Database Info

Flashing ROM leads to contact issues

I have been going through some ROMs recently and have found that no matter what ROM I try my contacts always do not sync fully/at all. I've been backing up using gmail and backup assistant but neither of these methods have worked for me. Also I can never access my backup assistant after I flash. Any help would be greatly appriciated.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

If you are having problems getting all your contacts imported over make sure they are all stored in your gmail account's dashboard. If not then you will have to send your contacts to your sdcard to a .vcf(I think) and import them to gmail that way you know they are stored there. Then you just have to make sure you tap the sync contacts button in Accounts> Your gmail account, about ten times until it says it synced with a time stamp close to the time you tapped it to sync.

MattHorner said:
I have been going through some ROMs recently and have found that no matter what ROM I try my contacts always do not sync fully/at all. I've been backing up using gmail and backup assistant but neither of these methods have worked for me. Also I can never access my backup assistant after I flash. Any help would be greatly appriciated.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
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I had a problem similar to that. Let me see if I can remember what I did...
I think what I did was go to Verizon's website and went to the Backup Assistant on their page. I think after that, I exported all my contacts into a .csv file or something. From there, I went to my Google Mail account and then imported all my contacts from .csv file into my google account. I don't think that was it exactly, but something like that.
-Kevin

Awesome thank you so much guys hopefully I get my contacts working today once I can flash one of the ROMs I got from a couple days ago =)
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

[Q] Where the hell are my contacts saved to?!

ATT sync is OFF.
Google Sync is ON.
I sign into Google, go to Google Contacts... nothing.
I flash a new rom, I sign into my account on my phone - all my contacts are there. With their painstakingly-manually assigned photos.
Are my contacts being saved in some dark sector of my phone? Are they hidden on some Google Sever? Where can I find them?!

You might not looking goot at Google contacts look carefuly

Yuna said:
You might not looking goot at Google contacts look carefuly
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I type "Google Contacts" into Google, and click on the first link. Where should I be looking?

go to Gmail, and on left check Contacts...
Maybe your error is that you search for something not being logged in into gmail, or another account?

If you are using any 2.1 rom then any contact appears on your phone when you sign into google... not Just 'my contacts' or any other group, so check the all contacts tab or whatever it's called. Every contact in your gmail account will appear, even your Craigslist adult services email addresses that you love to send to (the local police know about you). I would venture to say that 99% this is a Google issue and not a phone issue as there is no way your phone pulls these out of the blue. Also if its that much of a problem, hit the menu button in the contacts list and then go to display or settings (can't remember what) and unselect Google contacts.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

COuld be on the SIM card.

Well my phone's OS is totally busted, so I guess we'll find out the hard way

Use titanium backup and backup something called "contacts storage" (not the contacts app) and take a backup of it. This is the place where phone contacts are copied to, no matter where else they might be backed up the system. This has been a life saver for me many times, even today.

diablo009 said:
Use titanium backup and backup something called "contacts storage" (not the contacts app) and take a backup of it. This is the place where phone contacts are copied to, no matter where else they might be backed up the system. This has been a life saver for me many times, even today.
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Looks like I'll have to get Titanium Backup when I get my rom flashed, as Google didn't save my contacts anywhere. Time to redownload all my pictures... *sigh*

thehyecircus said:
Looks like I'll have to get Titanium Backup when I get my rom flashed, as Google didn't save my contacts anywhere. Time to redownload all my pictures... *sigh*
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Did you go to mail.google.com and sign in?

imeraz said:
Did you go to mail.google.com and sign in?
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Yes I did. They weren't saved on there before, and now that my phone had some issue and I reflashed it back to stock and logged back into my account, there are no contacts either.

thehyecircus said:
Yes I did. They weren't saved on there before, and now that my phone had some issue and I reflashed it back to stock and logged back into my account, there are no contacts either.
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When you add a new contact does it ask you where you want to save the contact to? choices would be phone, SIM or google.

imeraz said:
When you add a new contact does it ask you where you want to save the contact to? choices would be phone, SIM or google.
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I copied all my contacts over from SIM. I figured it would then put then onto my Google Contacts, but I guess I was wrong. It's not a big deal.

thehyecircus said:
I copied all my contacts over from SIM. I figured it would then put then onto my Google Contacts, but I guess I was wrong. It's not a big deal.
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Hmmm...strange, would think it would have too. Sorry I couldn't help out.

imeraz said:
Hmmm...strange, would think it would have too. Sorry I couldn't help out.
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It's too late for anyone to help anyway. It's not a problem. It could have been a Perception issue?

turn google sync on
yes, that one, the one under sync thingy setting somewhere on your phone, that you have turned off I bet. Let it sync like a crazy wild ass Then check in Gmail contacts on the left and voila. Wizard Magic of the totally not evil google.
Basically, never turn the google sync off, or your'e f-d on contacts and it seems a few other things too.

bwolmarans said:
yes, that one, the one under sync thingy setting somewhere on your phone, that you have turned off I bet. Let it sync like a crazy wild ass Then check in Gmail contacts on the left and voila. Wizard Magic of the totally not evil google.
Basically, never turn the google sync off, or your'e f-d on contacts and it seems a few other things too.
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I had Google Sync on since day one and it never did anything. I even turned it on and off to force the issue.
I have my new flash, and all my contact photos deleted. I have reupped a few of them, and nothing in my Google Contacts yet either. Do I need to "star" them in Android?

