Database Develop

[Q]What is your preferred method to backup contacts on ICS?

If you have ICS, you know that it is not possible to store contacts on the phone per-se, and rather ICS forces you to store them in one of your Google Accounts. I was wondering based on the experience of other users on this forum, which method brings the best results for backing up contacts.
I used to backup using MyPhone Explorer, but ICS does not recognize the program. Now I am restoring backups from TiBu. What method do you guys prefer to restore contacts after flashing a new ROM?

Just export to the SD card -_-
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda premium

umm why would you NOT backup to google account?
then you dont worry about it.. and tibu wont work between gingerbread to/from ICS or any other major update...
gmail and android allows you to export to csv if you ever needed them for ..lol another phone.
im not sure but i am starting to think that -_- is a polite facepalm... further research necessary.

Super Backup app from the (Market).

Yeah what he said, I just use my Google contacts. You can sort through them at http://contacts.Google.com
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA

TRusselo said:
umm why would you NOT backup to google account?
then you dont worry about it.. and tibu wont work between gingerbread to/from ICS or any other major update...
gmail and android allows you to export to csv if you ever needed them for ..lol another phone.
im not sure but i am starting to think that -_- is a polite facepalm... further research necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps you did not understand my first post. I am not asking for a method. I already have a preferred method, which is TiBu. Furthermore, I am well aware that TiBu does not work between GB/ICS, which is the primary reason why I am not asking for help on restoring contacts from TiBu. I have my contacts backed up in google, as well as have a csv backup on my phone. I prefer TiBu because I already restore apps with it and I have not experienced any problems whatsoever restoring contacts as well.
The time you spent analyzing be-ock's post as well the reasons I may have to not backup my contacts on google could have been better spent posting your preferred method, like the 2 members that followed your post.
-_-

kafepuya said:
If you have ICS, you know that it is not possible to store contacts on the phone per-se, and rather ICS forces you to store them in one of your Google Accounts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still not a fan of this fact. I rather liked having them separated so that I could leave business contacts on the phone (actually the SIM, i didn't save any contacts to the phone itself) but ICS killed that. I'm not talking a backup to SIM, I didn't want the business numbers in my google account, period.
As to the question at hand, I leave it to Google and the account I made just for the phone, they already have hundreds of copies of the contacts on multiple servers. Anything else is going to be prone to error, incompatibility, corruption, etc. Also, google does the restoring & updating all on its own, no thought needed.

DaNaRkI said:
I'm still not a fan of this fact. I rather liked having them separated so that I could leave business contacts on the phone (actually the SIM, i didn't save any contacts to the phone itself) but ICS killed that. I'm not talking a backup to SIM, I didn't want the business numbers in my google account, period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a similar problem. I'm an aircraft mechanic and I travel quite often. There are some numbers that are essential in case I get in a bind. I have taken several steps to ensure that if my captivate gets borked, I can still have some essential numbers at hand. I basically travel with an old Nokia GoPhone with all essential numbers recorded on the phone and SIM card. That way, if my Captivate dies for some reason (like it did when I tried flashing while flying, stupid me), I can still get a hold of some omportant people should I need to.

Personally I create a vcard backup saved to the phone and computer. But i only have that in case Google for some reason doesn't sync the contacts to my phone.
I found that ics is much better at syncing all contacts. I accident imported my vcard backup after adding my Google account and now i have double of every contact.
Sent from my SGH-I89 using slimics

[Q] People/Contacts driving me nuts...

Howdy folks, hoping someone on here can help me out.
Very happy in general with my HTC One, but in transferring my contacts from my HTC Desire HD and linking up to various social media accounts, my contacts list has gone a bit insane, were I have a lot of duplicate entries and in some cases my contacts have inexplicably been given their last name twice. I've gone through google.com/contacts to get rid of the extra last names and delete any untidy data, but it doesn't seem to be syncing back to my phone to fix it.
I've got LinkedIn for HTC Sense, Facebook, Google and Google+ contacts viewable at the moment.
Wondering if there is a way to completely erase my phonebook without doing a factory reset on my phone? I've got it set up how I like it and would rather not have the hassle of wiping it completely. Plus, I have a nasty hunch that HTC's backup would just restore everything I don't want anyway...

have you tried the merge duplicate and link all options? for me it suggested to link all my google+, google contacts, whatsapp and skype contacts together based on the firstname and lastnames

IINexusII said:
have you tried the merge duplicate and link all options? for me it suggested to link all my google+, google contacts, whatsapp and skype contacts together based on the firstname and lastnames
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it got to the point where it wasn't linking everything so I started linking them manually to force it all out of the way. Worked for a time but it seems to keep happening. I have had one friend split into four entries now - two of which are apparently Google+ profiles. Sure enough I look it up and on my Google contacts I delete both the incorrect entries, but it just doesn't sync to my phone. And because they're linked Google contacts I can't even delete them manually! Very frustrating.

