All My Contacts Disappeared!

[TBolt52]

This has happened a couple times: I'll open the phone or contacts app and suddenly all my contacts are gone (except for me). Easy enough to get them back: I just power the phone off/on and all is OK again. Then the same thing the next day. This has been a solid phone since Dec 1 but I am now reminded of my Thunderbolt. Anyone have a similar problem?

 

[NJRonbo]

Absolutely! You are not alone...trust me.

My contacts began disappearing about a week or so ago.

They will reappear when I reboot the phone, but then suddenly disappear again within the hour.

There are many similar complaints beginning to surface about this on other Android forums. Nobody has found what is causing the bug or a possible solution.

I am wondering how we can get this reported to Samsung?

 

[raisinbrannon]

I'm also having a similar issue. I have them stored to gmail. Seems to happen quicker the more I text.. The same thing happened on my S3. I'm not sure if I have an app installed causing the issue or not. I haven't really looked into it much since a reboot fixes it.

 

[NJRonbo]

Would be great if everyone kept each other updated to any fix that may be found.

Thus far, through a Google Search, I have found many instances of Android owners having their contacts lost until reboot, but thus far, no fix.

 

[bigoldthor]

They're probably not lost. In Contacts, go to Menu and then tap Contacts To Display. Tinker in these setting and you'll figure out which list is the right one and which ones you want to see. You can see Google contacts, Phone contacts, SIM contacts, All contacts, and other accounts you have. While you're in there, make sure which accounts you have set to sync.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note II SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

 

[grumpyjoe]

I had this problem awhile ago. I ended up deleting all my email apps. Then put them back one at a time. Some how, not sure why. But I've not had any trouble in over two months.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Android Central Forums

 

[M23]

I saw the conversation,and i tought why not to help you ? So,if you ever have a problem with the contacts list,you must do this couple of steps :
*Go to contacts
*Hit the menu button and select more
*Then go to Display options
*Scroll down and you will see Phone,and SIM under him
If you have your contacts saved in your SIM card hit SIM and select All contacts.
That's all,hope that i helped you If you need some more help,feel free to ask me

 

[NJRonbo]

M23,

That's all well and good -- and really, thank you for the assistance.

I am just hoping someone comes up with the reason why these contacts are disappearing in the first place.

 

[TBolt52]

Thanks to all, I think M23 has a great suggestion. If I only display the sim contacts then I am the only contact displayed, that is what my contact list looked like when the "problem" occurred previously. I'll check this out the next time it occurs.

Like NJRonbo said it would be great to know what is causing this setting to change!

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

[TBolt52]

Just happened again. Checked the "contacts to display" setting and it said "all contacts". Changed it back and forth a couple times to no avail. Then went into account settings to see that I am getting sync errors on contacts! Finally getting somewhere. Google "Android sync is experiencing problems" and you will find lots of hits: mostly related to Samsung.

Just uninstalled the Twitter app and suddenly all my contacts showed up again, sync is now working fine. Maybe coincidence; time will tell

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Dngrsone]

Sorry... Misread the forum. Disregard this message.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[NJRonbo]

I don't see how problems with Google Android Sync is making contacts disappear.

Once your contacts are on your phone, they are there to stay. They should be stored on the drive.

All that Google Sync does is make certain any new changes you make are reflected on all your devices. It shouldn't have anything to do with contacts disappearing.

Right now, my contacts seem to stay in place. If I put the phone in AIRPLANE mode, they disappear and then don't come back when I disengage AIRPLANE mode. That is quite odd, and never happened before.

 

[Clementina Angelino]

Hello there,
I have the same problem, all my contacts' details disappeared, I can see their names in the address book, but can see only their whatsapp or google+ numbers/details.
I tried to find the phone contact options but there is nothing on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Android 4.2.2.
Any ideas on how to get them back?

 

[NJRonbo]

I think I actually solved the problem but it came at the cost of having to reformat and reset the phone.

I was actually rooted, which may have been the cause from the beginning. Curious to find out how many other people having this problem are rooted.

Anyhow, after flashing my phone with stock AT&T firmware and restoring all my information I don't seem to have the problem with my contacts disappearing anymore.

 

[TBolt52]

I have been fine for the last 4 days. I am out of country right now so will see what happens when I get back home tonight.

Following up on prior messages: I rooted and threw in a new bootloader (twrp) just before leaving on this trip. All my prior problems were on an unrooted device. It seems unlikely that rooting would affect this issue.

I'll bet that one day these problems will disappear and we never will know the cause because Google sync will have been updated on the server side.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

[TBolt52]

Ha! Just happened again. Usually I can recover by force stopping and clearing data for Contacts app and Contact Storage service. Then all contacts appear again. Starting to wonder whether it's time for a new ROM.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

[universeand]

Hello there,
I have the same problem, all my contacts' details disappeared, I can see their names in the address book, but can see only their whatsapp or google+ numbers/details.
I tried to find the phone contact options but there is nothing on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Android 4.2.2.
Any ideas on how to get them back?

First I would check Menu->Contracts to display settings and see if they are what you would expect. If that doesn't work you might try exporting your contacts to a file on your phone or external memory card and then reimporting that file back into my contacts.

My contacts had somehow moved from the Phone the Custom category where I could not edit them. Reimporting them put them back in the Phone category and all was well.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Android Central Forums

 

[Clementina Angelino]

Thanks universeand,
I did try to export my contacts to a file and then re-importing into my contacts, but nothing happens.
I checked the display option and I can only see all the accounts connected to the phone, i do not have any option to see the contacts I saved on the phone memory for example.
Is there any way I can access that?

 

[TBolt52]

If you are in the contacts app and you click menu/contacts to display you should see All Contacts , then Phone, then SIM, then your various accounts.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

[universeand]

I did try to export my contacts to a file and then re-importing into my contacts, but nothing happens.
I checked the display option and I can only see all the accounts connected to the phone,

From Menu->'Contacts to display' is 'All Contacts' selected?

i do not have any option to see the contacts I saved on the phone memory for example. Is there any way I can access that?

In Contacts if I press Menu I see an 'Import/Export' option. Pressing that brings up a number of ways to import and export and the 3 imports are: from USB, from SD card and from SIM card'. Did you look in all of those? Using these presumes of course that you used one of the export options first. However you say you did export, so I'm not sure why you wouldn't see the file by choosing one the 3 import options.

Fyi: the settings button for 'Customized list' in 'Contacts to display' has many categories under it. I long pressed to select each category and selecedt all checkboxes even though I haven't selected the radio box for 'Customized list' in the 'Contacts to display' screen. Being that at one point 'Customized list' was where my contacts had moved without me doing anything.