Crash of anything contacts-related After updating an iPad 2 to iOS 5, I lost the ability to do anything contacts-related:


The "Contacts" app disappears the moment I start it
Composing an email works until I try to select a "To" address, at which point the compose window disappears
Opening the "Mail, Contacts &amp; Calendars" section of the Settings causes the whole Settings thing to disappear.


When installing iOS 5, I chose to sync the contacts to iCloud, at which point whatever screen I was using disappeared just like all of the above do.

The only advice I've found so far is "wipe it clean and reinstall". I tried that, but the crash remains. The crash is fixed only if I don't restore the backup.

Is there anything I can try that would not involve me retyping all the contacts and re-configuring all the settings?
It sounds like a corrupted contacts file. Restore your iPad from backup, then go into iTunes and tell it not to sync contacts to your iPad. This should remove all the contact data. Now try to open Contacts. If it opens and it is empty, it is good. If it still doesn't open, then this method won't work. Assuming it opened, go back into iTunes, tell it to sync contacts again. This will add all the contacts from your computer back onto your iPad. (This assumes that you store your contacts on your computer in the Address Book app. If not, you probably will lose all your contacts...)