iOS 5.0.1 OTA Update for Verizon iPhone 4S Results in Address Book Problems

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More reports of iOS 5.0.1 problems have been surfacing. While the iOS update is supposed to have fixed the iPhone 4S battery life problem, some users are reporting Address Book issues with the over-the-air update.

Paul Honts writes on The Startup Foundry that the over-the-air iOS 5.0.1 update for iPhone and iPad users this Thursday has resulted in a few glitches. Apart from network-access problems, the update caused the phone to forget how to associate address book entries with their telephone numbers. The names and details are still in Contacts, but these do not appear in SMS messages or calls.

The problem persists even when creating a new message and identifying a certain contact as a recipient. The iPhone will get the number, but not the name. The bug may not be universal, though, as users will have to use the OTA iOS 5.0.1 update on a Verizon iPhone 4S. Other models and networks may not be affected.

A partial bugfix may be done, although this involves a bit of tweaking and re-activating the device over Verizon’s OTA programming and activation system:

• Call *228 for OTA activation.
• Press 1 for “program or activate your phone.”
• Wait for the system to prompt you for activated settings.
• Open Task Manager and kill the Phone, Message and Contacts apps.
• Wait a few minutes.

Users can verify if the fix is effective by opening the Message app to confirm if telephone numbers are now associated with contacts. If not, a reboot may be necessary. Of course, this is just a temporary fix until Apple patches the problem. At least users don’t actually lose contacts forever, but the phone just forgets how to associate them with the correct number.