How do I find my iPhone Contacts in iTunes? Backing up my iPhone 4S to iTunes

 Hello,

I'm backing up my iPhone 4S to iTunes (and not to iCloud).

I haven'tyet  needed to restore the backup to my existing phone or a new phone.

Is there a way to check in iTunes whether my Contacts are stored there?

Also, occasionally, after a backup, I am unable to locate some names/information in my iPhone Contact list.

Is there a way to prevent this?

Thanks.

Is it a Windows computer or a Mac?

Also, do you have an iCloud account and have it setup on the iPhone (even if you are NOT using it to backup the iPhone)?

If you have iCloud setup on the iPhone and have it setup to sync contacts, then the contacts will be synced by iTunes and by default will NOT sync through iTunes even through you are backing up the iPhone through iTunes.  If that is the case, you can go to the iCloud site (www.icloud.com) and log into your account and get access to your contacts.

If you do not have iCloud setup, then iTunes MIGHT be syncing your contacts depending on whether that option is checked.  Assuming it is checked, then if it is a Mac, then they will sync with the Address Book application built into the Mac OS.  If is a Windows computer, then I believe it only sync with Outlook if it is installed...I am not sure what happens otherwise.

I believe if iTunes is not syncing the contact, then I believe it might backup the contacts with everything else....but if so, there is not way to specifically get to it other than to restore the backup by way of iTunes...at least that I know of.

Hi, the contacts will be synced when you connect the phone to a computer be it Windows or Mac, or whatever contacts manager you are using (Outlook, Gmail). Syncing means the data you have on your phone is the same with the one on the computer, so your missing contacts might be the bad sync, not the backup causing problems.

You can find your backup containing contacts, sms, photos and other data of the iPhone is stored on a default location on your computer. Under OS X, iTunes will store backups in /Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup. Under Windows XP, for example, iTunes will store backups in \Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup. Here's a blog with backup locations that should help.

Backing up the phone regularly with iTunes is a good idea to keep from losing data, it will mean all your contacts and data should be there and can be restored in case you need it. If you want to be extra safe, you can make a copy of the backup and store is somewhere safe before any update, as iTunes tends to corrupt backups sometimes.

Thanks, everyone.

I'm taking up a new job soon and will have to return my iPhone and laptop. Syncing with iTunes becomes a problem as that's computer-specific.

Thus, after reading what both of you have written and other sources, I've decided to back up and sync my iPhone with iCloud.

When syncing my iPhone Contacts with iCloud, I discovered that I have two Groups in Contacts, a Yahoo Group and an iCloud Group.

When I backup Contacts, only the ones in iCloud Contacts get backed up.

How can I back up the contacts in Yahoo Contacts to iCloud?

Thanks.

I'm taking up a new job soon and will have to return my iPhone and laptop. Syncing with iTunes becomes a problem as that's computer-specific.

 

Thus, after reading what both of you have written and other sources, I've decided to back up and sync my iPhone with iCloud.

 

When syncing my iPhone Contacts with iCloud, I discovered that I have two Groups in Contacts, a Yahoo Group and an iCloud Group.

 

When I backup Contacts, only the ones in iCloud Contacts get backed up.

 

How can I back up the contacts in Yahoo Contacts to iCloud?

 

Thanks.

You might check...there is a very good chance that the Yahoo Contacts are synced with Yahoo.  If so, then they are already "in the cloud".

Thanks. How do I check whether the Yahoo Contacts are synced with Yahoo?

Pardon my ignorance!

Thanks. How do I check whether the Yahoo Contacts are synced with Yahoo?

Pardon my ignorance!

Since I don't use Yahoo contacts (or email), I can't say for sure.  If they are actually "linked" & synced contacts to your Yahoo account, then I would assume logging into your Yahoo account should tell you if they are there.  I would assume if they have been synced with Yahoo, then you will find some "contacts" or "address book" function in your Yahoo account with those contacts in there.

FWIW, here is the instructions on how to sync Yahoo Contacts with an iPhone using iOS 5 or later:

http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=content&y=PROD_MAIL_CLASSIC&locale=en_US&id=SLN4922&impressions=true

So, if you have your Yahoo account setup in the iPhone settings, then more than likely the Yahoo Contacts have been synced to your Yahoo account.

Hi, how could i restore from older backup files which are located as you said \Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup.

I mean i have 4 folders in Backup, so how could i select the one i need and then restore backup from this selected folder?

Thanks for your time.

@3lo2a: Connect your device to the computer and choose "Restore". After entering your iTunes information, there should be an option to choose which backup to restore from (the backups should have dates on them to show you when they were made).