iOS 4.0.1 (no iCloud), lost all contacts on iPhone

tilt · May 13th, 2012, 12:08 AM

My address book on the MacBook Pro showed duplicate entries. One set was from iCloud and one set was "On My Mac".

So, I deleted everything from "On My Mac" in order that I have only one set of contacts.

Then I synched my iPhone 3Gs which is still on 40.1 and therefore no iCloud integration.

Now, I lost all contacts on my iPhone.

Earlier, my address book did not show duplicates, so I never had this issue. It is only now that it showed duplicates and I did what I did.

Any help would be deeply appreciated in getting the contacts back on to my iPhone.

I cannot upgrade my phone to iOS 5 because (a) it is jailbroken and unlocked; and more importantly (b) iOS5 runs like a dog on a 3Gs.

Cheers

chas_m · May 13th, 2012, 02:41 AM

Sync it again with iTunes on your Mac, only this time have iTunes force a one-way sync of addresses back to your iPhone.

polywog · May 13th, 2012, 06:47 AM

+1 on chas_m's comment.

	Quote:			Originally Posted by tilt
	...So, I deleted everything from "On My Mac" in order that I have only one set of contacts.

I find "Card" -> "Look for Duplicates" to be the best bet in Address Book in those situations.

Dr_AL · May 13th, 2012, 08:08 AM

If the contacts are all on iCloud, iTunes won't. E able to sync them as they won't show up in iTunes as they are not on the Mac. Stupid in my mind but you can manually get iCloud to show up on non iOS 5 devices.

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/artic...cloud_devices/

Sent from my iPhone

tilt · May 14th, 2012, 02:31 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by chas_m
	Sync it again with iTunes on your Mac, only this time have iTunes force a one-way sync of addresses back to your iPhone.

Thanks Chas. Now, after doing this, if I were to manually add a contact to my iPhone (say I met someone and got their number), what happens - does that new number automatically get synched to iCloud or does it get synched to "On my Mac"?

The reason I ask is because it has happened before - any number I added manually to the phone did not get synched to iCloud and did not appear on my Pad - it was only on my Mac and on my phone.

It's funny - the iPad synchs with iCloud, the iPhone syncs with the Mac, and the Mac does not sync with anything!

I have had this same thing happen to my Calendars too. Appointments made on the iPad do not show up on the phone and vice versa.

And everything is duplicated on my laptop - once from iCloud and once from "On My Mac"!

I am guessing this is probably because not all my devices are on iOS5 (in which case I do not need any "On My Mac" stuff at all), but there has to be a better way for situations such as mine.

Cheers

The G3 Man · May 15th, 2012, 04:49 PM

I know a workaround of doing it. Export all your contacts to a v-card on your mac. Email that v-card to your iPhone; and then open the email and add all contacts.

You can find export in the file menu.

I also have a 3GS on 4.0.1 which I just did that with last night.