Contact list being flooded with Google+ contacts

[cdouble2]

My Contacts are taking up >30MB. When I view my contacts I see the people I expect to see (a couple hundred at most). But when I go to add a contact from the Call Log and I specify "add to existing contact" I get a massive list that appears to be everyone from my Google circles (probably a few thousand).

I tried clearing all data from the Google+ app, then doing same with my contacts in hopes it would rebuild without the Google+ contacts, but they are still there...and the space used is still >30MB.

Can anyone provide an overview of how Android populates the Contacts database, and how I can limit it to JUST my actual contacts?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Fumetsu]

Try going to settings in Google+ and uncheck "Sync contacts with my phone contacts". Does that help?

 

[cdouble2]

Hmmm. I don't see that option. There are 4 sections in Google+ settings:

1 Google+ Notifications
2 Messenger notifications
3 Photo settings
4 About

I don't see anything about contacts under any of those sections.

I am running Gingerbread and Google+ version 2.3.1.242969

Chris

 

[Fumetsu]

It should be above About, but i think i have it because im running Ice Cream Sandwich.

Try going into your Google account under Menu>Settings>Accounts and Sync. Is there an option there to uncheck?

 

[cdouble2]

Sure. In Settings>Accounts&Sync I select my Google account and it lists a bunch of apps each with a checkbox:

- Sync Currents
- Sync Instant Upload
- Sync Google+
- Sync contacts
- Sync gmail
- Sync calendar

All are checked.

So just for grins I just unchecked Google+ and Contacts in Accounts&Sync, cleared all data for Google+ and for Contacts, and then rechecked Contacts in Accounts&Sync. I will let the contacts database rebuild. I suspect it will rebuild without the Google+ contacts, but wouldn't keeping Google+ unchecked prevent Google+ from operating correctly?

BTW thank you for your time on this, I have been banging my head on this one for a few weeks now and having someone else's perspective is helpful.

Chris

 

[cdouble2]

The contacts have rebuilt and it still uses over 30M of space, and it is still filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of Google+ contacts...even though i disabled Google+ sync and deleted all Google + data before I rebuilt the contacts database.

Any other thoughts? This is making my phone basically unusable, I have already moved everything I can to the SD card. This is nuts!

Chris

 

[Fumetsu]

If you go to contacts.google.com, are all your Google plus contacts listed in with your normal contacts or do they show separately under "Circles" underneath "My Contacts"?

Edit: No problem, hopefully we can get it fixed.

 

[cdouble2]

Well I've got 200 contacts under "My Contacts" - this I would expect to see. I also see 1,912 contacts in "My Circles" group, and 1,567 contacts in my "Other Contacts" group. Both of these groups seem to be coming from Google+.

Chris

 

[Fumetsu]

I am thinking that "other contacts" group is what is syncing with your phone and causing the large database size. Have you tried uninstalling Google+? Uninstall and rebuild your contacts database and it should just show your My Contacts list. When you reinstall Google+, it should prompt you if you want to sync with your existing phone contacts, all contacts, or dont sync contacts with google+. Select "dont sync contacts with Google+" and you should still hopefully only have your My Contacts list.

Can you tell what data is in your "Other Contacts" list? Are they just Google+ people?

Edit: Also, are they duplicates of your Circles? Are they safe to delete? Deleting them shouldnt affect your Circles on Google+, but make sure they are just duplicates of people in your circles before you delete.

Export your contacts to a VCF first in case you delete anyone you shouldnt have and you need to get them back.

 

[cdouble2]

When I reinstalled Google+ (after clearing my contacts database and starting the resync), it did not ask me anything about which contact lists to sync. It only asked about how I want to upload my pictures.

But I think you are correct, the problem is actually this mystery "other contacts" list in the cloud. I spot checked about 20 of them and they do not appear to be in any of my current circles. So I think I may just delete all those contacts (fingers crossed).

Chris

 

[cdouble2]

The saga continues. I have cleaned up my "other contacts" at contacts.google.com by either deleting them out moving to "my contacts." Now "my contacts" is empty. But I still have a couple thousand names in my android contacts file, I think because "my circles" is still propogating from the cloud to my phone. I cannot find any setting on google+ android app (either in settings or during a reinstall) that lets me exclude these from my android contacts file.

So I am still stuck with thousands of names of people I will never email or call in my contacts file. Any more ideas? Is google really going to force everyone to carry all their circled individuals in their android contacts file? I know they want to promote google +, but this would seem borderline behavior. I won't say evil, yet...

What am I missing?

Chris

 

[Andrew McLellan]

I'm having the same problem. No matter what I delete it all comes back. Maybe something to do with names/contacts created via Picasa?

 

[Konrad Aderer]

Hi Fumetsu, thanks for your promising reply -- I'd like to try this, but I don't know what you mean by "going into your Google account." Online on gmail, igoogle, Google+ or on the phone, and if so which app?

It should be above About, but i think i have it because im running Ice Cream Sandwich.

Try going into your Google account under Menu>Settings>Accounts and Sync. Is there an option there to uncheck?

 

[scottep1964]

I went into Contacts:Settings:Contacts: Contacts to Display and Changed the option from ALL to just my gmail address.
Worked like a charm.