iOS 26.5 contacts, Messages, call- COMPLETELY NONFUNCTIONAL after setting up iPhone 14 Pro Max, now affecting iPad too

Okay. I just noticed something interesting. So I went to iCloud Web sorted contacts newest and then I saw this one contact that was somehow duplicated over 8,000 times.

Naturally I deleted all of them. But on iCloud there are three of these contacts that keep appearing that I can't seem to delete and they duplicate every once in a while. I can't stop it. Whenever I go to delete the contact, it just immediately comes back up.

I also notice now my phone calling works.. The messages do not yet. I am trying to download all of my message and contact data and straight up wipe all of it. But phone calling only works when the contact synchronization is off. Even though I've went and deleted all of the contacts from myCloud Web, as soon as I synchronized my contacts I'm not able to call or do anything. And in any case I'm still not able to use messages.

I'm just trying to wipe out everything, but there's no option to manage messages data from my web browser. I've selected delete and unsynchronise many times and I've factory reset or turned off all of my devices at this point. I've had a taste where I can now use the phone calling feature, but everything else is still broken.

Okay, so now I went and deleted every single one of my contacts from iCloud. I can now when synchronization is turned on go and See my phone make calls but still no messages. I'm still struggling to delete all of the iMessage data from my iCloud. iMessage still crashes, but now I can synchronize after deleting every single contact from my Apple contacts, and see the contact app and the phone app without it crashing.

I guess following this logic, I would to back up all of my iMessage data somehow, delete it, and then see if I can reimport contacts

Consolidated update after more than a month of testing

This now appears to be an Apple Account/iCloud-synced data problem, not a hardware, carrier, SIM, or ordinary backup problem.

What happens

• On every affected Apple device, Contacts, Messages, and Phone open to a white or blank screen, freeze, or crash.

• I cannot reliably read or send Messages, receive SMS verification/bank codes, view contacts, place or answer normal calls, or use any of my three phone numbers normally.

• Calls sometimes become available only after every contact is removed, but can drop after roughly 20 minutes while the call timer continues.

• Contacts remain at least partly visible on iCloud.com, but some contacts and Message history are inaccessible and cannot be fully backed up or exported.

• Third-party apps such as WhatsApp and Discord generally work, although calling behavior has also been inconsistent.

• The problem spread to two iPhones, an iPad, and a Mac after signing into the same Apple Account.

Most important reproduction evidence

1. Factory-resetting an iPhone and setting it up without restoring a backup does not solve it.

2. The device is initially usable, but the failure returns as soon as I sign into this Apple Account and its data synchronizes.

3. Removing all synchronized contacts can temporarily restore limited functionality.

4. Adding even one new test contact causes Contacts/Messages/Phone to fail again.

5. A different/new iCloud account does not show the same failure.

6. Apple diagnostics on both phones reportedly came back clean.

What I have already tried

• Multiple force restarts and at least two factory resets

• Clean setup without restoring a backup

• Restoring from backup

• SIM/network resets and setup without a SIM

• Recovery mode/reinstall attempts

• Multiple Apple Support calls and chats

• Senior-support escalation and a Genius Bar visit

• Current software updates and feedback reports

None resolved the account-specific failure. The Genius Bar could only escalate it or suggest creating a new iCloud account. That is not a reasonable resolution because this account contains subscriptions, payment history, settings, backups, Messages, contacts, and other data, some of which I currently cannot export.

Possible trigger / technical hypothesis

Shortly before the failure began, an automation/AI agent attempted to update my personal contact card with a new phone number. I cannot prove causation, but the timing and reproduction pattern suggest a malformed or otherwise corrupted iCloud Contacts/CardDAV record, contact index, or account-side sync state. A bad record may be repeatedly downloaded to each signed-in device and may be crashing Apple apps that resolve contact identity. This is a hypothesis, not a confirmed diagnosis.

What I need from Apple

Please route this to an engineer who can inspect the account-side iCloud Contacts/Messages sync state and the existing escalation. I need either:

• repair or removal of the malformed server-side record/index without deleting the account;

• a supported full export/migration path that preserves inaccessible Messages, contacts, purchases, subscriptions, settings, and other account data; or

• a concrete engineering status, diagnostic request, and workaround beyond “keep your devices updated.”

The strongest differentiator is simple: clean hardware fails only after this Apple Account synchronizes, while another account works. Please do not repeat device-reset instructions unless they are part of a new engineering test.

Original thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256307790

I think I'm getting to the bottom of it. I noticed my Mac as soon as I plugged it in, it created twenty contacts. Those twenty contacts corrupt my entire contacts and settings. It is also not updating for some reason. It was like three entire versions behind. And it was really full of storage. I'm going to update and wipe this Mac to see if it works...

If I have any contact that's synchronized to my Apple contacts from any service, it completely disables the ability to use messages or contacts for any of the other Apple services. If I had any contact whatsoever in my Apple contacts it breaks it. If I create a single test contact, it also breaks it.

I just got off the phone with Apple again and they told me engineering is aware of this issue and there's no resolution. Apparently it's not only me. I was trying to ask for more information, but they were reluctant to share. It does seem like it's a confirmed software side issue affecting multiple Apple services.

I think I'm about ready to give up for the time being. The solution they gave me was to keep your device updated.

My only solution here is transferring everything to a new iCloud account. So many headaches. For one I am paying for iCloud Plus. I am paying for other Apple services. All of my subscriptions, all of my cards are tied to this account. It gotten to other people according to Apple support there is no update. It is ridiculous

it's only selected users supposedly. I just have to go through this massive headache.

Okay, back where I was: if I delete ALL of my contacts from icloud, and I go into my phone contacts, I'm able to actually call people and use my phone even with the synchronization thing turned on. OR if I turn off iCloud and Gmail contact synchronization I can call people. But if I try to re-import my contacts or even if I try to just create a single test contact on my iPhone, it breaks everything again.

The only way I can call people is if I delete every single contact from my iCloud AND I have zero contacts synchronizing from any place including google . Please, someone from Apple get into contact with me. What a bloody nightmare.

So now at least I can call people without seeing their name but I'm still not able to text on iMessage at all. Whenever on the Mac I click on the messages icon for iCloud storage management I'm not able to actually manage anything. It just crashes again on the Mac. So now I'm running some job to try to pull it out of the raw file directory. So I can back up my messages and then I can try to delete all my text messages to see if that helps.

The Mac is updated but nothing changed. All of these problems with the exception of the phone call is still present. Maddingly annoying.