[Q]What is your preferred method to backup contacts on ICS? - Captivate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

If you have ICS, you know that it is not possible to store contacts on the phone per-se, and rather ICS forces you to store them in one of your Google Accounts. I was wondering based on the experience of other users on this forum, which method brings the best results for backing up contacts.
I used to backup using MyPhone Explorer, but ICS does not recognize the program. Now I am restoring backups from TiBu. What method do you guys prefer to restore contacts after flashing a new ROM?

Just export to the SD card -_-
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda premium

umm why would you NOT backup to google account?
then you dont worry about it.. and tibu wont work between gingerbread to/from ICS or any other major update...
gmail and android allows you to export to csv if you ever needed them for ..lol another phone.
im not sure but i am starting to think that -_- is a polite facepalm... further research necessary.

Super Backup app from the (Market).

Yeah what he said, I just use my Google contacts. You can sort through them at http://contacts.Google.com
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA

TRusselo said:
umm why would you NOT backup to google account?
then you dont worry about it.. and tibu wont work between gingerbread to/from ICS or any other major update...
gmail and android allows you to export to csv if you ever needed them for ..lol another phone.
im not sure but i am starting to think that -_- is a polite facepalm... further research necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps you did not understand my first post. I am not asking for a method. I already have a preferred method, which is TiBu. Furthermore, I am well aware that TiBu does not work between GB/ICS, which is the primary reason why I am not asking for help on restoring contacts from TiBu. I have my contacts backed up in google, as well as have a csv backup on my phone. I prefer TiBu because I already restore apps with it and I have not experienced any problems whatsoever restoring contacts as well.
The time you spent analyzing be-ock's post as well the reasons I may have to not backup my contacts on google could have been better spent posting your preferred method, like the 2 members that followed your post.
-_-

kafepuya said:
If you have ICS, you know that it is not possible to store contacts on the phone per-se, and rather ICS forces you to store them in one of your Google Accounts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still not a fan of this fact. I rather liked having them separated so that I could leave business contacts on the phone (actually the SIM, i didn't save any contacts to the phone itself) but ICS killed that. I'm not talking a backup to SIM, I didn't want the business numbers in my google account, period.
As to the question at hand, I leave it to Google and the account I made just for the phone, they already have hundreds of copies of the contacts on multiple servers. Anything else is going to be prone to error, incompatibility, corruption, etc. Also, google does the restoring & updating all on its own, no thought needed.

DaNaRkI said:
I'm still not a fan of this fact. I rather liked having them separated so that I could leave business contacts on the phone (actually the SIM, i didn't save any contacts to the phone itself) but ICS killed that. I'm not talking a backup to SIM, I didn't want the business numbers in my google account, period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a similar problem. I'm an aircraft mechanic and I travel quite often. There are some numbers that are essential in case I get in a bind. I have taken several steps to ensure that if my captivate gets borked, I can still have some essential numbers at hand. I basically travel with an old Nokia GoPhone with all essential numbers recorded on the phone and SIM card. That way, if my Captivate dies for some reason (like it did when I tried flashing while flying, stupid me), I can still get a hold of some omportant people should I need to.

Personally I create a vcard backup saved to the phone and computer. But i only have that in case Google for some reason doesn't sync the contacts to my phone.
I found that ics is much better at syncing all contacts. I accident imported my vcard backup after adding my Google account and now i have double of every contact.
Sent from my SGH-I89 using slimics

Related

[q] did I lose a friends contacts

So I was in a bit of a rush last night while rooting and flashing cm7 on my friends hero and I forgot to make sure his contacts were synced to google, they weren't. Did I make a back up, not really.... I know, I know, stupid. I did copy all his folders over to a computer before doing anything though, but I don't think that will help. So my question is if the contacts were stored on the phone, would they be on the sd card, or are they lost from rooting and wipeing and flashing cm7. If there are no contacts showing are they gone for good or can they ber restored?
Lession relearned... backup, backup, backup.
Thanks in advanced for any help
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
When your friend first setup his hero he had to setup a google account. As long as he had his contacts saved at one point threw google he should be fine. "Should be "
Tell your friend to log into his google/gmail account and see if his contacts are stored. If they are then just add the account to his now rooted hero and sync. Also in the phone app if you press menu its an option to export your contacts to your sd. He sould do so. They will then be placed on the sd as a vcard. Hope this helps.
Root/Hack-Mod_Always *
haha he had a different google log in that he used to set the phone up, such a relief.
Thanks for the help though.

[Q] How to restore joined contacts?

