New Google Pixel 2 does not let you save contacts to device

[chanchan05]

I have never experienced an app update changing the settings I have placed on a device, and on initial setup once getting the device and you login to Google, it gives you the options to turn on sync. You can turn off sync before you even put in the contacts.

Seems to me the problem is you entered your contacts, then put in the Google account, but just pressed yes on everything without taking the time to toggle things off. Everytime I enter a new Google account into a device, it asks me whether I want contacts to sync to that account.

It doesn't matter if the repository is called device, your Google account, or Trump's secret lockbox. Keep sync off and it's the same thing.

But the real question here to me really is that Google has been pretty open from the start that it's vision is to have everybody's data saving to their cloud. Since you value your 'privacy' in a way that you don't want Google to have your data, I am having a hard time understanding why you even considered buying a Pixel in the first place.

 

[darkmanx2g]

Mind boggling. Are we going back to the days where we input all contacts written from a piece of paper everytime we setup a new phone?

 

[Kayza]

I bought the best they had to offer and was expecting the best options out of it too.

And you think that manually backing your stuff up to a second device is BETTER option than automatic and seamless backup to the cloud?

To each his own. But, Google knows what it's doing. If there is one thing we know with certainty is that any time backup needs to be manual It does NOT happen.

 

[9900Boldfan]

Mind boggling. Are we going back to the days where we input all contacts written from a piece of paper everytime we setup a new phone?

These days the technology is there to transfer from old device to new device without needing to pass your info to another party first and then redo load it from there.

Try downloading an App called Wechat. It allows you transfer your chat contacts and apps to your new device just by placing both devices next to each other and sharing the same WiFi network. You scan a QR code from old device with new device and upon confirmation all old contacts and chats along with videos and images get transferred over your own wifi network to your new device. You do not need to input all contacts from a piece of paper every time you setup a new phone.

If I am not mistaken the new Pixel 2 also offers a similar feature to transfer info from old device to new device. Assuming we have party “A” and party “B” I am not sure why we need to Bring in party “C” and pass the info on to party “C” before party “B” can get info from party “A”.

I hope in the future car manufacturers do not require us to sell our car to some other party and then make the new buyer get all the paperwork and documents from this other party in order for the new party to get their new car (or used car).

 

[9900Boldfan]

And you think that manually backing your stuff up to a second device is BETTER option than automatic and seamless backup to the cloud?

To each his own. But, Google knows what it's doing. If there is one thing we know with certainty is that any time backup needs to be manual It does NOT happen.

What if in the future camera manufacturers started manufacturing cameras that did not require memory cards which allowed you to save to camera (device)? What if all images were saved to their cloud server and then when you got a new camera all pictures were on their cloud server..? Who needs a memory card then. Sony’s or Nikon’s default storage space would then be Sony’s or Nikon’s cloud server. All your pictures would then be there on their server. Any new camera you get you would not need to worry about transferring all pictures over again. They would all be there for you on their cloud server. Not sure if all photographers or privacy advocates would be fond of this idea.

 

[chanchan05]

These days the technology is there to transfer from old device to new device without needing to pass your info to another party first and then redo load it from there.

Try downloading an App called Wechat. It allows you transfer your chat contacts and apps to your new device just by placing both devices next to each other and sharing the same WiFi network. You scan a QR code from old device with new device and upon confirmation all old contacts and chats along with videos and images get transferred over your own wifi network to your new device. You do not need to input all contacts from a piece of paper every time you setup a new phone.

If I am not mistaken the new Pixel 2 also offers a similar feature to transfer info from old device to new device. Assuming we have party “A” and party “B” I am not sure why we need to Bring in party “C” and pass the info on to party “C” before party “B” can get info from party “A”.

I hope in the future car manufacturers do not require us to sell our car to some other party and then make the new buyer get all the paperwork and documents from this other party in order for the new party to get their new car (or used car).

Wechat also uploads your contacts to their servers in the background and is a third party. Basically you just chose to have your contacts in a less safe place than Google, considering that Wechat is legally bound to have their data open for the Chinese government whenever they want to.

In your example of using wechat, you gave your infor to party C (Wechat) and party D (Chinese govt). I know this because I use Wechat and I explicitly disallowed it from accessing my contacts. All Chinese apps that have access to contacts are basically required to submit all their data to Beijing.

I'd rather have data to party C only rather than parties C and D.

Second, let's say sure you have your contacts offline from Google, and not backing up to Cloud. You got caught in the rain and your phone got wet and shorted. How are you going to get your contacts then? I have enough experience on online forums that as a collective, humans are dumb and are too lazy to regularly backup phones to an offline site. I don't know when you left your BB, but in the earlier days of Android, forums like this were full of people who lost contacts that were irretrievable because they have no offline backups.

Sure some people know better, but even then how often do you actually backup?

 

[Almeuit]

Is this thread kinda done? It seems to not be a feature of the Pixel 2 and the OP returned the phone due to it... So is there a reason to argue over it?

