Help needed - iphone crashed and deleted contacts

[abishepherd]

My iphone has just crashed (I wasn't syncing it at the time - all I was doing was editing a contact to add a personalised ringtone for that person). It just crashed in the middle of changing the ringtone (or it may have been after I selected save) and went to the blank screen with apple sign in white. It took so long and nothing was happening so I pressed top off button and menu button at same time to switch it off and on again and when it came back on, I realised that I have none of my contacts in my address book. Funnily enough it doesn't seem to have wiped the phone. Photos, apps, text messages are all there. Even my favourite numbers are still stored but I have no names attached to those numbers!!! Its REALLY frustrating.

Can people tell me what I can do to get them all back? Is there anything I can do to fix this problem WITHOUT synching with my pc? The reason I say this is that I am worried that the minute I connect the iphone to the computer it will do what it always does and start backing up the iphone as it is. How do I set it up to restore the iphone to the way it was before - in fact, how do I restore ONLY the address book. I have photos that I want to back up and apps that I've downloaded since my last sync so I don't really want to go back to the exact state my iphone was in when I last sync'd it!!!

Please please please help me!!!!

 

[Leanna Lofte]

You have to use your computer. No way around that. If it starts to sync automatically, just click the x in itunes where it says "iPhone is backing up" (or whatever it says). This will cancel the sync. Or on your iPhone, "slide to cancel". Do this immediately and the current state of your iPhone won't be backed up.

At this point, you could do a restore from backup and all your contacts will be back. But as long as you have your contacts saved on your computer, you can just sync your contacts over. At the bottom of the info tab, select the box for replacing on the information on your iPhone with information on your computer (for contacts). Then sync.

If you DON'T have the contacts saved on your computer, then you will have to do a restore from backup. You can easily put the photos in your camera roll on your computer first so that you don't lose them. You can download apps you've already purchased again for free when the sync is done.

Just another example of why you should backup your phone very regularly.