
- Wait while the contacts are restored to your iPhone.
- Click OK when the process completes.
- Next, tap Done and close the web browser.
- Check if the issue is resolved.
Tip 5: Reset All Settings
Resetting all settings puts your iPhone configurations to default settings, thus removing any inconsistencies or errors that iOS may have in settings. This will not influence the data on your device and might fix the problem of contact names not showing on iPhone. However, after resetting, you must reconfigure your settings to bring them back to the state you are comfortable in. To reset all your iPhone settings, you must follow the steps that are given below:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap General.
- Scroll down and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone from the bottom.
- Tap Reset from the bottom of the next screen.
- Tap Reset All Settings from the menu that appears.
- Enter your iPhone’s passcode.
- Tap Reset All Settings on the confirmation box that pops up.
- Tap Reset All Settings for reconfirmation.
- Wait while all your iPhone settings are reset to factory defaults.
- Personalize your device as needed.
- Check if the issue is resolved.
Tip 6: Update iPhone Software
Many times, your iPhone starts behaving obnoxiously if iOS is not updated. Therefore, if you notice that iPhone contact names disappeared all of a sudden, the chances are that the device needs a software update. To update iOS on your iPhone to the latest version:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Go to General.
- Tap Software Update.
- On the Software Update window, tap Download and Install. Note: The Download and Install option along with the iOS details will be visible on the screen only if a newer version is available. If the case is otherwise, you’ll see a message saying that the iOS is up to date.
- Wait while the latest version of iOS is downloaded and installed on your iPhone, and the phone restarts.
- Check if you can see the contact names now.
Tip 7: Restore iPhone from a Previous Backup
If you’ve backed up your iPhone via iTunes or Finder (on Mac) earlier, you can restore the phone from it. Restoring ensures that all the settings (including ‘Contacts’) are brought back to your device, thus removing any issues that it may currently have. To restore iPhone from a previous backup:
- Use the Lightning Cable to connect your iPhone to a Windows or Mac computer. (A Windows 11 PC is used here for illustrations.)
- Launch iTunes if it doesn’t start automatically.
- Click the iPhone icon from the top center of the interface.
- On the next window, make sure that the Summary category is selected from the left pane.
- From the Manually Back Up and Restore column of the Backups section on the right window, click Restore Backup.
- Choose your iPhone and the most recent backup from the iPhone Name drop-down list when the Restore from Backup box appears.
- Click Restore.
- Wait while iTunes restores the settings to iPhone. Note: You must enter the password after clicking Restore if you chose to encrypt data and protected it with a password at the time of backup.
- Check if the contact names are showing on iPhone or not.
Conclusion
If you notice that contact names are not showing on iPhone, you can rest assured that the issue is not as big as it looks. That said, before rushing to the nearest Apple Store for a remedy, you are strongly advised to follow the solutions given above and see if any of these can help.
