A simple yet powerful way to never lose your contacts. How to never lose contacts on your phone? How not to lose your contacts

Text: Sergey Chernov

Even if you bought the most modern phone or PDA with a full-fledged organizer, this does not mean that contacts and plans for the day will always be with you. To avoid problems with the loss of the necessary information or access to it, online organizers, which are described in this article, will help.

Online organizers allow you to synchronize your phone with an online information system and view personal data from anywhere in the world where there is Internet access. For most users, the main function of an online organizer is to create another, easily updated copy of the data "for every fireman."

Each of us usually keeps a notebook with all contacts in a mobile phone, PDA or laptop - in the device that is always at hand. But the fact that contacts are always with you does not yet give a full guarantee of constant access to them, regardless of the circumstances.

There are two risks, and they are completely out of control. Firstly, this is the discharge of the battery and the inability to charge it. At the same time, even if there is an alternative means of communication nearby, you will have to sit and bite your elbows - after all, all contacts are no longer available. True, you can carry a spare battery with you.

The second trouble is failures that can lead to data loss, and any electronic device is subject to them. Of course, failure is not a problem if you are used to making periodic backups. However, between the loss of data and their recovery, as a rule, some time passes, which depends on the place where the accident happened.

For example, if your PDA or laptop breaks down on vacation, then before it ends, you are unlikely to get access to the organizer and you may lose contact with important people. Online organizers help to avoid such problems.

In total, three classes of such organizers can be distinguished. The former are mainly focused on working with "desktop" systems. This is the most versatile option, suitable for owners of any type of device - from mobile phones to ordinary PCs.

The second class of organizers is optimized for mobile devices that support special synchronization protocols. They exclude the intermediary role of the PC in downloading the address book and calendar on the Internet and are optimal for phones, smartphones and PDAs.

Finally, there are organizers that store data only online, without synchronization with a desktop PC or mobile device. They can be useful for those who spend most of their time on the Internet and do not need an address book on their desktop computer.

One of the services of the search and information portal Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) - Complete Yahoo! Address and Calendar Yahoo! Calendar. The main difference between Yahoo! from other similar systems - Intellisync for Yahoo! (IS4Yahoo!). This allows Yahoo! to the first type of online organizers described above.

To get started, you need to register on the Yahoo! at http://www.yahoo.com. Registration is free and does not take much time. After that, you can access the online versions of the address book and calendar at http://address.yahoo.com and http://calendar.yahoo.com or by clicking on the appropriate links on the main page of the portal.

How to set up this organizer, read the inset on the left.

The disadvantages of the system are mainly due to localization. Although Yahoo! displays Russian characters, there are no bookmarks with Russian alphabet letters in the online address book for quick contact search.

In addition, the letter "i" Yahoo! replaces with the "&" character, which can subsequently lead to duplicate entries in the organizers.

Advantages:
- A complete organizer;
— Synchronization with desktop PCs;
- Direct synchronization with the PDA;
- Sending notifications by e-mail;
— Free mobile access;
— A wide range of additional services.

Flaws:
- Incomplete support for Cyrillic;
- No automatic data synchronization;
- English interface.

The online organizer Plaxo (http://www.plaxo.com) is very similar to Yahoo!, a first-class system, but specializes specifically in storing personal data. It offers two service options - paid and free.

For permanent access to your contacts and data synchronization, the free version of the service is sufficient. For additional features, such as removing duplicate entries or accessing data via WAP, you will have to pay.

One of the most attractive features of Plaxo is the automatic updating and filling of contact details of users registered in the system.

For example, if you make changes to your own address data, the changes will automatically be made to your friends' address books as well. Similarly, if your acquaintances change their phone numbers and addresses, they will replace the old ones in your address book. Thus, contacts are always kept up to date without the participation of the owner.

Other than that, Plaxo is a complete online organizer with contacts, calendar, to-do list and notes.

Getting started with the service requires a simple registration on the Plaxo server (http://www.plaxo.com) - here you need to specify your name, password, e-mail address and the answer to the question to recover the lost password.

In the future, to enter your own online organizer, click on the Sign In button on the main Plaxo page.

Once registered, Plaxo provides the ability to import data from various online systems, including Yahoo!, MSN Hotmail, and popular desktop organizers.

You can skip this step if you are using MS Outlook, Yahoo! or Mozilla Thunderbird. They have "desktop" synchronization utilities available for download in the Downloads section (http://www.plaxo.com/downloads).

