How to ignore sim contacts for incoming calls/sms

[jen711]

I have contacts on the sim but when I got the new phone I copied them to the phone so I can add things like photos.
But I still have the contacts on the sim as a back up.
I went to contacts and selected to only show phone contacts.
But when someone calls, it shows the contact from the sim.
How do I fix it?
p.s. I don't want to delete the contacts from the sim.

 

[Crashdamage]

You can't do anything about it. As long as the contacts are on the SIM, they will show up.

The option to save contacts to SIM cards is disappearing and no doubt will be gone completely in a year or two. Manufacturers have already agreed that they will work together to eliminate SIM cards altogether. Unlike other contacts options, SIM contacts can have names and numbers only - no email addresses, physical addresses, photos, birthdays, notes - none of the extra information most people like to be able to add. IOW, SIM contacts is old, outdated technology that should not be considered a viable option.

That said, I very strongly recommend saving contacts to your Google account. This provides instant online backup of your contacts making it nearly impossible to ever lose them. Also makes reloading or transferring contacts to a new device a snap. And they can automatically sync between multiple devices, computers, etc.

 

[jen711]

If there will be no sims, how will you move the number from device to device.
I don't usually keep stuff on the contacts more than the occasional second number.
Anyway, how do I work will saving to google account?
I tried to turn on the sync option but all it did was add contacts to pretty much every email address I ever wrote an email to.
And where in google account do I check that the contacts were actually synced.

 

[Crashdamage]

1. In a SIM-less world, the cards will be replaced by a virtual SIM, basically just a special file on the phone.

2. I'm like I suspect most people are, I keep a lot of stuff in my contacts. A typical contact might have a photo or company logo, 2-3 phone numbers, a couple of email addresses, a website address, a physical address, birthday, an assigned group, some misc notes and more. Can't do that with SIM contacts.

3. These instructions will get your SIM and all other contacts into your Google account. You need to export contacts, import them to Gmail, delete all contacts on the phone and resync the cleaned-up contacts list to the phone. Once you do that, maintaining your contacts from now on will be easy and foolproof.

It's really not difficult at all. Follow these steps:

a. Turn off sync in the phone. Go to: Settings > Accounts > Google > Select account > Disable Contacts Sync. This is to keep it from interfering with what you're about to do by trying to sync again because it detects changes being made. It will also keep from winding up with duplicates after syncing your new contacts list.

b. Open the Contacts app and tap Menu. Select Import/export, then SIM contacts, then Export to storage. The contacts will be exported as a .vcf or .csv file. Make a duplicate copy of the .vcf or .csv as a safety backup. Repeat for phone contacts. You are going to delete all contacts on the phone so you want to be sure you have all contacts in the phone exported and the resulting files backed up. I'm a believer that you can never have too many backups

c. Login to Gmail online and import the .vcf or .csv files into Gmail contacts. Doesn't matter if you already have some contacts saved in your Gmail contacts or not. You won't lose any.

d. In Gmail contacts, click on More and select Merge duplicate contacts. Then check the list for errors and do any needed edits. When satisfied the file is cleaned up to your satisfaction export a .vcf file copy for backup. .

e. Delete all contacts on the phone. Then do: Settings >Apps > Google contacts > Clear cache > Clear data. When finished, there should be no contacts on the phone.

f. Enable contacts sync on the phone and wait for the corrected contacts list to download. When the little circle stops spinning and disappears, sync is complete.

Done. You should have a nice clean list of all your contacts on the phone. Contacts can be added, deleted or edited from your phone or online.

Note that in Settings > Accounts > Google > Select account you can choose to sync only what you want or need.



Android since v1.0. Linux since 2001

 

[psf57]

I like keeping the contacts on SD card. Also, being with AT&T I take advantage of their address book. Had problems with Google, as when the contacts would sync, wouldn't pick up ALL contacts, only half of them.

 

[Crashdamage]

In all the years I've used Gmail, just about from the very earliest days, I've never had a problem with contacts. I would venture to guess that when you synced contacts it did not get all contacts because not all contacts were saved to your Google account. Only Google contacts sync. Google/Gmail only does what it's told to do.

Android since v1.0. Linux since 2001

 

[jen711]

Thank you.
I managed to do that.
But when i send sms and choose the contacts there, for some reason there's still one SIM contact.
But I can't find it and delete it.
That's so weird
.

 

[psf57]

In all the years I've used Gmail, just about from the very earliest days, I've never had a problem with contacts. I would venture to guess that when you synced contacts it did not get all contacts because not all contacts were saved to your Google account. Only Google contacts sync. Google/Gmail only does what it's told to do.

Android since v1.0. Linux since 2001

So how do you save phone contacts (on SD card) to a Google Account?

 

[Laura Knotek]

So how do you save phone contacts (on SD card) to a Google Account?

You don't. Contacts can be stored on SIM card, but not on microSD card.

Sent from my Moto X Pure Edition using Tapatalk

 

[psf57]

You don't. Contacts can be stored on SIM card, but not on microSD card.

Sent from my Moto X Pure Edition using Tapatalk

So if my contacts are on SD card no way to get them to Google Account. Feel safer with SD card then Google.

 

[Crashdamage]

Like Laura Knotek said, contacts cannot be saved to the SD card. They can be saved to the SIM card but that option is disappearing. SIM cards will be phased out and disappear completely in the next few years.

I would not be saving contacts to the SIM any more if I were you.

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[psf57]

Like Laura Knotek said, contacts cannot be saved to the SD card. They can be saved to the SIM card but that option is disappearing. SIM cards will be phased out and disappear completely in the next few years.

I would not be saving contacts to the SIM any more if I were you.

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

I disagree. I DO have my contacts saved to the SD Card. All you do is go into contacts; manage contacts, back up and choose SD card. I might have used the wrong terminology should have said backed up to SD card. Sorry about that.

 

[psf57]

Like Laura Knotek said, contacts cannot be saved to the SD card. They can be saved to the SIM card but that option is disappearing. SIM cards will be phased out and disappear completely in the next few years.

I would not be saving contacts to the SIM any more if I were you.

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

I disagree. I DO have my contacts saved to the SD Card. All you do is go into contacts; manage contacts, back up and choose SD card. I might have used the wrong terminology should have said backed up to SD card. Sorry about that.

 

[psf57]

I found a way to get my back up SD contacts copied to Google. Worked pretty good. 1. Save contacts to SD card (back up); go into you SD card find the vcf contact file, long press and select share. 2, Send to your gmail 3. save the file to contacts and they are now all there.

Doesn't hurt to have an extra copy just in case.