[Q] Android Contact/SMS metadata?? - General Questions and Answers

Is there such a thing as Contact or SMS metadata in Android? If so, how do I clear it?
I jumped through some hoops importing some contacts from my old WM phone and some of them didn't import correctly. The problem only appears when I try to send the contact an SMS message - somehow, someway, only in the Messaging app, the contacts mobile number starts with a comma (e.g. ",314-555-1234")
I found an app that will backup SMS messages to an XML file and have cleaned that up. I deleted all messages from the contact. I've even deleted the contact both on the phone and my gmail contacts.
With that done I restore the SMS messages and *BOOM* it shows up again with the leading comma. If you watch fast enough, it will even flash my contacts name before it switches to just displaying the number because there's no contact for it. So the question is - where the heck is it getting that leading comma from and how do I get rid of it?

i need an answer to this also

I have the same problem after I imported data from WM. I can send new SMS but not reply becouse there is a comma before some phone numbers.
I tried export SMS to .xml or .txt - there wasn't any comma before phone numbers. After that I deleted all contacts and SMS in my phone and restarted it. I edited .xml - deleted all names, there were only phones numbers left. After I imported this .xml. To my surprise I could see also Contacts names with SMS number!! How can the SMS program now the names?? Is there any Contact cache?
After I restored the main Contacts the comma is back :-(
(My phone - LG Optimus black, An. 2.2.2)
I found the solution
I have to delete file "mmssms.db" and restart phone.
-run Terminal Emulator on phone (superuser must be installed):
su
rm /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
--restart phone and import SMS -> comma is gone

Milan Dosedla said:
I found the solution
I have to delete file "mmssms.db" and restart phone.
-run Terminal Emulator on phone (superuser must be installed):
su
rm /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
--restart phone and import SMS -> comma is gone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! This fixed a problem where [email protected] was being associated to contacts in SMS and making replies fail. I deleted the mmssms.db file on my Samsung Epic Touch and the problem is gone.
Note that the vm.vonage.com problem occurs when you have Vonage set to send you text messages when you receive a voicemail. If one of your gmail/phone contacts leaves you a voicemail at Vonage and you then receive the text message from Vonage with their number prepending @vm.vonage.com, you will no longer be able to reply to text messages from that contact.

Milan Dosedla said:
I have the same problem after I imported data from WM. I can send new SMS but not reply becouse there is a comma before some phone numbers.
I tried export SMS to .xml or .txt - there wasn't any comma before phone numbers. After that I deleted all contacts and SMS in my phone and restarted it. I edited .xml - deleted all names, there were only phones numbers left. After I imported this .xml. To my surprise I could see also Contacts names with SMS number!! How can the SMS program now the names?? Is there any Contact cache?
After I restored the main Contacts the comma is back
(My phone - LG Optimus black, An. 2.2.2)
I found the solution
I have to delete file "mmssms.db" and restart phone.
-run Terminal Emulator on phone (superuser must be installed):
su
rm /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
--restart phone and import SMS -> comma is gone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! This has been one of the bane's of my existence for almost a year now! I had the same problem with all the [email protected] voicemail texts taking over my SMS. Got me in trouble with the wife I don't know how many times, when I thought I had texted her back. :crying:
By the way, don't know if this issue is the reason or not, but Vonage seems to have gone to where all voicemails come from a single number (don't remember what it is but it's one of the 5 digit numbers) and the text starts out with the number the call is from. So this shouldn't be an issue anymore with Vonage voicemails anyway.

Problems texting specific numbers - comma appears in front of number
CoreyC said:
Is there such a thing as Contact or SMS metadata in Android? If so, how do I clear it?
I jumped through some hoops importing some contacts from my old WM phone and some of them didn't import correctly. The problem only appears when I try to send the contact an SMS message - somehow, someway, only in the Messaging app, the contacts mobile number starts with a comma (e.g. ",314-555-1234")
I found an app that will backup SMS messages to an XML file and have cleaned that up. I deleted all messages from the contact. I've even deleted the contact both on the phone and my gmail contacts.
With that done I restore the SMS messages and *BOOM* it shows up again with the leading comma. If you watch fast enough, it will even flash my contacts name before it switches to just displaying the number because there's no contact for it. So the question is - where the heck is it getting that leading comma from and how do I get rid of it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
----
It looks as though you may have solved the problem, & perhaps your solution could have helped me! However, I eventually solved it another way, so I thought I'd post for the benefit of others who may have the issue.
I had this problem with just one contact for about two years. When I received texts from her, I noticed that they showed up with a comma in front of the number. Hence, the number that I was trying to reply to was not valid. I had to manually type her # in every time. I edited the contact dozens of times from both my phone & Outlook, and even tried deleting & recreating it. I got a new phone today, and this one shows me more details than the old one. I was able to see that I had her mobile # set up twice. One number had a plus in front of it. As soon as I deleted the # with the extra plus, my problem went away. I think the issue was that I had her set up as a contact in multiple locations: Outlook & one of my two Gmail accounts. When it tried to merge the two, it kept them as two different numbers because the number formats were different...only it didn't show me that that's what it was doing! I'm guessing I didn't delete all of the occurrences of that contact when I deleted (probably just one, or one at a time), so when I recreated it & it tried to match them up again, the issue came back. Hope this helps!

