To recover Google contacts on an Android device, if we have deleted them, we have changed the terminal or for any other reason, in this article we are going to show you all the available methods to be able to carry out this task.
Although, one of them depends on the functions offered by the manufacturer through the customization layer. If you want to know how to recover Google contacts, I invite you to continue reading to be able to carry out this task.
The first thing we must keep in mind is that recovering the Google contacts that we had stored on our mobile device before changing it is not the same as recovering the contacts that we have deleted from our device.
Recover Google Contacts on Android
If we have changed devices or bought an Android tablet, we want the same contacts that we had on our smartphone to also be available on the tablet.
All we have to do is configure the new device with the same Gmail account that we are using on the device where the Google contacts that we want to recover are located.
If, after setting up the new device with the same Google account where the contacts are, they do not appear (the restoration process takes a few seconds), it is because the source device does not have Google contacts synchronization activated.
When we configure a new device, the synchronization of the agenda and calendar data is automatically activated.
In this way, any new contact that we store on the device will be synchronized with the Google account and will also be accessible through Gmail.
To verify that we have activated the synchronization of contacts with Google, we must perform the following steps:
- We access the Settings of our device.
- Next, click on Accounts
- Within Accounts, where all the accounts configured on the device are shown, click on Google.
- Finally, we have to make sure that the Contacts switch is activated.
When activated, a copy of all contacts will automatically be uploaded to the Google cloud and, seconds later, that same information will also be available on the rest of the devices associated with the same account.
Recover deleted contacts on Android
If we want to recover deleted Google contacts, depending on the manufacturer of our device, we have up to two different methods.
As we all know, smartphone manufacturers include a customization layer where additional features that are included in Android are included.
In addition, it is also used to attract users to its ecosystem, offering features available only on devices from the same manufacturer.
Recover deleted contacts from smartphone
- To recover a deleted Google contact from our device, we open the Contacts application.
- Next, we access the app settings.
- In the Contacts app settings, tap organize contacts.
- Next, click on Recently deleted. In this section, all the contacts that we have deleted in the last 30 days will be displayed. This section is a kind of recycling bin like the one offered by Windows and where the files are stored for a maximum of 30 days. After this period, the contact will be unrecoverable.
- We select the contact that we want to recover and click on Recover (forgive the redundancy).
If your device does not have the option to recover deleted contacts, you will have to resort to the Google page with which we can access the same contacts that we have stored on our device.
Recover deleted contacts from Google
As I have commented in the previous section, if the personalization layer of our device does not allow us to recover deleted contacts, all is not lost.
We can use the Google website where all the contacts stored on our device are stored (as long as synchronization is activated as I explained above).
To recover deleted contacts from our Google account via the web, we must perform the following steps:
- We access the web where all the contacts of our Google account are located from this link and enter our account data.
- Next, click on Trash, an option available in the left column.
- Next, all the contacts that we have deleted during the last 30 days will be displayed.
- To recover the deleted Google contacts that are in the trash, place the mouse over the contact and click on the Recover button.
If more than 30 days have passed since we deleted it from our device, we will not be able to recover the deleted contacts unless we had previously exported the contact list to a file.
How to backup contacts
If you are one of the people who likes to keep their contact list and you are not happy about losing any contact, the best thing you can do to lose a contact that you thought you would no longer need is to make a backup copy, both from your device and from the Google website.
Back up contacts from a smartphone
Unlike the function that allows us to recover deleted contacts, which is not available on all devices, the option to make a backup copy is present on all devices.
To make a backup copy of your contacts from your mobile, we must export the contacts to a file by following the steps I show you below:
- We open the Contacts application.
- Next, we access the Application Settings.
- Within Settings, click on Import / Export
- To export the contacts to a file, click on Export.
The resulting file will be stored on the device. We can access the information stored in this file with any application to open spreadsheets.
Back up contacts from Google
If it is more comfortable for us to make a backup from a computer and store the file with all the contacts on the computer, we must carry out the following steps
- We access the Google Contacts website by clicking on this link.
- In the left column, click on Export.
- Next, a floating window will be displayed where we can select the contacts we want to copy or select them all.
- Next, we must select the format in which we want to export the contacts from among the following options.
- Google CSV
- Outlook-CSV
- vCard (for iOS contacts)
- For the information to be accessible, we must select the CSV options from Google or Outlook. We can open this file with any spreadsheet application like Excel.