 

[e30ernest]

What if in the future camera manufacturers started manufacturing cameras that did not require memory cards which allowed you to save to camera (device)? What if all images were saved to their cloud server and then when you got a new camera all pictures were on their cloud server..? Who needs a memory card then. Sony’s or Nikon’s default storage space would then be Sony’s or Nikon’s cloud server. All your pictures would then be there on their server. Any new camera you get you would not need to worry about transferring all pictures over again. They would all be there for you on their cloud server. Not sure if all photographers or privacy advocates would be fond of this idea.

The Pixel kinda does that already via Google Photos, although this is an opt-in affair. As a former privacy advocate, I like this feature. I've been using this ever since Google+ and later Google Photos got that feature. I learned to like it after one of my phones got stolen, and I lost all my photos.

The thing is, I no longer chase privacy because it is now a red herring. Privacy in the internet is dead. The moment you visit any page that has a "Like" button whether you click it or not, you leave a breadcrumb for Facebook attributed to your device, or your account if you have one. The moment you type a search in Google, you leave some data about you. The moment you visit Amazon, it starts keeping track of your shopping interests... etc....

If you really value your privacy, the Internet isn't a place you'd want to be going to.

 

[Kayza]

What if in the future camera manufacturers started manufacturing cameras that did not require memory cards which allowed you to save to camera (device)?

I'm not sure what you are asking. One thing, though - Google doesn't keep you from keeping stuff on your phone. So, your scenario isn't even parallel.

 

[Kayza]

Wechat also uploads your contacts to their servers in the background and is a third party. Basically you just chose to have your contacts in a less safe place than Google, considering that Wechat is legally bound to have their data open for the Chinese government whenever they want to.

In your example of using wechat, you gave your infor to party C (Wechat) and party D (Chinese govt). I know this because I use Wechat and I explicitly disallowed it from accessing my contacts. All Chinese apps that have access to contacts are basically required to submit all their data to Beijing.

I'd rather have data to party C only rather than parties C and D.

It's kind of ironic to have someone using such an app as an example of how to do privacy better than Google (or Microsoft, to be fair.)

 

[9900Boldfan]

Ouch. That certainly does place a turd in the punchbowl of OP's Conspiracy Party.

On my iPhone I have WeChat and it does not require access to my contacts to work. The Chinese are actually quite smart. In Asia many people do not like to give out their personal cell number so they use WeChat. With WeChat you can create an ID and give people your user ID. You can and delete them when you want without them having your personal contact info. I will double check with an Android device to see if this is the same.

With Line you can also use an ID without needing to give out personal contact info.. It does also work without requiring access but it does ask for access.

 

[chanchan05]

On my iPhone I have WeChat and it does not require access to my contacts to work. The Chinese are actually quite smart. In Asia many people do not like to give out their personal cell number so they use WeChat. With WeChat you can create an ID and give people your user ID. You can and delete them when you want without them having your personal contact info. I will double check with an Android device to see if this is the same.

With Line you can also use an ID without needing to give out personal contact info.. It does also work without requiring access but it does ask for access.

You explicitly said to use Wechat to transfer contacts. To do that you need to let Wechat access contacts, otherwise how could it send what it cannot access. Using Wechat exclusive contacts is a different story, since it's sandboxed away from other repositories.

In the end this entire thread is an argument on naming conventions.

 

[9900Boldfan]

You explicitly said to use Wechat to transfer contacts. To do that you need to let Wechat access contacts, otherwise how could it send what it cannot access. Using Wechat exclusive contacts is a different story, since it's sandboxed away from other repositories.

In the end this entire thread is an argument on naming conventions.

Thread was meant to be a discussion thread and not an argument thread.

I had a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge of which I had transferred my WeChat chats over to my new Google Pixel 2 XL. I also recently bought a new iPhone 8 S Plus of which I was upgrading from an earlier model that I had which was the iPhone 6S Plus. On both the iPhone 6S Plus and 8S Plus no access to contacts was given and all chats, contacts,images,audio files and videos were transferred over from the older iPhone to the newer one without asking me to send to the WeChat server. I was able to transfer them over from one device to the other using just the two devices over my home wifi network. There was also another option previously where one could upload all info to the WeChat server and then log back in from new smartphone and download all the previous data to new smartphone but now you can just have two devices next to each other and send from one device to another one using QR Code scan over wifi. Works pretty good too.

When I had said contacts I had meant the contacts which were in the contacts list. Those contacts could be all the contacts created by adding contact via WeChat ID or via WeChat QR Code to the WeChat contacts list. To have a contact list in WeChat one does not need to have WeChat access the contacts list to add or create a new contact. WeChat accessing contacts list from your regular phone contacts list only accesses it to check and match contacts associated with numbers from contacts list that may have a WeChat account.

 

[chanchan05]

Thread was meant to be a discussion thread and not an argument thread.

I had a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge of which I had transferred my WeChat chats over to my new Google Pixel 2 XL. I also recently bought a new iPhone 8 S Plus of which I was upgrading from an earlier model that I had which was the iPhone 6S Plus. On both the iPhone 6S Plus and 8S Plus no access to contacts was given and all chats, contacts,images,audio files and videos were transferred over from the older iPhone to the newer one without asking me to send to the WeChat server. I was able to transfer them over from one device to the other using just the two devices over my home wifi network. There was also another option previously where one could upload all info to the WeChat server and then log back in from new smartphone and download all the previous data to new smartphone but now you can just have two devices next to each other and send from one device to another one using QR Code scan over wifi. Works pretty good too.

