How to Restore Deleted Contacts on Android or iPhone

Contact list is probably the most valuable thing on your smartphone. As we get used to store every contact in our phone, it becomes extremely annoying when we accidentally delete one or two contacts or lose all contacts after factory reset. But don't worry, in most cases, you can still restore contacts using a proper method.

Then, how to restore deleted contacts? In the following article, I'll show you several popular and easy-to-use methods to help you recover contacts, Methods in Part 1 apply to Android users, while methods in Part 2 apply to iPhone users.

• Part 1: Restore contacts on Android
• Part 2: Restore contacts on iPhone

Part 1. Restore contacts on Android

For Android users, there are two common methods you could adopt to restore deleted contacts. If your Android device is synced with your Google account, you can easily to restore contacts with Gmail. Or, you can use an Android data recovery tool to retrieve deleted/lost contacts from Android phone memory or SIM Card.

Method 1. How to restore Google contacts from Gmail

With Gmail auto-adding every contact you communicate with, it becomes super convenient to restore contacts with Gmail if you happen to delete a contact in error.

Step 1 Go to Gmail in your browser.

Step 2 Click Gmail in the top left and choose Contacts from the drop-down menu.

Step 3 Click "More" in the drop-down list from your contacts list.

Step 4 Select Restore contacts.

Method 2. How to restore contacts with Android Data Recovery

To recover deleted or formatted contacts on Android phone with ease and safety, we suggest you to use an Android contacts Recovery tool. Here you can consider the most professional Android Data Recovery software.

Key features:

• Restore lost/deleted/formatted contacts on Android through only several clicks.
• Retrieve contacts from Android phone memory or SIM Card.
• Save deleted contacts from Android as printable VCF, CSV, or HTML file.
• Preview all the contacts information including name, phone number, email address, company address, etc. before restoring.
• Compatible with nearly all brands of smartphone, including HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Sony, ZTE, LG, Huawei and so on.

Now free download this Android Contacts Recovery program and follow the steps below to restore your contacts on Android phone.

Step 1 Connect Android to computer

Connect your Android phone to computer via USB cable. The phone will be detected automatically by the computer.

Step 2 Open USB debugging mode

There will be a pop-up message to allow USB debugging on the Android phone/tablet in order to get access to the connected device.

For Android 2.3 and former versions: Tap "Settings" app > "Applications" > "Development" > "USB debugging".
For Android 3.0 - 4.1: Navigate to "Settings" > "Developer options" > "USB debugging".
For Android 4.2 and later versions: Choose "Settings"> "About phone". Choose "Build number" for several times until the message of "You are under developer mode" shows. Return to "Settings" > "Developer options" > "USB Debugging".

Step 3 Select Contact to scan device

When you manage to connect Android to computer, you will be asked to choose file types to recover. The program allows you to restore contacts, messages, call logs, pictures, videos, audios, documents, etc. Click Contacts, then tab the "Next" button to scan the device.

Step 4 Restore contacts

Within seconds, the scanning process will be completed. Click Contacts in the left list and you can preview all the contacts in your phone. The deleted ones are marked in red. Check the contacts you need and click Recover, soon you will save deleted contacts in your computer. This program also lets you recover contacts on your Samsung.

Part 2. Restore contacts on iPhone

If you mistakenly erase the contacts on iPhone or upgrade to a new iPhone, you'd need to restore contacts.

The most common way to restore contacts on iPhone would be through iCloud, since most iOS users choose backup their contacts on iPhone. However, if you choose to restore iCloud contacts on iPhone, it may cause data overwritten or data loss. Alternatively, you can use iPhone Data Recovery software to extract iCloud backup file and selectively restore contacts from iCloud.

Key features:

• Restore contacts on iPhone, along with messages, notes, photos and other files.
• Provide three recovering modes: Recover from iOS Device, Recover from iTunes Backup File and Recover from iCloud Backup File.
• Preview and selectively restore contacts from iCloud backup.
• Compatible with iPhone X/8 Plus/8/7 Plus/7/SE/6s Plus/6s/6 Plus/6/5s/5c/5/4s/4, iPad/iPod touch, running iOS 10/9/8/7.

Now free download iPhone Data Recovery and follow the tutorial below to restore contacts from iCloud.

How to restore iPhone contacts from iCloud

Step 1 Select Recover from iCloud Backup File

Launch this iCloud Backup Extractor on your computer, select Recover from iCloud Backup File and sign in to your Apple ID to load the latest iPhone backup. Click "Download" download your iCloud backup file.

Step 2 Select iCloud backup and file type

Choose file type you want to recover. In this case, click Contacts, then click "Next" to scan your iCloud contacts backup.

Step 3 Restore deleted contacts

After the scanning process, you can preview the entire contacts backup, including deleted ones. Select the contact you want to retrieve, click Recover to extract and save your iPhone contacts in your computer.

In this article, we have mainly showed you how to restore contacts on iPhone or Android phone. Still have more questions? Feel free to leave your comments down below.