My contacts in iMessage are gone and when I delete the conversation it deletes the contact.

[iMore Question]

All my contacts are gone since I downloaded IOS 9 in my iMessages. If I want to message someone now I have to go to my phone contacts and go down to send message and that takes too much time. Also the few that I have messaged are deleted every time I delete the conversation.

 

[Just_Me_D]

If your contacts are present in the Contacts app then they are not 'gone'. When you compose an iMessage, can you not type the first few letters of the recipient to get that person's contact info to appear?