Hi all..
I've tried searching for answers to my question for ages and its a no-go so i'm posting it here.
So here's my problem. My contacts are synced on google (not phone or sim) and their names are not the same as in facebook. When I sign in to facebook, as usual we're given 3 choices:
- Sync All
- Sync with existing contacts
- Remove facebook data
If i choose the 2nd (sync with existing contacts), only a few gets synced as not all of my contact's names are the same on my phone and on facebook. So i choose Sync All, and then manually join the contacts.
I'm on Darky's 10.2, and on TiBu what system app should I backup the data so the contacts i joined manually are retained when I flash a new rom with a full wipe? If i just flash a new rom everything disappears even after i've signed in to google and synced all my contacts. All their pictures are gone.
BTW I dont use the samsung's built in SNS account and have even deleted them off my phone.
Should I backup the contacts application? I've been trying many things and all dont seem to work. I just dont know which system app data to backup.. Its a pain to rejoin each and every contact after every reflash (which I do a lot)
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Titanium backup. It might be the greatest app for android. I have backed up with titanium then a full reset and full wipe flash then restore with titanium and it is as if nothing even happened. I have ran in to the issue with using a different Rom then the backup and restoring the system data can screw things up. So I just go into titanium and choose only my contacts, wifi and Bluetooth parings.
Sent from my SGH-I897
suresh13 said:
Hi all..
I've tried searching for answers to my question for ages and its a no-go so i'm posting it here.
So here's my problem. My contacts are synced on google (not phone or sim) and their names are not the same as in facebook. When I sign in to facebook, as usual we're given 3 choices:
- Sync All
- Sync with existing contacts
- Remove facebook data
If i choose the 2nd (sync with existing contacts), only a few gets synced as not all of my contact's names are the same on my phone and on facebook. So i choose Sync All, and then manually join the contacts.
I'm on Darky's 10.2, and on TiBu what system app should I backup the data so the contacts i joined manually are retained when I flash a new rom with a full wipe? If i just flash a new rom everything disappears even after i've signed in to google and synced all my contacts. All their pictures are gone.
BTW I dont use the samsung's built in SNS account and have even deleted them off my phone.
Should I backup the contacts application? I've been trying many things and all dont seem to work. I just dont know which system app data to backup.. Its a pain to rejoin each and every contact after every reflash (which I do a lot)
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know exactly what you're talking about, did you find a solution for that?
rmetanes said:
I know exactly what you're talking about, did you find a solution for that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've quoted a over year hold post, chances are that you won't be getting a answer from him eh.
Restoring a system app is ALWAYS a bad idea, so don't go for that option. I never looked for a option myself but there should be a way to manually backup your current contacts (with pictures and everything) to google.

Deleted All Contacts While Installing A Custom ROM

So the title basically sums it up.
I was doing the usual flashing and modding
and everything went well except, well...
I forgot to backup contacts.
It's not actually my phone but my dad's and now his
700 contacts are deleted and now he wants to kill me
Is there anyway possible way to get the contacts back.
None of them are saved on his SIM Card and there are no backups of the contacts at all.
Am I screwed?
Unless you have a back up or they are in sim (wich you they aren't) you are SOL.
Why werent they saved to his google account ??? Thats the easiest method as soon as you login to google bam all contacts calender events everything is right back to the way tthey were...
Sent from my I897 using XDA App
Forgot about that one. Regardless requires you to back up somewhere.

[Q] best non-root backup?

So my phone died and is now miraculously working. So now I am backing everything up in case it happens again.
Here's the thing. Google sync never works perfectly for me and the HTC backup doesn't either.
I've tried MyBackup in the past but whenever I used it it would mess up the contacts. It backed them all up but upon restoring each entry of a contact (i.e. home phone, mobile home, notes, etc.) became a new contact with that name. So instead of having one Bob in my contact list I would have six bobs, one with the cell number, another with an email, and so on.
I was wondering what backup apps you guys could recommend that restore the contacts properly. I only care about the contacts. MyBackup works well with SMS and call logs so if need be I can use different apps for different backups and what I need now is a good contact solution.
Thanks
Helium from Clockworkmod. Its the best method of backup for non rooted users IMHO. https://www.clockworkmod.com/carbon
I have never experienced a problem restoring my Google account contacts, I take it you have removed the account and tried to set it up again to see if it will let you save the contacts. You can verify that they are saved if you log onto gmail when using a browser.
BrownTrout said:
Helium from Clockworkmod. Its the best method of backup for non rooted users IMHO. https://www.clockworkmod.com/carbon
I have never experienced a problem restoring my Google account contacts, I take it you have removed the account and tried to set it up again to see if it will let you save the contacts. You can verify that they are saved if you log onto gmail when using a browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion but trying out the free one it backs up apps but the people/contacts app doesn't show up in the list meaning it doesn't do what I need...

Empty Duplicated Contacts Read Only?

