Not all Contacts were Deleted iPhone Error

When you are trying to delete contact on your device, the “not all contacts were deleted iPhone error” usually comes up.

The reason for this is that your contact list is backed up on your iCloud account due to issues like content restrictions.

However, it is not limited to that as it could occur when you delete a contact you created on a third-party app using your phone contacts app

Here is what I am saying. If you want to delete a contact you created on WhatsApp or Facebook for example.

You ought to go over to WhatsApp and delete it from there before deleting it from the phone contact.

However, that’s not the only reason why you might be experiencing the not all contacts were deleted iPhone error. There are other common reasons such as these

• If you stored any contact on your SIM Card, after deleting it, you might see this error since you didn’t move the contacts from SIM memory to your iCloud account.
• If you tried to delete a contact from your iPhone contact app when it wasn’t initially created from there.
• During an iOS upgrade or downgrade
• After jailbreaking your Smartphone

Since you are aware of all these, let’s delve into how you can resolve these issues with proven steps

How to fix Not all Contacts were deleted iPhone error

There are a series of advice online on how you should fix the “not all contacts were deleted iPhone error”. Some suggest you delete all your iPhone contact and resync it while some say you only need to toggle off and on the iCloud sync.

But, there are some other interesting ways around the issue.

However, we will be touching on every possible troubleshooting step that can work for you if you are also stuck with this.

Disable iCloud contact and sync it back

If you didn’t do it that way and you are experiencing this error here is what you should do.

• Launch the Settings app
• Tap on your Apple ID
• Select iCloud
• In the list of applications simply Disable Contact for now.
• Doing this will prevent other devices associated with your Apple ID from issues after trying to delete a contact
• After doing this, navigate to your main screen and tap on screen time
• Now, go to “Content and Privacy restriction”
• Under Contact ensure that “allow change” is selected.
• Next, go ahead to enable contacts to be backed up in your iCloud.

Once you do all these, you shouldn’t see the “not all contacts were deleted iPhone error” anymore. If it persists, proceed to the next step.

Restart Your Device

In some scenarios, changes you’ve made on your iPhone might not be receptive to taking place until you restart it.

Since you are not seeing any positive changes after performing the steps above, restart it by following the steps below

• Hold the power button till it shows “slid to turn off”
• Now slide it off and wait for a few seconds
• Now, hold the power button to start the device again
• See if you are getting the “not all contacts were deleted iPhone error. If you are, try upgrading your iOS to the latest version

Software Update

Sometimes, it might be glitches from the current iOS you are using that is causing the not all contacts were deleted iPhone error. But then, you might not easily figure that out.

However, if you’ve tried the above steps and there are no positive changes, you should try updating your iOS.

To do that, you can simply follow the steps below

1. Go to Settings > General > Software Update > Automatic Updates.
2. On the next screen, you will see the currently installed version of iOS and whether an update is available.

 Recommended: How to Update your iPhone 13 Pro 

Why some contacts are not showing on iPhones?

There are a series of reasons why some contacts are not displaying on your iPhone. Apart from issues like a software upgrade, or glitches. Sometimes, it could happen if your groups are switched off or if you logged in with a wrong apple ID

Why has my iPhone erased some of my contact names?

That is not usually the case, what has happened in such a scenario is that the contacts are not fully synced with your iPhone.

To resolve that all you have to do is go to Settings > name > iCloud to make sure that the Contacts toggle is on

How do you delete multiple contacts on iPhone without iCloud?

Deleting a single contact on your iPhone is pretty straightforward. What if you want to delete all the contact on your iPhone? How do you deal with that

Here’s what to do:

1. launch your Contacts app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Contacts at the bottom.
3. Next, tap Groups. It is located in the upper left corner.
4. If you want to delete all of your contacts, uncheck all of the accounts.
5. All of your contacts will disappear.

Not all contacts were deleted iPhone meaning

When you are faced with this, it means after deleting a contact from your contact app, it still appears on your device. 

In cases like this, there are a series of reasons that could cause them such as software glitches, iOS updates and sometimes it could occur when you delete a contact which you created from third-party apps.

One or more contacts may be read-only iPhone

A read-only contact means you cannot delete or edit it. This usually occurs when contacts are transferred from a third-party app to your iPhone

How to edit read-only contacts on iPhone

Doing this might be a bit hard to figure out on your own if you have turned ON restrictions.

If you are not sure whether you have it on or off, all you have to do is go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > and then select Contact.

Over here, set it to “Allow Changes”

After doing that, you can go to the contact and make any changes you want to do to the contact

Final thoughts

There are a series of reasons why you might be faced with the Not all Contacts were deleted iPhone error, But then, one of the things you have to take note of is to always create a new contact from your contact app to avoid these issues. 

If none of them is working you should contact apple support to open a ticket regarding the issue.