When I had said contacts I had meant the contacts which were in the contacts list. Those contacts could be all the contacts created by adding contact via WeChat ID or via WeChat QR Code to the WeChat contacts list. To have a contact list in WeChat one does not need to have WeChat access the contacts list to add or create a new contact. WeChat accessing contacts list from your regular phone contacts list only accesses it to check and match contacts associated with numbers from contacts list that may have a WeChat account.

1. Let's clear a misunderstanding shall we? This being wechats transferred without asking access to wechat server. This is a local transfer. The chats aren't uploaded to wechat servers. Only the contacts. It's only natural that wechat contacts don't need access to contacts on the phone if you don't want them to. All wechat data is self contained. But all the contact data is available on the server. This is separate from contacts on your phone. This works the same way on Android. And this is entirely different from the initial discussion on phone contacts about the default saving location on the device is labeled Google instead of 'device'.

2. On reading back it seems to me the problem is a misunderstanding on how each system handles contacts differently. iOS handles contacts in a phone centric manner. You have one repository of contacts, which you can cross sync to several clouds. The phone acts as the central hub of syncing. Hence it is labeled as device. You can sync the device to say, Google and Outlook at the same time. However, Android's approach is a sandboxed separate repository of contacts per account. You cannot save to device and have a switch to sync it to Google if you feel like it. It needs to be saved to a repository that is associated to your Google account, or it won't sync. This is because Google designed it to be cloud centric. Where the cloud (in this case Google) is your central hub. If you want to sync Outlook contacts to your phone, it should sync to Gmail, not to your phone, for it to work correctly across all accounts. Of course since Android is open source you are free to change this as you please, hence manufacturers like Samsung and LG adding a device storage for contacts unlinked to Google much like how it is with iPhone.

3. Basically, your trouble isn't with Android per se, but a difference in your opinion and Google's vision.

 

[flipper2702]

Get with itfolfs I'ts the age of cloud computing!

 

[Golfdriver97]

Try downloading an App called Wechat.

I would rather give my data to Google than to Tencent.

Older article, but here is why: Tencent's Wechat: Worldwide Internet users are voluntarily submitting to the Great Firewall.

Tencent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tencent

At least I know what Google does with my data. I may not always agree with it, but I know. Since China doesn't have to comply with laws in the U.S., they can do whatever they please with what data they have.

No, thank you.

 

[Almeuit]

I would rather give my data to Google than to Tencent.

Older article, but here is why: Tencent's Wechat: Worldwide Internet users are voluntarily submitting to the Great Firewall.

Tencent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tencent

At least I know what Google does with my data. I may not always agree with it, but I know. Since China doesn't have to comply with laws in the U.S., they can do whatever they please with what data they have.

No, thank you.

Ouch!

 

[9900Boldfan]

I would rather give my data to Google than to Tencent.

Older article, but here is why: Tencent's Wechat: Worldwide Internet users are voluntarily submitting to the Great Firewall.

Tencent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tencent

At least I know what Google does with my data. I may not always agree with it, but I know. Since China doesn't have to comply with laws in the U.S., they can do whatever they please with what data they have.

No, thank you.

I see your point and there will probably be many others out there that agree with you as well. What in my own personal opinion would be better would be to allow users to save to device so that one does not have to worry about where their own data is and whom does what with it. Again, I am saying tha it should just be an “OPTION” for end user to choose. Maybe even during setup process they can choose whether they wish to save to device or cloud server. I believe during the setup process on a new iPhone,iPad or MacBook one can choose as well but most importantly is that it is an option to choose from up front. You can also choose later as well which is not the case with the Pixel 2.

I really like the Pixel 2 but this one issue was the deal breaker. I believe that ones messages,contacts and photos should remain private on their device. If they wish to share then that if fine and up to that person. As devices become more expensive options are vanishing as well for end users to choose from.

 

[Guto Aaron]

I really like the Pixel 2 but this one issue was the deal breaker. I believe that ones messages,contacts and photos should remain private on their device. If they wish to share then that if fine and up to that person. As devices become more expensive options are vanishing as well for end users to choose from.

There's plenty of people who, like you, distrusts putting their data in the cloud. Whilst I don't agree, nobody can blame you for having that opinion.

But the mind boggling thing is that, as someone who does not like putting data in the cloud, what on Earth possessed you to buy a Google phone? Google's whole ethos, whole vision and whole business revolves around putting as much data as possible on the cloud. You can seriously be surprised to find out this ethos made its way to their phones?

 

[wyelkins]

I used to lose contacts all the time because they were not synced to Google. But mostly, I ran into it all the time helping my friends with their phones. They never understood. I did but forgot sometimes.

I am glad that doesn't happen now. I welcome our Google Overlords encroachment on my privacy. At least so far...