Going forward, when you create a new contact and it asks where you want it saved, choose Google. This will automatically save the contact to your Gmail account. When you flash your again and sign in after flashing, your contacts will be there
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

wretchedlocket said:
Going forward, when you create a new contact and it asks where you want it saved, choose Google. This will automatically save the contact to your Gmail account. When you flash your again and sign in after flashing, your contacts will be there
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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I like my accounts saved to my SIM card in case anything happens. I would also like them saved to Google as a redundant backup. Why is this not possible?

Contact pics not showing up inside sms app

Am I the only one with this problem? And is there a fix?
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

Bump
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

This happens to me sometimes. I usually just backout of messages, and go back in and it works fine. Hasn't hapened for a few days though.

Happens to me ALL the time...

Yeah from my searching it's been happening to all of us at one point or another. I usually delete my facebook account from the phone and re-add them. Pics come back.

Here is the fix - you probably ran permission fix in CWM. This is one of the results...
Go into Applications - Manage applications
Go to ALL applications tab
Scroll down to Contacts Storage and click it.
Clear its data
Scroll down to Market
Clear data
Open market - accept agreement
Resync your contacts. This only erases the picture cache not your numbers. It gets corrupted when you run permission checks in CWM.

I had this same problem, it wasn't storing the picture right in the SMS app, and other apps like LauncherPro weren't able to pull any of the contact pictures. I also had it not syncing my Facebook picture with my local contact (which I find annoying).
What I did is added the Facebook for HTC Sense account, and let this sync. When I installed the FB app I told it to not sync anything.
Now everything is working great.

Well my problem was due to the cwr and cuz I was saving contact to the phone and not to Google ! How can I have saving to Google default
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

adrianh85 said:
Well my problem was due to the cwr and cuz I was saving contact to the phone and not to Google ! How can I have saving to Google default
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
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Just do yourself a favor and edit your contacts at gmail.com... they push to your phone.

does anyone know of a mod that will defult the contacts to save to ur google account =instead of degfluting to the phone?

adrianh85 said:
does anyone know of a mod that will defult the contacts to save to ur google account =instead of degfluting to the phone?
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First of all:
psufan5 said:
Just do yourself a favor and edit your contacts at gmail.com... they push to your phone.
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Second of all, don't ever save your contacts on your phone, that's what google sync is for. When you start restoring saved contacts and letting google sync run, you're creating a huge mess.
In your case I would clean up the contacts on google, then wipe your phone (not restoring any contacts saved on the phone) so that everything you have on google is what you have on the phone.
I did this a while back, and have been happy ever since.

seandalton0 said:
First of all:
Second of all, don't ever save your contacts on your phone, that's what google sync is for. When you start restoring saved contacts and letting google sync run, you're creating a huge mess.
In your case I would clean up the contacts on google, then wipe your phone (not restoring any contacts saved on the phone) so that everything you have on google is what you have on the phone.
I did this a while back, and have been happy ever since.
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Absolutely agree with you. After I rooted, i dont know what I did, but after i rooted, all my facebook contacts ended up on my phone. )And no, I didnt tell the facebook app to sync all) I think i added the google account and facebook accounts too fast and then hosed it up when it brought up suggested linked contacts. I just went to Google contacts, cleaned what i didnt want, made some changes to other contacts, cleared contact storage data, and had them all back how i like less than 2 minutes later. and i still had facebook for htc sense setup and it had everybody synced in about 5 minutes. been perfect ever since.

Best way to backup contacts?

First, I did use the search feature, but couldn't find anything specific to the Inspire. If this already exists, please feel free to link to it/close this thread. Thanks!
So, I can't seem to effectively back up my contacts. Titanium Backup doesn't do it, and I thought they were synced via Google. Not to mention I've had the same SIM card for YEARS and all my contacts have always been on there. Now, since I rooted my phone and started flashing custom ROMS, they have disappeared. Now I am without my 400+ contacts database, which I need.. So my question is, what is the best way to back up contacts, and is there any way to recover the ones I had?
Thanks in advance!

As long as you didn't choose not to sync with Google before you flashed, they are backed up. Most likely the problem you are having is getting them to import. Try going to Settings>Accounts and Sync> and manually sync your Google account.

stonewallmike said:
As long as you didn't choose not to sync with Google before you flashed, they are backed up. Most likely the problem you are having is getting them to import. Try going to Settings>Accounts and Sync> and manually sync your Google account.
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I rip my employer a little I guess and store ALL my contacts to MS Exchange for several years now with nary a hiccup...that said since I've been on Android, Google does a fine job too. ... I think my free Sugar Sync account probably has them too...with this phone I have given up storing any contacts at all on the SIM card...because I have gone through what you are when simply switching phones or have phones stolen/lost in the past...but yeah make sure at least Google is backing them up...