MojoPin said:
Yeah, it got to the point where it wasn't linking everything so I started linking them manually to force it all out of the way. Worked for a time but it seems to keep happening. I have had one friend split into four entries now - two of which are apparently Google+ profiles. Sure enough I look it up and on my Google contacts I delete both the incorrect entries, but it just doesn't sync to my phone. And because they're linked Google contacts I can't even delete them manually! Very frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah it is abit flaky still but i managed to hide all the contacts i didnt want to see, its something Google will have to sort out on their end.

[Q] Email failure after disabling magazine

Month old note 3.
Disabled magazine and now get email message "unfortunately, email has stopped" I see from threads elsewhere that this is the issue.
I DO NOT WANT magazine. Is there someway to eliminate all the junk on this phone without killing the apps that work. I thought my Atrix was bad but it isn't nearly as crammed as this phone. I have 26 apps turned off, and some more that wont give me the option. I use this device for work, not play, and only want the apps I need.
Samsung please fix!!! Give us an option to unload all the crap with the next update. You are killing a really nice phone.
Anyone have a work around??????
THX

chris.nye said:
Month old note 3.
Disabled magazine and now get email message "unfortunately, email has stopped" I see from threads elsewhere that this is the issue.
I DO NOT WANT magazine. Is there someway to eliminate all the junk on this phone without killing the apps that work. I thought my Atrix was bad but it isn't nearly as crammed as this phone. I have 26 apps turned off, and some more that wont give me the option. I use this device for work, not play, and only want the apps I need.
Samsung please fix!!! Give us an option to unload all the crap with the next update. You are killing a really nice phone.
Anyone have a work around??????
THX
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What email service are you trying to use? If it's hotmail or yahoo, use the Outlook, or yahoomail app instead of stock email app. Gmail works fine with magazine crap removed.

440bro said:
What email service are you trying to use? If it's hotmail or yahoo, use the Outlook, or yahoomail app instead of stock email app. Gmail works fine with magazine crap removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I switched to the gmail and yahoo apps and for those accounts. Need to find a suitable outlook replacement. The corporate sync that came with phone still crashes and burns.
Thanks and Peace!

I have that also... I froze Magazine with TiBU. When I get the email crash, it will often open the 2nd or 3rd time.

I am using gmail it`s work fine for me after disabling magazine

Radimus said:
I have that also... I froze Magazine with TiBU. When I get the email crash, it will often open the 2nd or 3rd time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine also opens on the 2nd or 3rd try but it is too much of pain. I haven't had time to try another outlook app yet (don't know which is a good one).I hope they fix it soon, my wife needs a new phone for work too, and if this isn't resolved we wont get a Samsung.

chris.nye said:
Mine also opens on the 2nd or 3rd try but it is too much of pain. I haven't had time to try another outlook app yet (don't know which is a good one).I hope they fix it soon, my wife needs a new phone for work too, and if this isn't resolved we wont get a Samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried flashing a gapps package? or just replacing the email.apk with a google version?

Radimus said:
Have you tried flashing a gapps package? or just replacing the email.apk with a google version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No haven't tried anything for outlook yet. The only mail account I have to move is the one on a corporate exchange server. Need to make sure what ever I substitute is secure (as well as can be expected that is). Nothing cloud based.

chris.nye said:
No haven't tried anything for outlook yet. The only mail account I have to move is the one on a corporate exchange server. Need to make sure what ever I substitute is secure (as well as can be expected that is). Nothing cloud based.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this: you can PW protect the app and or leave out the PW.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.morrison.applocklite&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dotcreation.outlookmobileaccesslite&hl=en

Empty Duplicated Contacts Read Only?

Ok I've done some digging and can't seem to find anything with my exact problem.
Yes I have looked up duplicated read only contacts BUT everyone seems to have this issue with contacts synced from another app. Mine is no.
Got this baby this past Sunday (found out that I can upgrade 7 days early so of course I did it. Love the phone and think I will be okay without root. Got Helium backup to backup my data. Only thing left is for them to add a Restart in the power menu then I'll be fine with no Root. OH and they need to get Lolipop out ASAP)
But ever since then I've been having this issue. I've been having new contacts made, same name as a contact I have, but with not info (most of the time. Sometimes it has their number in it). Now here is where it gets weird.
They are Google contacts that it says are saved under my Gmail. I go to Gmail, No duplicated contacts there, I try to delete, says they are read only and can only hide, AND it seems like the contacts that are getting duplicated are contacts that I seem to call most often. I have all other apps and their contact sync turned off so I know it's not an issue with them, and since they are saved under Gmail and when I turn off the local Phone contacts they are still there so I know they are not local saved/SIM contacts.
If anyone has any suggestions let me know. I felt like I had this issue loooooong ago with another phone but pretty sure it was back when Facebook synced its contacts and I had to link them.
I'm a savvy guy and know my way around Android.
Thanks

Ok well i ended up getting it myself.
For people with this issue:
Turn off google contact sync. Then go to apps in settings and then look for the contact storage app. Force stoo the act and clean all data. Check contacts to make sure its empty. Then enable google contacts sync.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app