For example, the synchronization client for MS Outlook is tightly integrated into the organizer and checks the relevance of information every time it is launched, making the necessary changes to the online and desktop versions of the data. The synchronization procedure can also be started manually - to do this, select the Sync Now command by clicking on the Plaxo button in the new Outlook toolbar.

Download and install on your desktop PC the correct version of the utility for quick data exchange with the Plaxo online organizer.

Plaxo also offers import and export of information in CSV format for exchange with different versions of the desktop software, if automatic synchronization is not supported.

Synchronization with mobile devices, as in the case of Yahoo!, two-stage. First, you need to sync your phone or PDA with your desktop organizer, and then sync the organizer with Plaxo.

To recover data, these steps are performed in reverse order.

Unlike Yahoo! Plaxo correctly displays all Cyrillic characters, although it does not have tabs with the Russian alphabet for quick contact search.

Advantages:
- Cyrillic support;
— Automatic synchronization with desktop organizers;
- Automatic update of contact information.

Flaws:
— Paid mobile access;
- No calendar notifications by e-mail;
- English interface.

The free mail service Mail.Ru (http://www.mail.ru) relatively recently supplemented its main activity with an online organizer. Mail.Ru offers only basic features and two sections - Addresses and Diary for storing contact information and to-do lists.

One of the biggest disadvantages of the organizer is that it is a "thing in itself". Aimed mainly at online users, it does not sync with desktop organizers and mobile devices.

In our classification, this is a third-class system.

At the same time, the Diary sends notifications of upcoming cases by e-mail, which is very convenient.

Advantages
- Full Cyrillic support;
- Russian-language interface;
— Calendar notifications by e-mail.

Flaws:
- No synchronization.

The "Second Memory" service (http://www.2memory.ru), which uses Tactel AB technologies, is aimed at owners of mobile devices with the SyncML synchronization protocol.

The SyncML protocol, developed and maintained by the Open Mobile Alliance, is designed for easy and convenient remote synchronization of organizer data and is optimized for use in phones. It is this specificity that allows you to synchronize anywhere in the service area of ​​the cellular network if the phone supports SyncML. To do this, the GPRS-WAP data service must also be connected.

Despite the ability to access contacts via the Internet, "Second Memory" is not an organizer in the full sense of the word. Rather, it is a backup and restore tool for mobile phones.

One of the most interesting applications of "Second Memory" is the quick transfer of contact data when changing from one handset to another.

According to the classification described above, "Second Memory" is a second-class system.

The basis for "Second Memory" was the once free service mobical.net (http://www.mobical.net).

But, since in Russia the service has turned into a commercial one, at the moment it is not possible to register a free account in this service.

This is especially unpleasant in light of the fact that now "Second Memory" is available exclusively to subscribers of "Mobile TeleSystems". Other mobile operators have not yet joined the service.

The monthly subscription fee for using "Second Memory" is $3 excluding taxes. If you are an MTS subscriber and you do not feel sorry for this amount, and your phone supports SyncML and is configured to work with GPRS-WAP, then you may well try the system in action. The subscription fee will be automatically deducted from your account at the time of SMS activation of the service.

Advantages:
- Direct synchronization with mobile phones.

Flaws:
- Limited compatibility;
— A limited number of telecom operators - partners;
— Only paid services.

In conclusion, it remains to be noted that online organizers not only provide convenient access to important personal data, but also serve as a backup in case of a malfunction of a desktop PC or mobile device. They, of course, do not eliminate the need for self-backup data, but significantly increase the overall reliability of the contact information storage system.

The easiest way to backup Android smartphone contacts is to use a Google account to sync your contacts. All data will be stored online, and in an emergency, they can be quickly transferred to the desired device. You may have already enabled sync on your smartphone when you first set it up. If not, it's easy to connect. Depending on the version of Android, the process may be slightly different:

• Open settings.
• Go to accounts. In older versions, this item may be called "Accounts and sync".
• Open your Google account and make sure the "Contacts" option is activated. After that, the data will be automatically synchronized and can be restored on any device on which you set up your account.
• If you don't have a Google account, you can create one using the Add Account feature.
• You can now sync your contacts online from the Google.Contacts page.
• Please note that the contacts that are stored in your Google account will be synchronized. This does not include phone numbers that you have stored only on the SIM card.

