[walterkurtz]

i think i've tried everything. but when i click share in google maps my ex is always the first suggestion. she is not in my contacts. i've deleted all of her emails. and i have unticked the box to automatically save contacts in all my gmail accounts.

it's not a big deal. but why won't it stop??

[spARTacus]

i think i've tried everything. but when i click share in google maps my ex is always the first suggestion. she is not in my contacts. i've deleted all of her emails. and i have unticked the box to automatically save contacts in all my gmail accounts.

it's not a big deal. but why won't it stop??

...because it's a symptom of how entrenched google data harvesting is, from either your google accounts and gmail, from your Android phone, and/or from your signed in account with google maps.

Have you tried going into your gmail email accounts on a desktop web browser, and exploring the various data and history settings or caches they retain? Have you tried doing the same thing for your google maps account you use?

[walterkurtz]

...because it's a symptom of how entrenched google data harvesting is, from either your google accounts and gmail, from your Android phone, and/or from your signed in account with google maps.

Have you tried going into your gmail email accounts on a desktop web browser, and exploring the various data and history settings or caches they retain? Have you tried doing the same thing for your google maps account you use?

i thought i had, but i will go through again.

and i just realized i haven't tried simply deleting and reinstalling google maps on my LG.

will report back if i succeed...

thank you!

[walterkurtz]

failed.

i didn't see an option to specifically clear cache within gmail. i cleared chrome cache.

i also could not apparently delete google maps from my phone. so i forced stopped, deleted the cache and data and restarted my phone. when i reopened, it it crashed. then the second time i clicked on a map location to share. it asked if it could access my contacts and i said allow. and there she was, along with half a dozen other people who are not in my contacts.

[methodman89]

Try to add her as a contact, then select the block function. Clear the cache partition and reboot.
Good luck

[B. Diddy]

If your contacts are all in your Google Contacts cloud, then try also clearing the cache/data for the Contacts app. If that doesn't help, then also do the same for the Contacts Storage app. (Your contacts will re-sync from your Google Contacts cloud right afterwards.). Assuming your ex isn't in your Google Contact in the cloud, hopefully this will make the phone completely forget about her.

[walterkurtz]

Try to add her as a contact, then select the block function. Clear the cache partition and reboot.
Good luck

good idea. will try. thanks!

[walterkurtz]

If your contacts are all in your Google Contacts cloud, then try also clearing the cache/data for the Contacts app. If that doesn't help, then also do the same for the Contacts Storage app. (Your contacts will re-sync from your Google Contacts cloud right afterwards.). Assuming your ex isn't in your Google Contact in the cloud, hopefully this will make the phone completely forget about her.

oh man, now i'm gonna sound like a luddite. but i don't think i have either app. i am using a LG G8 with android 10. and when i click on my contacts it shows me my contacts. but when i clicked on contacts within my gmail settings options it took me to the play store to download a contacts app. is that my problem? i'm not using enough google apps??

[B. Diddy]

Go to the system settings, then Apps, then tap Menu>Show System. You should see Contacts there, and probably also Contacts Storage. (I'm basing this on my Pixel 3 XL, but I think this should be universal.)

Are all of your contacts entered directly into the phone's stock Contacts app? Do you know if they're associated with your Google Contacts account, or only the local Phone account? On your computer browser, go to contacts.google.com and see if all of your contacts are there. If they are, then the contacts are safe there. If not, then you presumably entered all of your contacts into the local Phone account -- those contacts don't get synced or backed up anywhere automatically, so in that case, DO NOT clear the Contacts Storage data until you've backed them up somewhere. Otherwise, you'll wipe out all of your contacts.

[spARTacus]

Also, sign into google on a web browser from a desktop/laptop and explore around. There is an entire suite of google apps in there (including contacts) that you might not know about, that your google phone will naturally try to sync with or save information/data for as from gmail emails, etc...

In my opinion, you really need to go in and disengage a whole bunch of all of those things from automatically saving things/info/data for you, if you have never done that before. Otherwise, google keeps track of a bunch of stuff and then tries to "act smart" for you, like predicting who you want to try to email, or message, or "share" with.

[walterkurtz]

Go to the system settings, then Apps, then tap Menu>Show System. You should see Contacts there, and probably also Contacts Storage. (I'm basing this on my Pixel 3 XL, but I think this should be universal.)

Are all of your contacts entered directly into the phone's stock Contacts app? Do you know if they're associated with your Google Contacts account, or only the local Phone account? On your computer browser, go to contacts.google.com and see if all of your contacts are there. If they are, then the contacts are safe there. If not, then you presumably entered all of your contacts into the local Phone account -- those contacts don't get synced or backed up anywhere automatically, so in that case, DO NOT clear the Contacts Storage data until you've backed them up somewhere. Otherwise, you'll wipe out all of your contacts.

found it! yes under system settings>app info>3 dots>show system i found the two contacts options. i just copied and synced my contacts from my phone to my gmail. is it safe now to clear both cache/datas?

thank you!

PS i always thought when i made a change to my contacts on my phone that it automatically made that change to my contacts with google/gmail when the phone synced. is there a way to set that up?

[walterkurtz]

Also, sign into google on a web browser from a desktop/laptop and explore around. There is an entire suite of google apps in there (including contacts) that you might not know about, that your google phone will naturally try to sync with or save information/data for as from gmail emails, etc...

In my opinion, you really need to go in and disengage a whole bunch of all of those things from automatically saving things/info/data for you, if you have never done that before. Otherwise, google keeps track of a bunch of stuff and then tries to "act smart" for you, like predicting who you want to try to email, or message, or "share" with.

true. i spent a couple of hours on this yesterday. i will explore further out into the google universe today. it isn't even the ex's beautiful face and email that bothers me anymore. it's the fact that this has become such a challenge. thank you!

