Top 8 Fixes to iPhone Contacts Not Syncing to iCloud

iPhone contacts won’t sync to iCloud? This guide collects 8 methods to help you get out of the trouble.

May

By May / Updated on December 7, 2023

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Why iPhone Contacts Not Syncing to iCloud?

You choose to sync iPhone contacts to iCloud so that you can access and manage them on other devices. However, after you have turned on the contacts sync, it doesn’t appear to be working even though everything seems to be perfectly configured. When you want to print contacts from iCloud, but you find phone contacts not showing up in iCloud.com. Generally, there are 4 situations can lead to the iPhone contacts not syncing to iCloud problem:

  • The Internet connection is not stable.
  • The iCloud server status is not good.
  • There is no enough iCloud storage space.
  • You’ve logged in with the wrong Apple ID.

Now you know the main reasons, read on to find out the solutions.

How to Fix iPhone Contacts Won’t Sync to iCloud

Here in this part, I’ll detail all the possible solutions to the iPhone contacts not syncing to iCloud problem. You can try them one by one until you find the one that works for you. Nevertheless, sometimes the contacts won’t sync to iCloud problem occurs but we don’t know how to fix it. Under this circumstance, you can try one third-party tool to help you backup iPhone contacts.

Solution 1. Check Your Apple ID

Please first have a check whether you have logged in with the right Apple ID especially for anyone who owns two or more accounts. You can only view your contacts on all your iOS devices when you have logged in with the same Apple ID.

Solution 2. Toggle Contacts Off & On

1. Go to Settings > tap your name > iCloud or Settings > iCloud if you are using iOS 10.2 or earlier.

2. Turn Contacts off > choose “keep on my iPhone” on the pop-up window.

3. Restart your iPhone and turn on contacts sync again > choose Merge when asked what to do with the local contacts.

Solution 3. Sign Out & In of Your iCloud Account

First sign out of your iCloud account and then sign back in. Go to Settings > [your name] > scroll down and tap on Sign Out. Then you need to enter your Apple ID to confirm. Now reboot your iPhone and sign back in.

Solution 4. Check Internet Connection

A good Internet connection is important for contacts sync. The iPhone contacts won’t sync to iCloud issue may occur due to the poor Internet connection. To check the Internet, you can simply go to Safari and open a website to see whether you can open the page successfully.

If the Internet connection is good, you can try to reset the network settings: go to Settings > click General > Reset (Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset in iOS 15 an later) > Reset Network Settings.

Reset Network Settings

Solution 5. Deselect All Third-party Accounts

The iPhone contacts won’t sync to iCloud issue may occur If you also have synced your contacts to third-party accounts like Google or Yahoo. To fix the problem, you can deselect these third- party accounts.

Open Contacts app > tap on Groups in the top right corner > deselect all third-party accounts > select All iCloud > tap Done to confirm. Turn off your iPhone and turn it on again.

Solution 6. Set iCloud as Your Default Account

Go to Settings > Contacts > Default Account > select iCloud.

Solution 7. Check iCloud Storage Space

Apple only offers 5 GB free iCloud storage for users to store data. If the iCloud storage is full, then you won’t be able to sync any data to iCloud so you meet the iPhone contacts won’t sync to iCloud issue. You can go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud to check your iCloud storage. Also, iCloud only allows users to store less than 50,000 contacts in total.

Solution 8. Update to the Latest iOS

Apple updates resolve many bugs and virus issues on iOS devices. So if your iPhone is not running the latest version, you'd better update your iOS to the latest version. Make sure your device has connected with Wi-Fi > go to Settings > General > Software Update to make it.

Check iOS Update

Alternative Solution to Backup and Manage iPhone Contacts

If all the above solutions cannot help you fix the iPhone contacts not syncing to iCloud problem, then you can try one alternative solution to backup your contacts - FoneTool, one free iPhone transfer and backup export for Windows PCs.

With this tool, you can transfer all contacts in one click or only transfer the contacts you need. All the contact info, the name, the phone number, email, address, birthday and other notes will be exported to your computer. What’s more, if necessary, you can restore the backup files to your iPhone and it will not erase any existing data.

Part 1. Backup iPhone Contacts to Computer with FoneTool

Step 1. Download the tool on your computer, install and open it > connect your iPhone to computer via USB cable > tap “Trust” to give your computer access to your iPhone.

Download Freeware Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download

Step 2. Choose Phone Backup > go to Selective Backup > click Contacts icon.

Choose Contacts

Step 3. Select the contacts you want to backup > click OK.

Preview And Select Contacs

Step 4. Click Backup Storage Path to choose the backup path > Click the Start Backup button to start backing up your contacts.

Start Backup Contacts

When the process is finished, you can check the backup task on the Backup History screen. Here you can choose to locate, browse or delete the backup files.

Tip: Now iPhone X and later iPhone models support eSIM card. And iPhone 14 removed SIM card slot. If you need to transfer contacts from SIM to eSIM, you can also transfer contacts from SIM to PC with FoneTool, then import them to the target iPhone. You can refer to Transfer Contacts from iPhone to iPhone without iTunes to know the transfer feature.

Part 2. How to Manage Contacts on iCloud via FoneTool

If there are a large number of contacts on your iCloud account, you’d better clean up your contacts regularly, as iCloud only offers 5GB of free storage space for each user. What should do? Well, FoneTool is also an excellent iCloud management tool, so you can easily manage your files on your iCloud. Follow the simple steps:

Step 1: Initiate FoneTool on your PC and access My iCloud> Log in using your Apple and then select Manage iCloud.

Click Manage iCloud

Step 2: Proceed to the Contacts section> Preview and choose the contacts you intend to remove> Click the Delete button to confirm the deletion.

Delete Contacts from iCloud

Conclusion

That’s all for how to fix iPhone contacts won’t sync to iCloud. Hope one of the methods can help you get out of trouble. Or you try FoneTool to back up your contacts so you would never meet such an annoying issue. If you have any problem, please feel free to leave a comment and we will reply to you soon.