After a recent Android update on my Asus ROG 8 device, I found something unusual. Most of my device contacts were gone from the device. How could that be possible? It’s strange, Right?

However, I was not alone in being stuck with such a strange situation, I researched and found that many others faced the same issue. I oddly figured out that this is a very common problem and can be resolved by applying the correct strategy. But what is the correct approach or strategy to find lost contacts?

I am sure most of you do not know how to recover contacts lost from an Android device after an update. That’s when I decided to write down this blog that can help you understand why and how your contacts may vanish in thin air after the recent Android update and how to find them on your device with some specialized methods and tools.

Why my contacts are lost after Android update?

Sometimes after an Android update your phone’s OS or some of the apps may not behave normally. This can be due to some changes in the settings, a bug, or any other software glitch. Let’s understand it in detail.

Glitches

When you update your phone, you may have observed that sometimes it may not work in the right way or order. There could be lags, frequent app freezes, or any other issue such as data not showing up on the device. This can make your contacts seem like they are deleted.

Settings Change

An Android update can also change the settings on your phone, especially with the core Android processes and applications. It can also change the app permissions with messaging and other apps. Hence, this could hide or delete your contacts and you will be able to view only some contacts instead of all.

Accidental Deletion

Sometimes updates can be tricky and unknowingly we might accidentally delete a contact or change something that can hide the contacts. This can usually happen while updating any app or customizing settings after an update.

Sync Problems

A bug in the update or any other glitch can often cause a synchronization issue with the data in your device and apps.  If your contacts are saved in different places (like on your SIM card or Google account), the update might mess up how they sync together.

How to recover contacts lost after Android update?

In order to recover my contacts I researched the internet and discussed the issue with one of my friends who is an Android expert. This section includes all the approaches I tried to find my contacts. To help you with finding the lost contacts, I have ordered the solutions and the best approach. Your contacts are either hidden or deleted so the best strategy to find them will be to start finding them if they are mistakenly hidden.

1.    Look for Hidden Contacts in Display Settings

Sometimes the contacts are not displayed due to the display settings, in that case, you can follow the below steps to view all the contacts in your device. The steps may vary depending on your device.

• Open the Contacts app.
• Tap on the three dots or line to access the menu.
• Now find the Contacts to display.
• In some devices, you can find the same just above the list of contacts in your Contacts App.
• Make sure it says “All contacts” so you can see everything.

If “All contacts” are displayed and you are still unable to track any of your contact numbers then you can check if your contacts are syncing properly or not.

2.    Check Sync Setting for Contacts

Sometimes your device contacts may not be synced with your Google accounts. In such cases, your contacts saved in the Google Contacts app may not be displayed on the device. Hence you need to fix this syncing issue to view the contacts saved in your Google account on your device.

• Go to Settings > Google> All Services.
• Now go to the Backup and Restore section and then click on the Google Contacts sync.
• Now Toggle the Google Contacts sync option to enable it.
• Your contacts will start syncing with the device.
• You can also turn on Auto-sync to avoid the hassle of manual sync every time.

Ensure you have a proper network and internet connection to properly sync your device contacts data with your Google account and vice versa.

3.    Restore Contacts from Trash

If you feel your contact data is deleted either due to a glitch or by mistake you can try finding them in the trash section of your contacts. Be fast because contacts in the trash folder can only be recovered within 30 days.

• Go to Contacts>Oragnize.
• Now scroll down and look for the Trash option.
• You can now view the list of deleted contacts in the Trash folder.
• Select the contacts you want to restore to your device and hit Recover.
• You can either save contacts one by one or select multiple contacts at once and hit Recover.

Luckily, I was able to find and restore some of my contacts from this approach but many of them were still missing from the device.

4.    Unhide contacts in phone testing mode

I found this method on the Internet which is a bit technical and it guides how to unhide contacts with the phone testing mode on your device. However, I am not sure if this will work for all the devices but you can give it a try, and who knows it might be helpful for you.

• Go to the phone dialer on your Android device.
• Type the code (*#*#4636#*#*) to access testing mode on your device.
• Now tap on “Phone Information” from the menu.
• Scroll down to find the option for hidden contacts and select it.
• Choose the contacts you want to unhide and click on Display.

Unfortunately, for me, this method was not helpful as my device was not showing the option for hidden contacts inside the phone information module.

5.    Recover lost contacts with Android data recovery tool

Despite trying all the above methods to recover lost contacts when I was not able to find all my lost Android device contacts, then on the recommendation of my Android geek friends, I tried this last solution on my device. It was using an Android data recovery software to recover all the deleted contacts from the device.

Note: This method works best if your Android phone is not in use to prevent any data overwriting after you realize missing or deleted data.

Here are the steps to recover contacts from an Android device with a tool.

• Go to the Stellar website. Now download and install Stellar Data Recovery for Android on your computer.
• Use a USB cable to connect your Android phone to the computer. Make sure USB debugging is turned on.
• Launch the software on your computer.
• Select Contacts from the list of data types you want to recover and click Next.

• Click on Scan to scan your device for deleted or missing contacts.

• Once the scan is complete, scroll the list of contacts that were found and preview them.
  

• Now select all the contacts you want to recover and then hit Save.
• Select a desired location to save the contacts.

Stellar Data Recovery for Android is a highly recommended and top-rated data recovery tool that can recover all types of lost or deleted files including photos, videos, documents, etc.. from any Android device. Moreover, this tool is free to download and also offers a preview feature to check files and data before saving.

Wrapping Up:

Don’t worry if you ever lose any of your contacts from your Android device, especially after an update. It’s a very common problem and recovering your contacts is no big deal with the kind of technology available in the market. Whether you have a backup of the contacts or not, by following the methods listed above, you should be able to find and recover any missing contacts from an Android device.