Question Confusing info in contacts app

[Android Dude777]

I have a Moto e6 phone (Android 9). A while back, by mistake, I imported a second set of my contacts into my phone (I had them stored on my desktop Win 10). And after that, when I would open the Google Contacts App, it would show two sets of each contact. But when I opened my contacts via the Phone App, it only showed one set of each contact.

Later, I updated my Contacts App (which I hadn't done for a while) and then both the Contacts App and the Phone App showed only one set of each contact. So I thought that somehow the duplicates had been merged. But today, in the Contacts App, at the top of the contacts, I noticed that it said "All Contacts" with a button next to it. When I clicked on the button, it opened a little window at the bottom of the screen that had three headings:

--All Contacts
--Device
--Customize View

And now for the part that has me really confused: Next to All Contacts, it has the number 343. And next to Device, it says 584. And when I clicked on Device, there was the list of all the duplicated contacts that I thought didn't exist anymore. Apparently, when I updated my Contacts App, it chose to present the non-duplicated list by default in the Contacts App.

One of my questions is this: What is the difference between Device and All Contacts and why is Device showing all the duplicated contacts when All Contacts is not?

And the reason I am concerned about this situation is that I am getting ready to get a new phone (Galaxy A15 5G) and I had planned to use Smart Switch to transfer my contacts. But I don't know how this list of double contacts will affect that and which list will actually be transferred, the duplicates in Device or the single set of contacts in All Contacts.

 

[B. Diddy]

When you tap the button that says "All Contacts", in addition to "Device" and "Customize View", you should also see an option for your Google account contacts -- do you see that there? Just want to make sure the contacts app is functioning correctly there.

 

[Android Dude777]

When you tap the button that says "All Contacts", in addition to "Device" and "Customize View", you should also see an option for your Google account contacts -- do you see that there? Just want to make sure the contacts app is functioning correctly there.

It just says All Contacts, Device and Customize View. I don't think the Contacts App is tied to my Google account. My overall phone acct is connected to Google, but I never connected my contacts app to my Google acct or uploaded my contacts to my Google acct. In the upper-right corner of the screen (next to "search contacts"), the little circle just has the generic head and shoulders image.

 

[B. Diddy]

You could try going to Settings>Apps, selecting the Contacts app, then Storage, and then Clear Cache/Clear Data, and then Force Stop. Now open the Contacts app again and give it a few seconds to update its database again.

Doing this shouldn't delete your actual contacts, since those are typically in a separate system app called Contacts Storage. If you want to be sure, in the Settings>Apps list, tap the 3-dot menu button and select Show System, then look for an app called Contacts Storage. If you see it, then you can safely clear the app data in the Contacts app as I suggested above.

 

[Android Dude777]

You could try going to Settings>Apps, selecting the Contacts app, then Storage, and then Clear Cache/Clear Data, and then Force Stop. Now open the Contacts app again and give it a few seconds to update its database again.

Doing this shouldn't delete your actual contacts, since those are typically in a separate system app called Contacts Storage. If you want to be sure, in the Settings>Apps list, tap the 3-dot menu button and select Show System, then look for an app called Contacts Storage. If you see it, then you can safely clear the app data in the Contacts app as I suggested above.

What will "Clear Cache/Clear Data, and then Force Stop" accomplish?

 

[B. Diddy]

Sometimes the data associated with an app can become glitchy, so clearing the cache and data and allowing the app to rebuild its database can help.

 

[Colonel Robert E Hogan]

I have a Moto e6 phone (Android 9). A while back, by mistake, I imported a second set of my contacts into my phone (I had them stored on my desktop Win 10). And after that, when I would open the Google Contacts App, it would show two sets of each contact. But when I opened my contacts via the Phone App, it only showed one set of each contact.

Later, I updated my Contacts App (which I hadn't done for a while) and then both the Contacts App and the Phone App showed only one set of each contact. So I thought that somehow the duplicates had been merged. But today, in the Contacts App, at the top of the contacts, I noticed that it said "All Contacts" with a button next to it. When I clicked on the button, it opened a little window at the bottom of the screen that had three headings:

--All Contacts
--Device
--Customize View

And now for the part that has me really confused: Next to All Contacts, it has the number 343. And next to Device, it says 584. And when I clicked on Device, there was the list of all the duplicated contacts that I thought didn't exist anymore. Apparently, when I updated my Contacts App, it chose to present the non-duplicated list by default in the Contacts App.

One of my questions is this: What is the difference between Device and All Contacts and why is Device showing all the duplicated contacts when All Contacts is not?

And the reason I am concerned about this situation is that I am getting ready to get a new phone (Galaxy A15 5G) and I had planned to use Smart Switch to transfer my contacts. But I don't know how this list of double contacts will affect that and which list will actually be transferred, the duplicates in Device or the single set of contacts in All Contacts.

Device is the contacts that are stored on your phone only. In other words, local storage. All Contacts is the combination of every contact you have saved between your phone, Google, etc. Took me a bit to figure that out too.

I'm not sure why more contacts are showing up on Device than All Contacts, though. Odd. Usually, that's the other way around. But I do know (at least in my experience) that anything you save in the Contacts app will show up in the Phone app. Maybe that's why you're having issues. I recommend picking a spot for your phone to save contacts by default, then only saving them there. Like for me, I have all mine saved to Google, so they're automatically backed up while still showing up on my phone.

I realize I'm late to the party, but I hope this helps you going forward! Sorry if my explanation was crap