Export contacts to SD card or smartphone memory

You can save contacts in vCard format on an SD card or in the internal memory of your smartphone. The function required for this is already built into the Android Contacts app. Depending on the OS version, the copying procedure may vary slightly:

• Open the Contacts app.
• Open the menu (icon with horizontal stripes in the upper left corner) and select "Settings".
• In the Contact Management section, click Export, select the desired account, and then click Export to VCF File.
• Decide where you want to store your memory card (if available) or your device's internal memory.
• Enter a file name and it will be saved.
• To restore contacts, select "Import" instead of "Export" in the settings, and then specify the VCF file and the destination folder.

Contact backup software

In addition to those described above, there are other ways to store contacts on an Android smartphone. Some manufacturers offer special data backup services. Check if there is such a program for your smartphone model.

There are also suitable third-party programs, such as the Titanium Backup application. You can also use AirDroid to back up contacts via a connected Windows computer. Some older devices have the ability to copy or save contacts to the SIM card. However, this way you risk losing related data, such as a profile picture.

By adding contacts to our phone book, we form a connection with our surroundings, our friends, colleagues and business partners. Phone numbers accumulate for a long time, for several years. And the simultaneous loss of all contacts leads to a feeling of confusion and confusion. How to restore contacts on Android and what is needed for this? Let's talk about it in our review. To restore contacts, we can use the following tools:

• Google account;
• Third party data recovery programs;
• Basic import / export functions;
• Basic functions of working with contact lists.

Let's take a closer look at these tools.

Smartphones and tablet PCs based on the Android operating system can save some data on Google servers - the user only needs to have an account there. And since almost all users have Google accounts, there is nothing complicated in restoring contacts. If they are deleted for some reason, turn on synchronization and make sure that contacts are downloaded from Google servers.

If for some reason the contacts are not loading, try to go to the Gmail service website from a computer and find the "Contacts" section there. This section stores all phone records saved from the smartphone. Once you have verified that you have contacts, do one of the following:

• Reboot your phone and try to force sync;
• Try to install another application for working with contacts;
• Reset your phone to factory settings, enter your account information and wait for the data to sync to an empty device.

The last method, if there are still contacts on Google servers, helps in 100% of cases.

If you still don't have a Google account, and you store all your contacts on your SIM card or in your phone's memory, create an account immediately, copy your contacts to it, and set up synchronization. All these steps will help you quickly restore contacts from Google to Android in case they are lost locally.

Recovery using third-party programs

Contacts disappeared on Android - how to restore them using third-party programs? To do this, you need to find the appropriate software in the Playmarket application catalog. There are a lot of applications here - these are MobileDev360, Restore Contacts, Deleted Contacts and many others.

note that some of these applications are focused on finding deleted and damaged contacts, and the other part performs the function of preliminary saving contacts in a backup copy with their subsequent restoration.

In our case, since the contacts disappeared for unknown reasons, we need applications to recover deleted contacts, since we do not have any backup copy. By the way, the idea of ​​storing a backup copy is good enough - pay special attention to it.

Restoring contacts by import/export

Please note that in almost all applications focused on working with contacts, there are functions for importing/exporting phone book entries. If you really value your contacts, make periodic copies and store them on a memory card or built-in memory. Also, almost all applications have the function of sending contacts by e-mail.

If you suddenly want to restore contacts on Android in case they are damaged or accidentally deleted, all you have to do is import the saved files. By the way, if you saved contacts as a vCard, then applications for bulk importing them may come in handy.

Restoring the correct display of lists

We already know how to recover deleted contacts on Android using third-party apps and backups. But sometimes situations arise when contacts remain on the phone, but we simply cannot see them. This happens when the phone book settings fail, as a result of which it tries to show us contacts from the SIM card or from the internal memory of the phone. And if the memory of the phone and the SIM card are empty, then we will not see anything.

In order to restore the display of the phone book and return access to phone records, you need to go to the settings of the application for working with contacts. Here we need to find the item "Show contacts", "View", "Source of contacts", etc. (the name of the item differs depending on the program used).

By visiting this item, you need to select the storage location for your current phone book - if it is stored in a Google account, choose to display contacts from your account. Here you can also choose to display data from the following sources:

• SIM card (sometimes more than one);
• phone memory;
• Contacts in applications (Skype, Viber, etc.);
• Contacts in email;
• Contacts in social networks.