Hi all, on the process to save a contact in moto g2 android lollypop phone, under google account, I entered number first and clicked on add to contacts, then provided name, after that I clicked on save, I thought it is saved, later once I check It didn't available, that number is too important to me, anybody please help me in getting it back in any manner like system metadata, I have a note here if I would have not clicked on save, did sytsm can store the values which I entered at any cookies any where please help me.
Thanks,
[email protected]

Related

Sending SMS to a group

Is there a SW available on the XDA II that allows me to send a SMS msg to a group? I used to be available to do it on my ipaq using simple SMS.
I select category say "personal" from my contacts and viola, the msg will be sent.
AFAIK you can either select multiple recipients from you contacts list or you could set up a contact named "my-group" or so and put all the phone numbers in the mobile field, seperated by semicolons. It works here, but I have not yet tried more than a dozen at once.
Martin
martin kopplow said:
AFAIK you can either select multiple recipients from you contacts list or you could set up a contact named "my-group" or so and put all the phone numbers in the mobile field, seperated by semicolons. It works here, but I have not yet tried more than a dozen at once.
Martin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you do it Martin? I created a new contact and put multiple of mobile phone numbers saparated by semicolons, but the semicolons don't appear on the SMS program. In other words, the SMS program removes all semicolons and appends all the numbers.
tried this, but when i send a message I get the error:
"You cannot send this message as both an SMS and an e-mail message. Please remove either the SMS or the e-mail address and send again"
Needless to say, I created a new contact with two telephone numbers in the mobile phone section seperated with one ;
Ashby
group sms
hi guys
i tried to do this as well but it didnt work i had a nokia comunicator and i was able to do this with no problems.
regards kevin b :lol:
Thanks guys for the replies. I guess I have to live with sending SMS messages manually
It is really strange that an expensive pda+phone with a powerful operating system doesn't have this simple functionality.
I might sound strange, but this function is very important to me coz I send an average of 8 SMS messages to a group of people on daily basis.
I miss my T610
gropu sms
i agree kufi these phones arent cheap.
when i do into my sms box and say new i can add more contacts and seperate them with ; without any problem
havent tried sending it though so i'm not sure if it would fail but i can add more then one contact thats for sure
Yes this is how I do it too; the manual way which is time consuming and annoying. The optimal way is to assign a group of contacts under one name, but as you can see, it is not possible.
Hoping an application will be avaialable soon, coz this is driving me crazy.
group sms
I got this software, I think it works great. you have to first creat a group list, when saving the number, you have to save it in the group. I don't have any link for it, but its group sms ver1.1 by shailesh ashar, google it, or find the cab laying around here. hope it helped.
http://www.shubaroo.com/index.php?module=group_sms
Did you search?
http://www.google.com/cse?cx=000825...p+sms&sa=Search&cof=FORID:0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
^ search for "group sms", see first hit
please help me....
i am using O2 XDA Flame model, i need to know if there is any application for forwarding sms from inbox to group contacts by selecting the group name. i have used software for sending new sms to group contacts but have not seen any application helping to forward inbox sms to group contacts... hope i have clearly mentioned my query.
thank you.
If you are sending the same group of people text messages I send the message in the normal way - this requires you adding each of the recipients one at a time.
When you are finished and you send the mail - go back into your messages and select the 'sent' option form the drop down. You can now highlight the recipients and use the 'copy' option.
Then, go to the 'NOTES' section of your XDA and paste in the list and save it using whatever title you want.
Every time you want to send a message to these recipients, open your 'NOTES' and copy/paste the list into your message - it is not perfect...but it does work and does save time.
I have only just joined the forum. Anyone still having problems sending texts to multiple contacts on you htc tp2 try this I think it may help you.
Create a new contact any name and type the contacts numbers in as laid out below.
12345678999>; <12345678999>; <12345678999>; and so on. You need six spaces between each number, no left side arrow in front of the first number as the phone puts that in by default and no right side arrow after the last number. I have tried it with upto ten numbers no probs it might work with more.
Also if if one of the contacts in your group sent you the original message you wont wanna send it back to him so if you hit menu then hit check names hey presto it will put all the contact names in relevant to the numbers, touch on the one you want to delete and then hit your back space key and its gone. Good luck.
chk out my signature for group sms app that I made

