Android phone contacts deleted - how to restore

If the contacts on your Android phone got deleted by accident, or if you don't know how it happened, do the following to get back your contacts.

If the contacts are present in the Bin, just restore them.

If they are not present in the Bin, you can still restore them, if they are being synced, or if the phone is being backed up regularly.

If your contacts had sync turned on

Disable sync of Contacts so that it doesn't interfere with the restore process.

Go to Settings -> Accounts -> your Google account -> Account Sync.

Turn off sync of Contacts.

• Go to the site to which your contacts are getting backed up - if you use the Google Contacts app, this would be contacts.google.com .
• If any of your contacts are missing, select the "Undo changes" option under Settings. Select a point in time when you are sure all your contacts were present.
• Click through and come out of the dialog screen.
• Wait for a few seconds till all contacts are restored.

Clear the cache of your Contacts app.

Turn on sync of Contacts.

If the contacts don't show up on WhatsApp or any other app that use your contacts, exit that app, clear their cache and open the app again.

Restoring contacts from phone backup

Go to Settings -> Google -> Set up and Restore -> Restore contacts

Go through the rest of the process.

If the above doesn't work and sync of Contacts is turned on, turn it off. Clear the cache of the Contacts app and try once more.