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I was closing all my unused running programs on my galaxy S3, and suddenly closed the contacts app. When I checked my contacts afterwards they were all gone. But when I checked my call logs, the corresponding name for each number showed for few seconds, and then disappeared as though all contacts were deleted from the phone.

Does that mean it is stored somewhere in the phone? I tried recovering from GMail, but unfortunately I had not sync'd my contacts initially. Please help to recover as they were all my office related contacts.

Izzy
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Jerome
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  • Jerome, is your device rooted? If so, the very first thing I'd recommend to do is pulling a copy from your contacts database, e.g. via adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/* /home/jerome/backup, so you at least get what is still left (before you potentially destroy anything else). Only after that I'd go for a reboot (in the hope something just "got stuck" and might be "freed" this way), or try other things which might be writing to the database. – Izzy Apr 25 '13 at 06:50
  • Izzy, i haven't rooted the phone as yet. I just got the phone last week & haven't done anything as yet, except clear the unused running programs done last night:( – Jerome Apr 25 '13 at 07:05
  • Sorry for that! So hopefully you didn't enter to much information which might be lost. Remember two things out of this: 1) make sure to have a good backup (check the backup tag-wiki for details), and 2) careful with task-killers (they mostly cause more harm than anything), let Android take care of that itself (see: Minimized Apps: Do they consume more battery?). – Izzy Apr 25 '13 at 07:45

2 Answers2

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If the phone was synced with your Google Account, you just have to re-sync it and you'll get all your contacts back.

pankaj.ramnani
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  • I did, but its not there. I even went to my gmail account & said restore, but nothing shows even if i gv a time frame. There is a contact storage shown about 8mb on the applications in the settings. Anyway of restoring it back? – Jerome Apr 25 '13 at 07:41
  • You might want to take a look at Full Backup of non-rooted devices to at least a) get a backup/copy of what's there, and b) be prepared in the future... But I'd say as you used your device for just a week, re-entering the information lost will be faster than any fiddling-around to restore things. – Izzy Apr 25 '13 at 07:48
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1st at all..try to off the phone..turn it back after 15-20sec.. see if it fix or no. other option.. -try to see if u got save the contact to the sim card.. if u got save there..try to restore back.. -try to see if u got back up the phone on the memory or not..

contact number will be not lost if u not reset/format the phone

if this not fix..i will tell other method..

armz
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    To clarify: Contacts will for sure be lost when factory-resetting ("formatting") the device, as Jerome seems to have no backup! – Izzy Apr 25 '13 at 06:46
  • Offed the phone & turned it back on & it's still the same. I haven't saved any no's on the sim too. How do i check if i have backed up the phone? I didn't format or reset the phone. – Jerome Apr 25 '13 at 06:59
  • he only force stop the application..u may try check at the backup on setting.. – armz Apr 25 '13 at 07:13
  • try to go into the phone book setting..check the setting there if got change or no.. – armz Apr 25 '13 at 07:16
  • Nothing changed in phone book settings. I checked the backup on settings, but it does not show any place to restore. I have only ticked for the programs to be backed up 2 gmail only – Jerome Apr 25 '13 at 07:25
  • when receive the sms or incoming call.did you get the contact name? or just only get the number without the name?this will help to know the contact phone book was broken or not. – armz Apr 25 '13 at 07:35
  • @armz the Google Backup settings don't help in this case, as meanwhile it would have "updated" the backup with the "empty set". And as for incoming calls/SMS, Jerome already wrote in connection with the call log: the corresponding name for each number showed for few seconds, and then disappeared. Jerome: Please check to make an adb backup ASAP (see my comment on the other answer). The longer you wait and fiddle around, the smaller the chances to restore anything. – Izzy Apr 25 '13 at 09:54