It all depends on where you have chosen to save your contacts. If to phone then they may be lost forever. If to sim then simply import them back to your phone. If to Google account then as said above just re-sync.
When thinking about flashing rom's the first thing that you should do is make sure all contacts are backed up. Best choice is with Google. That way everytime you wipe data you can boot up your phone sync with Google and BOOM! They are there. Works a treat. Cheers.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Thanks guys. I've had them backed up to Google before, and even restored them before, but it doesn't seem to be working. I just flashed the VU ROM after having been using the RCMix3D ROM for my Inspire, so I'll post the question on their page and see if it's a known issue with the ROM or anything.

Good luck.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

elijahpr said:
Thanks guys. I've had them backed up to Google before, and even restored them before, but it doesn't seem to be working. I just flashed the VU ROM after having been using the RCMix3D ROM for my Inspire, so I'll post the question on their page and see if it's a known issue with the ROM or anything.
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I have been on a captivate and now the inspire. Flashed upteen different roms and never had an issue with google restoring my contacts. Everytime I put the gmail addy in it pulls it all over.
Doesn't the htc sync account do that as well? Try doing that. If all else fails and you have them in say outlook or still on google then you can export them as a comma separated value (CSV) file and then put that on your sd card then import them via the people app. You can then save to sim via the people app.
I am on VU now and it restored flawlessly from gmail.
This is one app on the market that you can look at.
https://market.android.com/details?id=no.uia.android.backupcontacts&feature=search_result

I would recommend using my backup pro from the android market

How to backup joined contacts?

Hello, I've spent the last hour linking my Google Contacts with Facebook. So i think, i don't wanna do this again next time I flash new rom or change phone. So is it possible to make some kind of backup that will remember what contacts where linked.
If not, is there an app that can rename all my Google Contacts according to the names of the linked Facebook account.

Are you using a HTC phone with a Sense ROM? If you are, then the People app in Sense adds a tag to each contact once you link it. Using this it automatically restores Facebook link when you factory reset/flash a new ROM. To confirm that it added those tags for you, open a contact and look under the 'Notes' section. Also log into your Gmail account on a computer, open a few random linked contacts and see if this tag is there under 'Notes'. If it's there, it's backed up with Google contacts and when you restore the contacts to the phone, it'll automatically link them after signing into Facebook.
Sent from my Desire HD using xda premium

No, i don't have HTC phone

Which phone do you have then? And which ROM are you using?
Sent from my Desire HD using xda premium

I have T-mobile move balance(Huawei U8600) and i'm using stock rom(2.3)

deemeetar said:
Hello, I've spent the last hour linking my Google Contacts with Facebook. So i think, i don't wanna do this again next time I flash new rom or change phone. So is it possible to make some kind of backup that will remember what contacts where linked.
If not, is there an app that can rename all my Google Contacts according to the names of the linked Facebook account.
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i wish i could help man, i want to do the same thing too

Unfortunately, I don't think it is really possible as these are two separate sets of contacts. The best way to alleviate some of the hassle is to transfer some of the data over, as in, transfer the facebook info into your Google contacts.
Facebook info is not editable as it is stored on their sore and merely linked to it. Ubuntu One os working on their contact management which would slow for this as it syncs facebook, Google and any other services to you ubuntu account then would sync to your mobile.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

I've added all the email address of my friends to my Google contacts. I manually did this one day on my computer, copy pasting email addresses from Facebook to Google contacts. Since then I've never had this problem. Facebook automatically identifies my contacts through their email ID and links them. It's a time consuming process, but you'll only need to do it once and for every new contact that you add.
Sent from my Desire HD using xda premium

Well i'm hardly a developer, but if it possible to access to contacts joined contacts from the android API, and if we build an application that would read information from facebook(with permission, like all FB apps) then i guess it would be possible to store lets say profile id from fb to google contacts notes, and then with the same app, you would be able to join them again in case of new phone/new rom.
Would you say thats possible? Would anyone try to build that?
I think i will try to make something like that after I finish the college year.

HTC has a feature like that, as was mentioned. So it's possible. It would be worth it to try! Basically the htc app automatically searches and paris contacts, based on names, emails, numbers, etc. them you are given a notification, and prompted with the suggestions and you can choose to link. This only happens on startup, so am app that could be called on at any time would be nice!
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

When on contacts screen, press menu> import/export> export to sdcard
Restore them whenever you flash a new ROM, don't tell if it wasn't what you were looking for
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I know it has been a long time since this questioned has been asked, but I wanted to let people annoyed by this problem that I have made a free application that can backup and restore those joins. It can help those with mild OCD like myself.
It is called Total Backup and can be found in Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.softwareshack.totalbackup. If you happen to use it don't hesitate to write to me any bugs or features you may like. Feedback is very important to me.