TXT message suggested numbers not complete

Hi,
I have an issue when I try to send a txt message, when I type "T" in the "To" field looking for a friend of mines name "Tony" I get all the "Tony's" listed as suggestions except the one I am after.
I have deleted all the contacts, then synced with Outlook, that did not cure it. Then I deleted that particular contact, then re added it back manually checking every piece of info was in the correct format but it still does not appear as one of the suggestions.
I can get round this by tapping the "To" then selecting from the "Contacts" but I cannot understand why it does not offer the Tony I am after as a suggestion like all the other Tony's in my contacts.
Any ideas?
Regards
SDM197.

Sprite backup.

I've been using Sprite backup every time i reinstall a rom. And save my contacts, email and sms, call history etc. None of the system stuff as I like to have a clean start.
But every time I reinstall the backup, the contacts show up like usuly but when ever they call me, it shows up like a new number and ask me if I want to save it to a existing contact or new, if I choose existing contact and save the number it says I have to replace the one I got saved already because it the same number. And after i do that if the contact calls me he shows up. So its like sprite backups the contact but still doesnt really save them or something?
Anyone please? Cause its really annoying. Same with email. I get all my mails and can receive emails and send. But if I choose to edit the account. There isnt any email adress saved.
Thanks for the help!
BarateaU said:
I've been using Sprite backup every time i reinstall a rom. And save my contacts, email and sms, call history etc. None of the system stuff as I like to have a clean start.
But every time I reinstall the backup, the contacts show up like usuly but when ever they call me, it shows up like a new number and ask me if I want to save it to a existing contact or new, if I choose existing contact and save the number it says I have to replace the one I got saved already because it the same number. And after i do that if the contact calls me he shows up. So its like sprite backups the contact but still doesnt really save them or something?
Anyone please? Cause its really annoying. Same with email. I get all my mails and can receive emails and send. But if I choose to edit the account. There isnt any email adress saved.
Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PIM backup restorals do not work well with Manila.
It is better to use a virtual backup like Microsoft My Phone.
I'll try it out! Thanks alot mate!

