Lost your phone? Here's how to get your contacts back.
Your phone held every number you never memorized. If it is lost, stolen, or dead, those contacts may still be safe in the cloud, because most phones sync them to Google or iCloud. Here is where to look from a computer or any other phone, how to restore recent deletions, and what to do while you're rebuilding the list.
Check the Google account first
If you use an Android phone, or Gmail contacts on any phone, your contacts are probably saved to your Google account. Sign in at contacts.google.com from a computer or any other phone's browser. You will see the list there. If an account has two-step verification and your phone was the second step, our locked-out guide covers the ways back in.
Check iCloud if you use an iPhone
If contacts were syncing to iCloud, sign in with your Apple Account at icloud.com/contacts. Apple's support page also describes a Data Recovery option on that site for restoring an earlier archived version of your contacts, and notes it can take up to 24 hours for an archive to appear after a recent deletion.
Look in the Google Trash for recent deletions
Google's help page says deleted contacts stay in Trash for 30 days before they are permanently deleted. Open contacts.google.com, click Trash, tick the contacts you want, and recover them. Contacts deleted permanently from the Trash cannot be recovered, so don't wait.
Check other places a number might live
Your carrier's app or account, your email's sent folder and contact suggestions, group chats and call history on other devices, and social apps where you can message people directly. For a few people, the fastest route is a post asking friends to message you with their numbers.
Export once you have them
Once you can see your contacts, export a copy (both Google Contacts and iCloud let you do this) so you aren't relying on one account. Then set the new phone to sync contacts to your account, so the next lost phone doesn't mean starting over.
Your contacts shouldn't depend on one phone.
If you set up MobileyMe on your phone before you lost it, you can sign in to MobileyMe on another phone, a spare or one you borrow, and your backed-up contacts are there. Calls you place from the app show your number, on the carriers we have tested. On iPhone, with call forwarding on through a US carrier, an incoming call to your number can ring the signed-in iPhone.
When your own phone is back, sign out of the borrowed one. Signing out removes your MobileyMe data from that phone. MobileyMe is free to download on the App Store and Google Play, and it works with US and Canadian numbers only.
Set it up on the phone you have now.
Phone already gone? Finish the steps above. When your replacement arrives, set this up so you're ready next time.
Get the app →On a computer? Scan this with your phone's camera to get the app.
Questions people ask
Are my contacts gone if my phone is lost?
Not necessarily. If your phone synced contacts to Google or iCloud, they live in that account, and you can see them from a computer or another phone's browser. Contacts saved only on the phone's storage, or on a SIM, are harder, so check every account before you assume they're gone.
Can I get back contacts I deleted?
Maybe. Google's help page says deleted contacts stay in Trash for 30 days. Apple's page describes restoring an archived version from iCloud.com, and says an archive of a recent deletion can take up to 24 hours to appear.
What if I never backed them up?
Look in the other places people leave numbers, such as your email, group chats, and call history on other devices, and ask friends to message you. Then turn on contact syncing on the new phone so it doesn't happen again.
Get the next guide before you need it
One email when we publish something new. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
You're on the list.