NA iphone Contact transfer

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Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
No, I am not going to buy a new phone
No I am not going to throw this in the trash and get an Android or whatever.
Glad to get that out of the way. :D (This discussion is about contact transfer or backup from iphone to icloud.)

So I have turned Contacts on, done two backups to iCloud, it says last backup "8:41am"
But on icloud.com (using laptop) I see only a small fraction of my contacts. Actually I think the backups I see are those from my ipad.
 
Sometimes it takes a bit longer than expected for everything to show up across all devices and iCloud. It's not as instantaneous as we wish it was.

Check it again later this evening or tomorrow and report back.
 
iCloud backups are for the purpose of restoring the device, not for syncing data between devices or the iCloud web apps. For that, you need to go into the iCloud settings on your phone and ensure that "contacts" (and anything else you want to sync) is turned on.


JKG
 
all backups are off except for contacts, find my iphone.
18 hours now, still not showing.
 
There should be no substantial delay with syncing iCloud data. Are you logged into iCloud on the phone (Settings -> iCloud)? Using the same Apple ID as your other device(s)?

If so, I'd recommend moving the Contacts slider to off and then back on from that same iCloud settings screen.


JKG
 
Thanks JKG.
I have tried rebooting the phone and cycling the backup switch. I only have one Apple ID. Next I am trying to turn off the ipad contacts backup to see if it will then allow the phone to sync contacts to icloud. Then I think I'll force a backup to itunes in the unlikely event I can get itunes to behave.
 
Worst case, use iTunes on the PC or Mac to back the data up from the device that has the primary list of contacts. And perform a syncs so those contacts come from that device to the PCs system. The syncs the second device to that PC to pull the info onto that device.
 
Again, backups have absolutely nothing to do with syncing data. If there is data on one device and on the iCloud web apps, and you cycle the Contacts switch in iCloud settings on another device, that device should ask whether you want to merge the data.

You could use iTunes to sync data, but that will require a manual process to sync changes in that data.


JKG
 
Icloud SUCKS!
I finally logged out of icloud and disabled that feature.... I just back my phone up to the computer.
 
Icloud SUCKS!
I finally logged out of icloud and disabled that feature.... I just back my phone up to the computer.

Have no issues with it, especially for syncing data. I keep reading references to "backups" in this thread, but backups have nothing to do with syncing data. You can turn backups completely off and never do a backup, but data will still sync if configured to do so.


JKG
 
Make sure in Contacts your Contacts are showing in the iCloud Group. If you have other Groups, those may be syncing from elsewhere and not syncing with iCloud. A common reason for this would be if you're attached to an Exhange server, for example.

Contacts, hit group's top right and uncheck all groups (temporarily) so only iCloud is checked then look at what's in your main pane. (You can turn them back on again later. This won't delete anything.)

6a61fb7d133939be452837b164454974.jpg


If you find contacts you want in iCloud are in a different group that isn't syncing from/to iCloud, you'll have to add it as a new contact, and perhaps then "link" it to the other one.

It's not as easy to do this on iOS as it is on a Mac or whatever contact manager you sync with on a PC, because it's harder to cut and paste data between them in iOS. Open one, copy a field, open the other, paste, back and forth until it's done.

It's easier to edit in your contact manager on the desktop and sync straight up to iCloud if you're having this "multiple sources of contacts" issue, in my opinion. Or directly enter them at iCloud.com, perhaps cutting and pasting from a desktop contact list or whatever source they originally came from. YMMV.

But anyway, check your groups.

If iOS is receiving contacts from a non-iCloud source, it'll sync with that source, not iCloud. So if you have multiple sources, it takes some work to copy them over.

Also just for terminology, turning on iCloud sync of Contacts is not the same thing as turning on "iCloud Backups". This screenshot shows the iCloud settings page with Contacts set to sync to ICloud and NO iCloud backups turned on at all. Different things.

f2f5e2e781d779c403857f906f7cff13.jpg


You can see if your contacts are syncing by adding one oddball into iOS and one oddball via iCloud web and seeing if they copy to the other side. It's really rare that only a partial sync is occurring.

It's usually that you're looking at contacts that didn't start in iOS or whatever contact manager you use that's attached to iCloud in the desktop, and they're syncing with that source, not iCloud. By turning off groups you can see which contacts are stored in which ones.
 
What I read from the OP is that contacts from the iPad are appearing in the iCloud web interface, but not on his iCloud-connected phone. That would eliminate a non-iCloud account as a factor.

If more than one account is in play, then what Nate said may be applicable.


JKG
 
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