[Q] Viber mixes up all names

After recovering viber + data with titanium backup every time I have updated my rom, it suddenly started to mix up the names in all the conversations a couple of months ago.
My fathers name is on me and my sisters conversation and my father is named some random name from my contact list that does not have viber, but still it shows an image of him.
Everytime I recover viber the names are different. I wonder what my dad is going to be named now?
This has been driving me crazy as I have sent a message to wrong person thinking I sent it to the right several times.
What to do? I don't want to remove viber completely with all it´s data because I have conversations that I want to keep.
Anyone?
boeing94 said:
After recovering viber + data with titanium backup every time I have updated my rom, it suddenly started to mix up the names in all the conversations a couple of months ago.
My fathers name is on me and my sisters conversation and my father is named some random name from my contact list that does not have viber, but still it shows an image of him.
Everytime I recover viber the names are different. I wonder what my dad is going to be named now?
This has been driving me crazy as I have sent a message to wrong person thinking I sent it to the right several times.
What to do? I don't want to remove viber completely with all it´s data because I have conversations that I want to keep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happens because Viber keeps Android contact IDs in its database and the contact IDs change when you update your ROM, wipe your contacts and then set up your contacts again (e.g. by syncing to Google)
If you know SQL then you can fix the data by hand - I had the same problem.
Install sqlite3 on your computer (it comes with Mac OS X), then pull the Viber databases in /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases and the Android contacts databases in /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases onto your computer.
Look in the contacts table in /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/contacts2.db to find the new IDs of the contacts who you use Viber to send messages to. Then look in the participants table in /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/viber_messages to find out the OLD contact IDs that viber is using. Then update viber_messages and participants, for example I needed to change old contact ID 1364 to new contact ID 683 and old contact ID 1440 to new contact ID 1666 and I used these statements:
Code:
update messages set person = 683 where person = 1364;
update messages set person = 1666 where person = 1440;
update participants set contact_name = display_name, contact_id = 683 where contact_id = 1364;
update participants set contact_name = display_name, contact_id = 1666 where contact_id = 1440;
When you're done push the Viber messages database back to your phone. Use these commands (change 10065 to the user ID for Viber on your phone):
Code:
adb shell 'rm /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/viber_messages*'
adb push viber_messages /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/
adb shell chmod 660 /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/viber_messages*
adb shell chown 10065 /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/viber_messages*
adb shell chgrp 10065 /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/viber_messages*
Viber is crap program
caused me many problems in the past. some contacts names doesnt show up!!
Hi everyone,
This is an official member of the Viber R&D Team. I'm here to provide direct support.
About the Titanium backup issue - please note that Titanium is a third-party application that does not officially link to Viber, and so we (Viber) naturally cannot guarantee that it will smoothly work with Viber's features.
You might want to contact Titanium developers for more information and assistance
@The Prince1 -
The source of this issue could greatly vary. Please read this short page in our HelpDesk, outlining some possible workarounds that will help reboot synchronization of the contact list: http://bit.ly/rRtPqk
(The instructions refer to iPhone, but are relevant to all phones nevertheless).
Viber Team said:
Hi everyone,
This is an official member of the Viber R&D Team. I'm here to provide direct support.
About the Titanium backup issue - please note that Titanium is a third-party application that does not officially link to Viber, and so we (Viber) naturally cannot guarantee that it will smoothly work with Viber's features.
You might want to contact Titanium developers for more information and assistance
@The Prince1 -
The source of this issue could greatly vary. Please read this short page in our HelpDesk, outlining some possible workarounds that will help reboot synchronization of the contact list: http://bit.ly/rRtPqk
(The instructions refer to iPhone, but are relevant to all phones nevertheless).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer! I really appreciate that Viber team are answering questions out on the forums cause this is not the first time I see you around. I can really notice a presence of you guys.
I will continue using Viber despite my problems(that I do not blame you for, after all Titanium backup is a third-party application) with it.
On topic: I will look further into this, probably using SQL.
It's our pleasure to help!
If you have any more questions/suggestions for us in the future, please don't hesitate to contact me again
Viber Team said:
Hi everyone,
About the Titanium backup issue - please note that Titanium is a third-party application that does not officially link to Viber, and so we (Viber) naturally cannot guarantee that it will smoothly work with Viber's features.
You might want to contact Titanium developers for more information and assistance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All what TB does is to backup the data folder "as it is", it has nothing to do with Viber or know how viber works, and nobody should contact TB team because the restore of Viber app doesn't work, mainly because the issue here is Viber itself. also because from the 100's of apps I backup with TB, only Viber suffer from this issue.
what frankoid described is the real issue, so the solution should be that Viber finds a different way of connecting its contacts with the Android Contacts.
anyway, thanks for the response.
@mcbyte_it -
You are right - technologically, it is not an impossible task to implement the options you mentioned into our app. However, please bear in mind that you are not the only user who requests features from us among our millions of users worldwide.
Aside from that, we also have other projects running in our company, like Viber on whole new platforms, for example.
All of the above doesn't mean we neglect our users' requests. We invite you to enter our Feature Request page and post your suggestion there, or join an existing similar suggestion. The more people join on a request, the faster it will become reality
You can find it here: http://helpme.viber.com/index.php/Knowledgebase/Article/View/43/9/have-an-idea-for-a-new-feature
I may have solved this problem..
