Contacts deleted after iOS 18.6 update? You're not alone

iPhone users are scrambling to recover their lost contacts after Apple’s latest iOS 18.6 update appears to be wiping out contact lists for an unknown number of device owners. The issue, which surfaced shortly after the update rolled out on August 11, has left users staring at empty contact lists or phone numbers without names attached.

JanieOl, an iPhone 16 user, discovered the problem when they opened their phone the morning after updating. “After update of 18.6 last night I opened my phone this morning and my contacts are gone,” they posted on Apple’s community forums. “There may be five or 10 in there out of. I don’t know how many.”

There are several other reports about the same issue on Apple’s forums that you can check out (1,2,3,4,5)

Over on Reddit, similar tales unfolded. In r/iphone, w00dyMcGee described watching contact names turn into plain numbers mid-text conversation, shortly after the overnight update. “It’s like I’ve lost all contacts I created in the last years,” they said, noting older ones stuck around while newer ones vanished.

Another thread in r/ios had Positive_Score_ panicking over an empty contacts app, though names still appeared when starting new messages. Users speculated wildly, but a pattern emerged: many affected folks had contacts tied to services like WhatsApp or old email accounts, not purely iCloud.

One theory gaining traction involves how contacts get stored. iPhones sync them to accounts like iCloud, Google, or Exchange from work emails. If your default was set to something other than iCloud — maybe an old job’s server — and that connection broke during the update, poof, contacts could disappear. MukkeDK on Reddit shared a call with Apple support, revealing his were linked to a disconnected Exchange account, with newer ones never fully synced.

For users currently facing this problem, temporary workarounds involve manually recreating contacts when needed or checking if disconnected email accounts can be re-authenticated. Some users also suggest simply switching off contacts sync with other accounts and leaving only iCloud turned on to see if that helps restore the missing contacts. However, Apple has yet to release an official fix or acknowledgment of the bug. 

Furthermore, even though Apple released the iOS 18.6.1 update just a couple of days ago, there are no signs confirming that this new update has addressed the issue. But since it’s still fresh out of the oven, we’ll have to wait and see what’s going on.

But until there’s some confirmation that the bug’s fixed, users are advised to check their contact storage settings and ensure proper iCloud synchronization before future updates. We’ll keep an eye out for any further developments and will update the article if there’s something to share. In the meantime, if you’ve found the culprit, feel free to drop a comment below to help spread the word. Thanks in advance!