Contacts in Android are stored in a database, and as they come from multiple sources (synced from Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, LinkedIn and copied from SIM or stored as "local phone" contacts...) it's easy to have multiple instances of same contact with different info or even duplicates. Contacts app let you "join" multiple contacts from different sources so they will appear joined in your contacts list, but they will still be stored inidividually in the database.
Anyway, there are multiple apps that let you manage your contacts at a deeper database level. With MiniContacts https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brapeba.minicontacts you can see all raw contacts one by one showing its original account source (group). And you can delete all contacts from a source (i.e. those coming from LinkedIn, or Facebook) or choosing manually those you don't want. Notice that if you don't disable the syncronization with the source those deleted contacts will reappear again. So, first disable syncronization! If you want to delete the contacts permanently from everywhere instead of just from your Android database, go to the source (LinkedIn, Facebook...) and delete them there.
Hope it helps...
drtweak said:
Ok I've done some digging and can't seem to find anything with my exact problem.
Yes I have looked up duplicated read only contacts BUT everyone seems to have this issue with contacts synced from another app. Mine is no.
Got this baby this past Sunday (found out that I can upgrade 7 days early so of course I did it. Love the phone and think I will be okay without root. Got Helium backup to backup my data. Only thing left is for them to add a Restart in the power menu then I'll be fine with no Root. OH and they need to get Lolipop out ASAP)
But ever since then I've been having this issue. I've been having new contacts made, same name as a contact I have, but with not info (most of the time. Sometimes it has their number in it). Now here is where it gets weird.
They are Google contacts that it says are saved under my Gmail. I go to Gmail, No duplicated contacts there, I try to delete, says they are read only and can only hide, AND it seems like the contacts that are getting duplicated are contacts that I seem to call most often. I have all other apps and their contact sync turned off so I know it's not an issue with them, and since they are saved under Gmail and when I turn off the local Phone contacts they are still there so I know they are not local saved/SIM contacts.
If anyone has any suggestions let me know. I felt like I had this issue loooooong ago with another phone but pretty sure it was back when Facebook synced its contacts and I had to link them.
I'm a savvy guy and know my way around Android.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks for the reply but it is making blank contacts with theur name and storing then as phone contacts. Google is the only source i sync any contacts from but ill give this a try
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app

Thanks for the tip, @drtweak! This was driving me nuts and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Good work...

Thanks!
drtweak said:
Ok well i ended up getting it myself.
For people with this issue:
Turn off google contact sync. Then go to apps in settings and then look for the contact storage app. Force stoo the act and clean all data. Check contacts to make sure its empty. Then enable google contacts sync.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could kiss you right now. I have been scouring the internet and downloading apps for hours trying to figure out how to fix "read only" and "can't be deleted" contacts on my second replacement dud Turbo 2. Duplicates galore, and they wouldn't go away. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :laugh: No more Verizon Cloud - that really messed it up both times. Merry Christmas! :good:

Christina729 said:
I could kiss you right now. I have been scouring the internet and downloading apps for hours trying to figure out how to fix "read only" and "can't be deleted" contacts on my second replacement dud Turbo 2. Duplicates galore, and they wouldn't go away. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :laugh: No more Verizon Cloud - that really messed it up both times. Merry Christmas! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app Simpler Contacts can merge duplicate apps. I've used it on friends' phones to do that.
Of course, Simpler Contacts also would like you to keep using their app and even their backup service, and they have a Dialer app too. But you don't need all that. I just use Simpler Contacts once in a while to check for duplicate contacts.
But this solution above is good too.
I also used Simpler Contacts to export all contacts from a "local" account. Helped to friends do this when they switched from iPhone to Android and the carrier store exported all their iPhone apps to "local" phone account -- which is STUPID. All the contacts need to synced with Google.

can I save contacts and images on the phone only without sharing them with google?

Hi all,
I am really tempted by the Nokia 8 and I'd like to get some more details.
Personally I prefer not to share with google my contacts, images, etc and I am not sure that with Nokia 8 it is possible since, If I understood right, it's a stock android.
So my questions are:
Is it possible to save my contacts, images and so on only on my phone without sync them with the google cloud?
If yes, is there a way to sync the phone with ms outlook and my desktop pc?
Thanks for your help

ruberrimus said:
Hi all,
I am really tempted by the Nokia 8 and I'd like to get some more details.
Personally I prefer not to share with google my contacts, images, etc and I am not sure that with Nokia 8 it is possible since, If I understood right, it's a stock android.
So my questions are:
Is it possible to save my contacts, images and so on only on my phone without sync them with the google cloud?
If yes, is there a way to sync the phone with ms outlook and my desktop pc?
Thanks for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can store contacts and images only on the phone. About Outlook syncing, Googling is your best friend. I would suspect that it's possible.

CazeW said:
Yes, you can store contacts and images only on the phone. About Outlook syncing, Googling is your best friend. I would suspect that it's possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
Good news then!
I googled for the "outlook sync" thing. So far, I did not find a solution but I keep searching.
I also looked for an app to backup contacts and the log of the calls to my pc (something like samsung "smart switch") but I did not find anything. I suspect that there's no such app (?)