[B. Diddy]

found it! yes under system settings>app info>3 dots>show system i found the two contacts options. i just copied and synced my contacts from my phone to my gmail. is it safe now to clear both cache/datas?

thank you!

PS i always thought when i made a change to my contacts on my phone that it automatically made that change to my contacts with google/gmail when the phone synced. is there a way to set that up?

How did you copy and sync the contacts to you Gmail? Do you mean you synced them to your Google Contacts? To be sure, go to contacts.google.com on your computer browser and make sure they show up there. If the are there, then yes, it's safe to clear the cache/data for Contacts and Contacts Storage, because your contacts will immediately resync back from the cloud (and hopefully the "remembered" data of your ex's contact info will be gone).

Syncing contacts automatically with your Google account ultimately depends on if you entered those contacts into your Google account in the first place, rather than any other account. On most non-Pixel phones, the default is to add contacts to the local Phone account, which only saves contacts locally, and doesn't sync or back up anywhere automatically. You may have to manually change the account from Phone Account to your Google account while initially entering the contact information.

[walterkurtz]

How did you copy and sync the contacts to you Gmail? Do you mean you synced them to your Google Contacts? To be sure, go to contacts.google.com on your computer browser and make sure they show up there. If the are there, then yes, it's safe to clear the cache/data for Contacts and Contacts Storage, because your contacts will immediately resync back from the cloud (and hopefully the "remembered" data of your ex's contact info will be gone).

Syncing contacts automatically with your Google account ultimately depends on if you entered those contacts into your Google account in the first place, rather than any other account. On most non-Pixel phones, the default is to add contacts to the local Phone account, which only saves contacts locally, and doesn't sync or back up anywhere automatically. You may have to manually change the account from Phone Account to your Google account while initially entering the contact information.

ohhhh i'm not sure i follow this last part...when i enter or delete a contact on my phone it simply adds it to my contacts. and i always assumed that was how my contacts at contacts.google.com list was created or modified. maybe a previous phone did that? but i've never had a pixel. can i set it to automatically change the contacts.google.com when i change the contacts on my phone? or is that what the contacts app i don't have does?

regarding copying. i opened the contacts on my phone (not the app) and chose manage contacts in the upper right followed by copy. all of my phone contacts then appeared at the above google address.

i'll delete cache/data tomorrow and report back. it's getting late here in south africa.

thank you!!

[B. Diddy]

Which phone do you have? Recently, more non-Pixel phones have been ditching the Phone account for contacts and defaulting to the Google account, so it'll help to know which phone you have. But if all of your contacts are in your Google Contacts in the cloud (without you having to do any manual transfer or sync yourself), then it's most likely that your Contacts app defaults to the Google account.

[mustang7757]

[Moved this to LG G8 forums for specific traffic]

[walterkurtz]

Which phone do you have? Recently, more non-Pixel phones have been ditching the Phone account for contacts and defaulting to the Google account, so it'll help to know which phone you have. But if all of your contacts are in your Google Contacts in the cloud (without you having to do any manual transfer or sync yourself), then it's most likely that your Contacts app defaults to the Google account.

LG G8

i deleted cache/date for contacts storage and contacts and she's still there. i think the only solution is to sign out of google maps.

thanks for trying!

[B. Diddy]

Hmm, frustrating. I'm never quite sure where this kind of remembered data is located. Did you also try clearing the cache/data for Gboard?

[walterkurtz]

Hmm, frustrating. I'm never quite sure where this kind of remembered data is located. Did you also try clearing the cache/data for Gboard?

oh i haven't. i'll look for it. is there anything i need to back up first? thank you!!

[B. Diddy]

Did you add a lot to your personal Dictionary in Gboard? If not, then no need to worry.

[walterkurtz]

Did you add a lot to your personal Dictionary in Gboard? If not, then no need to worry.

i don't think i have it. i use swiftkey. i did, however, find something called "google contacts sync". do you know if there's any danger in clearing that cache/data? thanks for all your help!

[B. Diddy]

I don't think so -- any clearing of Google Contacts data on the phone would just get resynced from your cloud account.

[walterkurtz]

I don't think so -- any clearing of Google Contacts data on the phone would just get resynced from your cloud account.

i got on my laptop this morning determined to solve this. i thought i would try adding then deleting her gmail address in my contacts. that didn't work. i searched again through all of my gmail accounts and did find some old emails i thought were deleted. i deleted them and emptied the trash. they were in a work gmail address i rarely use. i went onto my phone and under google sync i chose that work email address and UNticked sync for contacts and i think it was 'personal details'. i was so sure i finally fixed this but lo and behold she remains.

can i clear cache/data under 'google' in my settings>apps? what about maps? will i lose all my saved places?

at this point i don't really care about seeing the exes address. it's the challenge of solving it....and of course why is maps showing me my ex, a guy that fixed a watch for me once and my accountant under sharing???

thank you!!

[B. Diddy]

Did you also clear the cache/data for Swiftkey? It wasn't quite clear from your previous posts.

It's fine to clear the cache/data for the Google app and the Google maps app, since they both sync your data to your Google account in the cloud.

[walterkurtz]

Did you also clear the cache/data for Swiftkey? It wasn't quite clear from your previous posts.

It's fine to clear the cache/data for the Google app and the Google maps app, since they both sync your data to your Google account in the cloud.

haha wow. i just deleted cache/date for google, google maps and swiftkey. i then restarted the phone, opened maps and of course they're all still there. i think it's time to concede. google is too powerful a foe for me.

thank you for trying!!