Ok I've done some digging and can't seem to find anything with my exact problem.
Yes I have looked up duplicated read only contacts BUT everyone seems to have this issue with contacts synced from another app. Mine is no.
Got this baby this past Sunday (found out that I can upgrade 7 days early so of course I did it. Love the phone and think I will be okay without root. Got Helium backup to backup my data. Only thing left is for them to add a Restart in the power menu then I'll be fine with no Root. OH and they need to get Lolipop out ASAP)
But ever since then I've been having this issue. I've been having new contacts made, same name as a contact I have, but with not info (most of the time. Sometimes it has their number in it). Now here is where it gets weird.
They are Google contacts that it says are saved under my Gmail. I go to Gmail, No duplicated contacts there, I try to delete, says they are read only and can only hide, AND it seems like the contacts that are getting duplicated are contacts that I seem to call most often. I have all other apps and their contact sync turned off so I know it's not an issue with them, and since they are saved under Gmail and when I turn off the local Phone contacts they are still there so I know they are not local saved/SIM contacts.
If anyone has any suggestions let me know. I felt like I had this issue loooooong ago with another phone but pretty sure it was back when Facebook synced its contacts and I had to link them.
I'm a savvy guy and know my way around Android.
Thanks
Ok well i ended up getting it myself.
For people with this issue:
Turn off google contact sync. Then go to apps in settings and then look for the contact storage app. Force stoo the act and clean all data. Check contacts to make sure its empty. Then enable google contacts sync.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
Contacts in Android are stored in a database, and as they come from multiple sources (synced from Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, LinkedIn and copied from SIM or stored as "local phone" contacts...) it's easy to have multiple instances of same contact with different info or even duplicates. Contacts app let you "join" multiple contacts from different sources so they will appear joined in your contacts list, but they will still be stored inidividually in the database.
Anyway, there are multiple apps that let you manage your contacts at a deeper database level. With MiniContacts https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brapeba.minicontacts you can see all raw contacts one by one showing its original account source (group). And you can delete all contacts from a source (i.e. those coming from LinkedIn, or Facebook) or choosing manually those you don't want. Notice that if you don't disable the syncronization with the source those deleted contacts will reappear again. So, first disable syncronization! If you want to delete the contacts permanently from everywhere instead of just from your Android database, go to the source (LinkedIn, Facebook...) and delete them there.
Hope it helps...
drtweak said:
Ok I've done some digging and can't seem to find anything with my exact problem.
Yes I have looked up duplicated read only contacts BUT everyone seems to have this issue with contacts synced from another app. Mine is no.
Got this baby this past Sunday (found out that I can upgrade 7 days early so of course I did it. Love the phone and think I will be okay without root. Got Helium backup to backup my data. Only thing left is for them to add a Restart in the power menu then I'll be fine with no Root. OH and they need to get Lolipop out ASAP)
But ever since then I've been having this issue. I've been having new contacts made, same name as a contact I have, but with not info (most of the time. Sometimes it has their number in it). Now here is where it gets weird.
They are Google contacts that it says are saved under my Gmail. I go to Gmail, No duplicated contacts there, I try to delete, says they are read only and can only hide, AND it seems like the contacts that are getting duplicated are contacts that I seem to call most often. I have all other apps and their contact sync turned off so I know it's not an issue with them, and since they are saved under Gmail and when I turn off the local Phone contacts they are still there so I know they are not local saved/SIM contacts.
If anyone has any suggestions let me know. I felt like I had this issue loooooong ago with another phone but pretty sure it was back when Facebook synced its contacts and I had to link them.
I'm a savvy guy and know my way around Android.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply but it is making blank contacts with theur name and storing then as phone contacts. Google is the only source i sync any contacts from but ill give this a try
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
Thanks for the tip, @drtweak! This was driving me nuts and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Good work...
Thanks!
drtweak said:
Ok well i ended up getting it myself.
For people with this issue:
Turn off google contact sync. Then go to apps in settings and then look for the contact storage app. Force stoo the act and clean all data. Check contacts to make sure its empty. Then enable google contacts sync.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could kiss you right now. I have been scouring the internet and downloading apps for hours trying to figure out how to fix "read only" and "can't be deleted" contacts on my second replacement dud Turbo 2. Duplicates galore, and they wouldn't go away. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :laugh: No more Verizon Cloud - that really messed it up both times. Merry Christmas! :good:
Christina729 said:
I could kiss you right now. I have been scouring the internet and downloading apps for hours trying to figure out how to fix "read only" and "can't be deleted" contacts on my second replacement dud Turbo 2. Duplicates galore, and they wouldn't go away. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :laugh: No more Verizon Cloud - that really messed it up both times. Merry Christmas! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app Simpler Contacts can merge duplicate apps. I've used it on friends' phones to do that.
Of course, Simpler Contacts also would like you to keep using their app and even their backup service, and they have a Dialer app too. But you don't need all that. I just use Simpler Contacts once in a while to check for duplicate contacts.
But this solution above is good too.
I also used Simpler Contacts to export all contacts from a "local" account. Helped to friends do this when they switched from iPhone to Android and the carrier store exported all their iPhone apps to "local" phone account -- which is STUPID. All the contacts need to synced with Google.

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