Solution: missing contacts in iPhone address book

I started having an issue where random contacts in my iPhone's address book were missing. The entries were still visible on my Macbook's address book, but they wouldn't copy over after syncing via iTunes. Even selecting the Contacts entry under "Replace information on this iPhone" and then syncing didn't help.

Search results revealed that this is a widespread problem, but I didn't find any solutions that applied to my particular case. Fortunately, I did land on a pretty simple solution.

This post is just Google food, written in the hope that some poor soul with the same issue might benefit. Please note that your mileage may vary. I don't use iCloud and I don't sync my contacts with any other outside service like Google. I just have the Address Book on my Macbook, which I sync with my iPhone via iTunes.

The solution for me was to simply export the entire address book, then re-import, overwriting all the existing entries. It doesn't change a thing in the Address Book app, but after syncing with the phone, all my contacts were restored.

• Open Address Book on your Mac
• Click File -> Export -> Address Book Archive...
• Select a place to save the archive and click Save
• Click File -> Import
• Select the exact archive file you just saved
• When prompted, choose Replace All
• Sync with your iPhone via iTunes

Hope someone finds this helpful.