Tablets and smartphones on the Android operating system are becoming more popular every year. And many today are already actively using them, storing a lot of personal data and hoping that it will be stored securely in these devices for a long time. But sometimes technology fails. What to do if you have a large database of contacts, and suddenly all or part of them simply disappeared? This article provides several recommendations on how to restore contacts on Android and be safe from losing them in the future.

Method 1: Regular backups

The easiest way to protect yourself from losing all your contacts is to make regular backups to external media. If a memory card is installed in the smartphone, then just go to the phone book, select the "Import / Export" item, and then specify the device's memory as the copy source, and the memory card as the destination. After that, a file will be created on it, which will contain all contact entries from the phone book.

In order to be safe, it is best to store this file in several places, including your home computer and a secure cloud storage. By updating it regularly, you will always have the latest version of the contact database at hand. If necessary, it will be enough to perform the same actions as when copying, only select the memory card as the source, and the phone's memory as the destination. All your contacts will be there.

Now you know how to recover deleted contacts on Android from a backup database. But what if there was no such backup?

Method 2. Synchronization via Google account

Even if you don't use the Google Play service to install apps, it would be nice to have an account. It is used not only to authorize the user, but also to store a large amount of data, including phone numbers from the phone book of the device. If you set up automatic synchronization in advance, then every time you connect to the network, the smartphone itself will send new phone numbers to the cloud server, where they will be stored until the right moment comes.

If you suddenly need to restore contacts after a factory reset, then this can be done quite simply. Even on a new or completely cleaned phone, you should log in to your Google account, then go to the phone book, select the "Import / Export" item, and perform the same actions as in the first method, only specify your account as the data source . If you have a stable high-speed Internet connection, the operation will take no more than a minute.

Method 3. Synchronization with proprietary software from the manufacturer

Some large corporations release proprietary software to work with their devices. For example, until recently, Samsung has been actively developing the Kies program installed on a home computer. It was intended to exchange data between a PC and a smartphone or tablet. The list of these data included contacts.

Saving backups by default in applications of this kind is often enabled, and starts immediately after connecting the smartphone with a USB cable. Therefore, if your contacts have disappeared, but you have previously used a similar program, it would be nice to check it. It is quite possible that she saved your data, and through her menu it will be possible to restore them without difficulty.

Method 4. Filter settings

Sometimes it happens that the user sounds the alarm ahead of time. In the phone book of any smartphone, there is a function for filtering contact data. It is designed to temporarily or permanently hide certain groups of contacts that you seem to need, but you rarely use them. Sometimes you can accidentally set filtering in such a way that all contacts from the phone book will simply not be displayed, although they will remain in the device's memory. It will look like the phone book is simply empty.

To check whether this is really the case, you just need to go to the corresponding menu of your phone book. Sometimes by accident it was possible to turn on the display of contacts only from the SIM card, so first of all check which source option is set. It is advisable, to make sure for sure, to include display from all sources.

In addition, there is such a thing as contact groups. This is a pretty handy feature if you set it up ahead of time. Grouping contacts allows you to separate your personal and work life, and quickly find the person we need. However, if this function has not been configured in advance, it may happen that the filter will display only one group, which is also empty, since no one has added entries to it. Thus, it may turn out that all the data remained in place, and you simply do not see it and worry ahead of time.

There are also methods for recovering contact data through special software, but they are often more complex and require special skills. If you do not have them, it is better to contact specialists, since on your own you can only reduce the chances of a successful recovery.

Video instructions for restoring contacts