I backed up my contacts using titanium backup.. But all of my contacts are synced in Google. Then, I restored it in titanium backup, contacts are not appearing.. Login to Google contacts synced then when I accessed Viber. Names are not mixed up!!
Anyway, Viber should have put an export and import function. I hope this will be implemented on the future
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
I have found an easier way of doing this than going thru this finding and updating.
I had the same issue, I deleted the vibers copy of contacts stored in this db /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/viber_data
Once this is deleted, inside viber > contacts, all contacts are gone, now press menu and select update contacts.
All contacts are back and mapped correctly to conversations.
ashokjp said:
I have found an easier way of doing this than going thru this finding and updating.
I had the same issue, I deleted the vibers copy of contacts stored in this db /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/viber_data
Once this is deleted, inside viber > contacts, all contacts are gone, now press menu and select update contacts.
All contacts are back and mapped correctly to conversations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great. This is handy, only thing that I hate is I need to root my phone just to restore my viber messages
Sent from my LT29i using Tapatalk 2
Well this buy happens only for root users and so the solution requiring root would be normal.
I mean titanium backup and restore of data directly, is possible only for root users, so this bug arises and you can fix this easily by deleting that DB and refreshing contacts
ashokjp said:
I have found an easier way of doing this than going thru this finding and updating.
I had the same issue, I deleted the vibers copy of contacts stored in this db /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/viber_data
Once this is deleted, inside viber > contacts, all contacts are gone, now press menu and select update contacts.
All contacts are back and mapped correctly to conversations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know why but it doesn't work for me. I'm able to see only one contact and no names in messages that I restored from viber_messages.
boeing94 said:
After recovering viber + data with titanium backup every time I have updated my rom, it suddenly started to mix up the names in all the conversations a couple of months ago.
My fathers name is on me and my sisters conversation and my father is named some random name from my contact list that does not have viber, but still it shows an image of him.
Everytime I recover viber the names are different. I wonder what my dad is going to be named now?
This has been driving me crazy as I have sent a message to wrong person thinking I sent it to the right several times.
What to do? I don't want to remove viber completely with all it´s data because I have conversations that I want to keep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just clear app data, set up your number on viber again,and all contacts should show up with their actual name.
ashokjp said:
I have found an easier way of doing this than going thru this finding and updating.
I had the same issue, I deleted the vibers copy of contacts stored in this db /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/viber_data
Once this is deleted, inside viber > contacts, all contacts are gone, now press menu and select update contacts.
All contacts are back and mapped correctly to conversations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of thanks (again!)
I can confirm this still works, worked for me anyways!
Only difference is before I got to press 'update contatcs'.... Viber updated them automatically on launch and problem solved
My problem was wrong contacts for existing messages, I do as many others use TB to backup app+data.
Cheers!
nerdo said:
First of thanks (again!)
I can confirm this still works, worked for me anyways!
Only difference is before I got to press 'update contatcs'.... Viber updated them automatically on launch and problem solved
My problem was wrong contacts for existing messages, I do as many others use TB to backup app+data.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a-lot easier way to fix this problem.
Open People app (the phone's contact manager) and edit broken contact:
1- Delete end number of mobile number and save the contact.
2- Open Viber then hit back.
3- Again edit broken contact and add deleted number at end of mobile number.
4- Open Viber you'll see broken contact-thread is fixed
This will work for non-root users too.
Hi,
We are excited and proud to announce that we have just released a major new update to our mobile application: Viber 4.0!
What's new in the new version?
- Choose from over 1,000 stickers in the brand new Sticker Market. The Sticker Market features endless possibilities for brightening up your conversations. Download themed sticker packages and enjoy the party!
- Push-to-talk voice messaging. Send messages instantly with the new push-to-talk feature that streams your voice message as you record it.
- (Android only) Supported tablet compatibility. Viber is now fully compatible with your tablet device(s). Enjoy quality conversations, wherever is most comfortable for you!
- Group capacity increased to 100 members. Whether you want to share with your nearest and dearest or just send a message to a large group of people, Viber groups let you get in touch with even more people, all in one place.
- Beautiful conversation backgrounds in the new background gallery. Choose elegant backgrounds to decorate your conversations from our new collection, designed by our very own Viber artists.
- Forward messages to your groups. Sharing is caring. The popular feature for contacts is now also available for all groups!
As usual, we will be right here to receive your thoughts and feedback. If anyone encounters any problems or would like to share their experiences from our new update, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Best regards,
the Viber Team.
nDman.sk said:
There is a-lot easier way to fix this problem.
Open People app (the phone's contact manager) and edit broken contact:
1- Delete end number of mobile number and save the contact.
2- Open Viber then hit back.
3- Again edit broken contact and add deleted number at end of mobile number.
4- Open Viber you'll see broken contact-thread is fixed
This will work for non-root users too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, this worked perfectly for me :good:
Sorry for digging up and old thread but I can confirm that this is still and issue with the current versions of Viber on at least 3 separate phones that I've used.
I just fixed some rogue contact lists the other night - for some reason using Viber it merges different contacts together.

Issue with contact in Android

I have one contact on my phone and in Google that is showing with commas in the number in the text messaging app.
Example: 1,(555),888-1234
In the contacts app and on Google the number is showing correctly.
This is a issue with the new S8. I can't send text messages to this person using there contact. I have to create a new thread every time.
I have deleted the contact on the phone and recreated it and also on Google and recreated it. Still having the same issue.
Any ideas?

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