How to Fix Contacts Disappeared from Android

[Contacts Missing after Update] I had a software update and now a majority of my contacts are missing. Anyone knows anything or how I can restore contacts? 

You may have encountered the same situation as the above user – contacts disappeared from your Android phone after updating. Actually, besides Android system upgrades, there are various reasons that can lead to Android contacts missing, such as failed jailbreak, accidental deletion, the old phone doesn’t work or broken, water damage, etc.

Then, how do I get my lost contacts back on my Android phone before they will be overwritten by newly generated data and lost eternally? Don’t worry. In the following guide, we will not only show you how to fix the Android contacts disappeared error, but also share with you how to recover lost contacts from your Android phone. Just keep reading to find the answer.

And if you want to get back other data like your lost photos, Google search bar missing from home screen, you can also click and check the solutions.

How to Fix Contacts disappeared from Android

If your contact names disappeared on Android, or Samsung contacts disappeared after an update, etc., read the methods below:

1. Make Sure Contacts Sync Works

Phone contacts will be synced once you enable the Google account. Therefore, if your contacts missing, you can first check if the contacts sync is working normally. Here’s how to do:

1. Go to Setting on your Android or Samsung.
2. Click Account and Google account.
3. Tap on Account sync and check if your contacts button is toggled on. If yes, you can also turn it off then on.

2. Check Contacts to Display

If you found that only some contacts disappeared, not all of them, then you can check if Contacts to display shows all contacts. Sometimes, software updates or software glitches may disturb phone settings. Here’s how to show all contacts on a phone:

1. Open the Contacts app.
2. Click 3 horizontal lines from the top of the screen.
3. Tap on Settings and then Contacts to display.
4. Enable All contacts option.

3. Reset App Preferences

Resetting app preferences allows you to reset all preferences for disabled apps, reset background data restrictions for apps, or any permission restrictions, etc. And, it won’t reset app data on your phone. If contacts disappeared is caused by Contacts app preferences being disabled, you can fix it with the steps below:

1. Go to Settings and click System.
2. Open Advanced option.
3. Tap on Reset options and then Reset app preferences.
4. Click Reset apps to confirm.

And you can restart your phone to reboot, then check if Contacts is back.

You can also read more about How to Clear Cache and Free Up Space on Android >

How to Get Contacts Back on Android Easily

To get disappeared contacts back on your Android phone, you can use DroidKit – a complete Android solution. It provides you with various tools like Data Recovery, System Fix, Screen Unlocker, etc. Data Recovery tool gets Quick Recovery and Deep Recovery to help you find lost contacts on your Android phone, with or without root. Besides, you can restore Google contacts, fix software problems to cause contacts missing, etc. with DroidKit.

Here are the steps to recover deleted contacts:

Step 1. Get DroidKit and Connect Phone

Get DroidKit downloaded on your computer (Windows PC/Mac). When you open it, go to Data Recovery and choose Quick Recovery from Device.

Step 2. Select Contacts Category to Scan

Step 3. Choose Contacts to Recover

All of your contacts will be listed here, including deleted ones. Choose the contacts that you want to recover and click To Device or To PC button. If there are not the contacts you need, back to Data Recovery and choose Deep Recovery from Device.

Step 4. Successfully Get Back Contacts on Android

When the recovering process finished, you will get the successfully page as below. Click View Files on your computer if you recover to it.

How to Restore Deleted Contacts on Android [Video Tutorial]

How Do I Get Google Contacts Back?

1. Undo Deleted Google Contacts

If you accidentally deleted Android contacts and Google contacts enabled earlier, then you can recover contacts from your Google account with ease.

1. Just open Google Contacts and click on 3 horizontal lines from the top-left corner of the screen.
2. Tap on Settings and find Undo Changes.
3. Here you can undo changes from 10 minutes ago, 1 hour ago, or custom time.
4. Select time and Confirm to recover lost contacts from Google.

2. Restore Google Contacts from Backup

Except the way to find deleted contacts as above. You can also restore Google contacts from a backup as below:

1. Open your phone’s Settings app.
2. Find Google and then Set up & restore.
3. Click Restore contacts, and From account.
4. Confirm the account that you need to restore from, and choose the phone with the contacts to copy.
5. Tap Restore until “Contacts restored.” shows.

How to Restore Contacts on Android without Backup

If you need to recover contacts from Android but are not backed up, here is a 100% safe and virus-free program to recover the disappeared contacts from your Android phone without backup. With PhoneRescue for Android, you can successfully recover all your disappeared contacts from various kinds of Android models with 3 simple steps, and the entire recovering process just takes you a few minutes.

It also supports you to preview and select the lost contacts so that you can recover the one(s) you want. More than anything, it enables you to recover the contacts to your Contacts app on the device directly for instant use. Now, let’s check the recovery steps.

To Recover Lost Contacts from Android without Backup

Step 1. Free Download PhoneRescue for Android on your computer firstly > Connect your Android phone via USB cable.

Step 2. Choose Contacts only > Tap Next button on the right.

Step 3. Preview and Select the disappeared contacts you want to recover > Click the Download to computer or Download to Device button to start the recovering process.

How Do I Get my Contacts from my Old Phone that Doesn’t Work?

If your contacts are lost from an old phone, which is not working to connect with the computer, then you can use the first method to restore with Google backup or try to retrieve from SIM card. But sometimes, your old phone may not work because of system problems. Therefore, you can also try to repair Android or make broken Samsung data recovery.

The Bottom Line

That’s all for why contacts disappear from Android, you can first try to fix this error. Also, you can get contacts back from Google or with DroidKit, which allows you to recover contacts with or without root, from Google backup/SIM card, or a broken AndroidOS. Besides contacts, it is also capable of recovering deleted or lost photos, videos, music, messages, WhatsApp messages, etc.