iPhone Not Saving Contacts? Here’s How to Fix It

By Bishwo Tamli Updated October 3, 2023

When your iPhone doesn’t save contacts, several factors could be at play:

Using other accounts instead of iCloud to save contacts.
Using third-party apps to save contacts.
Syncing issues with iCloud.
Saving contacts in a different contact group.
Minor session glitches or bugs.

Before you begin troubleshooting these problems, first try to force restart your iPhone. This often solves minor software glitches.

Force Restart iPhone

A force restart completely shuts down your iPhone without saving data. This will usually fix any minor bugs and glitches that might have cropped up on your system.

For iPhone 8 and newer

Press and quickly release the volume up button.
Do the same for the volume down button as well.
Press and hold the power button until the Apple logo appears.

For iPhone 7 and lower

Press and hold the power and volume down button simultaneously.
Keep holding both of the buttons until the Apple logo appears.

Set iCloud As Default Account

If you use other accounts like Gmail or Outlook to save your contacts, it can sometimes not work as intended. To fix such incompatibility issues, you can set Apple’s own iCloud as the default account for saving contacts.

Open the Settings and go to Contacts.
Tap on Default Account. (If this option isn’t available, your iPhone has no other accounts that could be used to save contacts. iCloud should already be your default account.)
Select iCloud.
Exit Settings.

ReSync Contacts

Another reason why you could face this issue is due to the iCloud syncing problem. In such cases, disable sync contacts and re-enable it to start the syncing process anew.

Launch Settings.
Tap on your Apple ID at the top.
Select iCloud.
Under Apps using iCloud, tap on Show All.
Toggle off the Contacts option.
Tap on Keep on My iPhone.
After a minute or so, toggle on the Contacts option.
Select Merge.
Exit Settings.

Use Default Contacts App

Your contacts might not get saved properly if you’re using third-party apps like Whatsapp or Viber to do so.

Your iPhone works best when inside the Apple ecosystem. So, try switching to the default Contacts app if you are using third-party apps.

Go to All Contact Groups

Sometimes, when your recently saved contacts are not being displayed, they could be present in another contact group.

iPhone allows you to group your contacts and it also automatically creates groups based on your different accounts.

If you’re in a particular group contact, you won’t be able to see the contacts of another group. So, you can go to all contact groups to see all of your contacts.