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Retrieving deleted contacts on Android

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ArmadX

So I just did a factory reset on my phone and, under the impression that my contacts were saved to SIM as I had always had them, I didn't back up my contacts. However, apparently they were not. I also had my sync set up to sync my contacts with my Google account, but I've tried going to https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#contacts and this is what I see. I've tried restoring the contacts from 7 days ago, aswell as 29 days ago, but everything still shows up as blank.

A quick Google search led me to this so I figured I might as well try it, but on scanning it didn't find any contact databases at all.

Anything else I can try? My contacts are pretty important to me, so I'd really appreciate anyone who can help me get them back, there may even be a reward ;)

EDIT: It's an old phone, running Android 2.3.2

10 years ago*

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22 Comments
RazielAntemos

There are 2 types of people: the one who did backups, and the one who will.

Anyway, google stores deleted contacts for 30 days, so there is a big possibility you are screwed. EDIT: To check it, try to go to settings -accounts -contacs and sync there, after be sure to check you contacts are displayed from your account, not from your phone in your phonebook.

10 years ago
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ArmadX

I know they delete it after 30 days, but the last time I synced was yesterday, so my contacts should be there.

10 years ago
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RazielAntemos

see the edit above

10 years ago
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ArmadX

Yes, I made sure of this, but there's still nothing because Google doesn't seem to have actually saved any of my contacts in the first place, so it can't sync them back to the phone.

10 years ago
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RazielAntemos

a wild guess - maybe you phone has a local contact storage? that means contacts are not synced with google, not saved on SIM, and you wiped them with a factory reset.

10 years ago
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ArmadX

I've tried importing contacts from SD card, but it just says there's "No vCard file on memory card".

10 years ago
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RazielAntemos

so you exported them there once?

10 years ago
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ArmadX

Not that I can remember, it was just on the off-chance that I did :P

Perhaps it does have local contact storage, but I had always though I had my phone set up to save all contacts to SIM. If I did, then would there be any way to retrieve them from there?

10 years ago
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RazielAntemos

If they are on SIM, they are there despite the phone reset.

10 years ago
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ArmadX

My SIM is empty though, so the contacts seem to have not been saved there, despite me believing they were

10 years ago
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RazielAntemos

well, you should try to restore the contacts.db file from your phone using any file recovery manager (on your pc like 7-Data Android Recovery)

10 years ago
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ArmadX

Thanks for the program, it's not recognising my phone though, despite it being connected

Screenshot and yes, I've remembered to enable USB debugging

10 years ago
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RazielAntemos

there are plenty of them, i just recommended the free one i know.

10 years ago
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ArmadX

Yeh I tried the first one I found too, but it didn't find anything.

I mounted my SD card and the program's detected it, and is scanning now, though I doubt it's gonna find anything if there wasn't anything on the SD card in the first place. Is there a way to access the phone's memory itself?

10 years ago
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RazielAntemos

I was talking about the phone memory, duh! No important data is stored on the SD . That's you you enable "debugging mode", to mount it as a device and have access to its own memory!

10 years ago
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ArmadX

That's what I thought, but 7-Data doesn't detect the phone's memory, only the SD card if I mount it. Otherwise it just says nothing is connected, whether USB debugging is on or off

10 years ago
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RazielAntemos

So fuck 7-data, find the one that works :)

10 years ago
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ArmadX

I've tried all the data recovery programs I could find, half wouldn't detect the phone, and the other half only scanned the SD card, not the phone's memory itself.

So I guess that's that, unless anyone has any other ideas?

10 years ago
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oktnxbai

If your contact is in the SIM, then it is not in your Google account -> it will not be backed up to the cloud -> thats why it is empty.

10 years ago
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ArmadX

But then how come the contacts aren't on my SIM either?

10 years ago
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nightwolf

To be fair, older versions of android can make quite a mess about contacts - specially those customized by the brand/carrier.

For instance, on my old phone I could save contacts to the SIM, to the local storage, to Google, or to Samsung's cloud. Not to mention contacts from whatsapp, waze and other apps which apparently maintain their own version of the list... quite messy. I somehow managed to default new contacts to Google, but it still worries me that I might lose everything eventually.

10 years ago
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ArmadX

Haha yeh, tell me about it xD

10 years ago
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Closed 10 years ago by ArmadX.