Have you ever lost all your contacts at the same time? Or accidentally deleted some of your contacts? Well, we’ve all been through this at some point. A contact list is one of the most valuable parts of your phone. It contains the phone numbers of your family, work or close friends. Losing contact can be particularly troublesome.
Factors that can lead to loss of Android contacts
1. Unintentional deletion
This will delete several contacts from your contact list by accidentally pressing the Delete button. This can happen when you edit a certain contact and then accidentally delete some contacts in an impromptu way.
2. Firmware update
This usually happens for Android users who choose to root their devices. Once you have rooted your device and decided to update the phone to the latest software version, the upgrade can either crash your phone or lead to significant data loss.
3. Factory reset
Factory reset is all about erasing all data on your phone and restoring the device to its original system state. If you do a factory reset, you might lose your entire contact list if you haven’t backed it up.
4. Virus attack
If your smartphone is compromised by malware or any other type of virus, it can lead to loss of contact. The best way to protect your contacts is to install an antivirus to scan and remove viruses.
5. Lost phone
It is in this case that you accidentally lose your phone or it gets stolen. In this case, you lose your entire contact list. The only way to make sure your contact list is protected in the event of accidental phone loss is to back up your data.
Ways to Recover Deleted Contacts
Whether you deleted the contacts on purpose or it happened accidentally, this guide below will help you recover contacts on your Android device.
1. Check if the contacts are missing or deleted
Sometimes it happens that contacts disappear from your contact list for no reason. You might end up thinking that you have completely lost them. Surprisingly, the contacts can still be on your device, but they are hidden. This can happen if specific settings are tampered with or in rare cases for no reason. To check if your contacts are missing or deleted, follow the steps below.
- On your Android device, go to the Phone app.
- Click Contacts, usually the option in the center.
- In the upper right corner, click on the three vertical dots.
- Select “Contacts to display” usually the first option.
- Select “All contacts”.
- Close the Contacts app and then reopen it
For the latest versions of Android
- On your Android device, go to the Contacts app.
- Click on the triple bar in the upper left corner.
- Go to settings, the option in the lower left corner.
- Click on “Contacts to display”.
- Select “All Contacts” usually the first option.
- Close the Contacts app, and then reopen it.
If all contacts are displayed, but you still cannot see the missing contacts, your contacts are effectively deleted.
2. Restore contacts from Gmail
It is the easiest way to recover contacts on AndroidAndroid for users who sync contacts with their Google account. Unfortunately, this won’t work if you don’t have a Google account. You can re-sync deleted contacts up to 30 days back if you have a Google account. This method also works for contacts that appear in Gmail but are not visible on your phone. It is quick and easy to restore Android contacts from Gmail by following the steps below.
- Log into your Google account.
- Click the Gmail drop-down menu, then select Contacts.
- Under Google Accounts, click more and tap Undo changes.
- You will see a pop-up window displayed; click on “restore your Android contact list to any state of the last 30 days”.
- Choose your specified time and click Confirm.
- Your deleted contacts will be restored successfully.
Note that once you restore your contacts at the specified time, the contacts that you saved after the specified time will be deleted. It is advised to backup them before recovering contacts using this method.
The other way to recover contacts using your Gmail is to sign in to your account and sync your contacts. This method only recovers previously lost but not deleted contacts.
3. Restore from a backup
There are several ways to backup your contacts on Android. The first method is to create a backup on your SD card. If you had previously backed up your contacts to SD card, all you need to do is download a third-party app which will allow you to recover your contacts from SD card.
The second method is to create a backup of your contacts on a cloud server. To do this, you will need to install a third-party contacts app that will allow you to back up the contacts to their cloud server. Before you can back up your contacts, you will need to register and create an account. To restore deleted contacts, log into your account and click on restore contacts. Restoring contacts using this method only works for those who had previously created a backup on their SD card or cloud server.
4.Restore contacts from a database file (requires root)
If you have exhausted all options to restore deleted contacts on Android, this method will come in handy. However, it only works for rooted Android devices. Besides, it cannot work on rooted devices whose data has been completely erased before. Follow the steps below to restore deleted contacts if your device is rooted and you haven’t wiped your data:
- Access this folder “suppliers.contacts / databases ” in your storage.
- Or try to follow this path “/data/data/android.providers.contacts/databases ”.
- You can also use aSQLiteManager to access the database storage and then use it to open the .db files.
- If you can’t find the database folder or find the folder empty, it means your contacts are permanently lost.
Conclusion
Most of the methods listed above should be able to help you restore deleted contacts. This will save you the extra effort of having to ask your friends, family and coworkers to resend their numbers. To avoid having to try to restore deleted contacts, create a backup of your contacts. You can also sync your contacts with your Gmail account and re-sync them in case you lose them.