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The Sims Mobile: Lost Contacts, Relationships and the “Busy” Passive Sim Bug

Players reported missing contacts and relationship stories, but the reports do not prove one cause or a dependable recovery method. EA shut down The Sims Mobile’s servers on January 20, 2026, making gameplay recovery impossible.
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Players reported that The Sims Mobile sometimes lost contacts or relationship stories, with some reports linking the loss to making a Sim passive, a freeze, or restarting the game. Those accounts do not establish a single cause or a dependable recovery method. The game’s servers shut down on January 20, 2026, and EA says server-stored progress is no longer available, so gameplay recovery is no longer possible.

What players said disappeared

Reports described contacts vanishing from lists and relationship stories disappearing while in progress. One EA Forums player said a contact added at a party and several ongoing relationships were gone; some contacts could reportedly be encountered again at parties, but most were missing from the relationship list. That is an individual account, not evidence that every player was affected. EA Forums report

In another EA Forums discussion, players said newly added contacts or relationships sometimes disappeared after a freeze and restart. One player also felt the problem was more likely on a day they hosted a party. These are observations about timing, not a confirmed explanation for the losses. EA Forums discussion

How passive Sims and the “busy” symptom fit in

Some community reports associated lost contacts or relationship stories with making a Sim passive and later playable again. Other reports described a Sim remaining “busy” or being unable to finish an event. The accounts do not show that every busy/passive problem caused relationship loss, or that these symptoms shared one technical cause. EA Forums Reddit discussion

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A separate passive-Sim issue was marked fixed

EA Forums search material marked a passive-Sim leave-and-return loop as fixed. That issue involved Sims repeatedly leaving and returning to the home lot; it does not confirm that disappearing contacts or relationship records were fixed. EA Forums

Could lost relationships be restored?

The available player accounts do not establish a reliable method for restoring relationship-story progress. Finding a Sim elsewhere or meeting a contact again does not demonstrate that a missing relationship record or its progress was recovered. Nor do the sources confirm the bug’s technical cause or establish that the disappearing-contacts issue was fixed before the game closed.

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For current players, ordinary recovery through gameplay is impossible. EA says The Sims Mobile required online servers and that saved progress was stored on its servers; after shutdown, that data is no longer available. EA: The Sims Mobile — Our Final Update

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When The Sims Mobile shut down

Event Date and details
Final update October 20, 2025, according to EA.
Delisted from app stores October 21, 2025, according to EA.
Server shutdown January 20, 2026, at 1:59 PM UTC, according to EA.

EA’s announcement explains that the game required online servers, so it could no longer be played in any form after the shutdown. EA also says saved data was server-stored and is no longer available. The dates and status apply to The Sims Mobile; they are not a statement about other Sims games. EA’s final-update announcement and FAQ

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