If you select an empty source, then the contact list will be empty. Thus, failures in applications often lead to the absence of displayed contacts - you just need to figure out their settings.

Not a single smartphone at the moment can fully guarantee stable and correct operation, as well as 100% safety of all data in the phone’s memory or SD card. Quite often, users encounter problems when a contact sheet is partially or completely deleted, reset when returning to factory settings. And if the same photos can be partially found on social networks in your profile, then it’s more difficult with contacts!

But do not despair, because there is a way out of this situation, and you can choose from several options, which we will discuss in this material. And so, how to restore contacts on your Android and what is needed for this?

Overview of possible ways

The Android operating system has a built-in module that allows you to restore contacts from the cloud, there are also specialized programs for Windows, with which you can “return” not only contacts, but also any other data. We will describe each method in detail so that you have fewer questions when performing the described actions.

Here is a list of possible recovery methods:

1. Recovery via phone settings
2. Recovery with EaseUS Mobisaver for Android
3. Recovery with Android Data Recovery
4. Restoring with Super Backup Pro

It should be noted right away that contacts can be restored not only in case of a phone glitch or unexpected formatting. Very often, users reset the settings to factory settings, while forgetting that contacts are also deleted, because the phone is completely returned to its original state with clean memory and standard applications.

Restoring contacts using phone settings

Android, as mentioned earlier, has an automatic data synchronization function, thanks to which your contacts are stored in the cloud storage under your account. Even if you delete all data from your phone, contacts can be restored. But, this is provided that the backup was created by the system!

1. Take your phone and open the "Contacts" tab.
2. Next, select "More actions" and click "Restore contacts".
3. Next, you will need to specify the approximate time when a copy of the data was created. For example, it can be half an hour ago, a day, a week, a month, and so on.
4. Confirm the operation and select the location where the copy will be restored.

Through Google, you can also restore on the official website. For this you need:

1. Log in to contacts.google.com
2. Select the "More" tab and save the file to your computer.
3. Then connect a mobile phone, throw off this file and in the smartphone settings specify the path to it during recovery.

Restoring Contacts with EaseUS Mobisaver for Android

With this utility, you can recover not only contacts, but also any other data from your phone. Download the installation file from the official company portal easeus.com (provided free of charge) and install it on your computer. Attention! The interface is in a foreign language, however, this does not greatly complicate the process.

You must be root on your phone to use this software. Also, additionally enable the "For Developer" mode, which is located in the "Settings" item.

1. Connect the device via USB, allow access (usually requested 2 times for different actions).
2. Open the program on the desktop of your computer.
3. Click the Start button in the utility window and wait until the file search is completed. The system automatically separates them into types.
4. To quickly get to your contacts, click the Contacts tab on the left side of the window. Mark the necessary files or data and click the Recover button.

Recover contacts with Android Data Recovery app

The recovery process in this utility is similar to the one described above. What exactly to choose for you - decide for yourself. We note right away that this program is paid, but the free version is enough to restore contacts, messages, in general, everything except multimedia.

1. Download the installation file from the official site, install on your computer. As in the first case, you will need to enable debug mode on your device. To do this, go to "Settings" and activate the "For Developer" mode.
2. Now connect your mobile phone to your computer and allow access in the notification window that appears.
3. Run the program and select the types of files you need to recover. In this case, it is Contacts.
4. Click the Next button and wait for the program to complete the operation.

All contacts will be restored and shown in the general list in the program window. You can view each (name, phone, etc.).

If we compare both utilities, then in our opinion Android Data Recovery is much more convenient, because it allows you to specify data types in advance.

Recover contacts on Android with Super Backup Pro

Don't have access to a computer to use the above programs? Even in this situation, there is a way out - installing the Super Backup Pro application on your smartphone!

The only disadvantage of this application is that it restores copies already created earlier! This is an alternative to Android's default copy service!

1. Install the program on your smartphone and run. By the way, root rights are not required for it.
2. Here you will need to select the data type tab. In this case, you select "Contacts".
3. To restore, click the "Restore Contacts" item. If you are creating another backup, then select the "Make a backup" item. When restoring, the user can choose one of several copies made earlier. A separate folder is created for storage on the SD card, so all data can be easily copied to another phone or computer.

conclusions

In general, the contact recovery process is not complicated, especially for those who have access to a computer. Do not forget to regularly backup and synchronize data in Google services so that you can restore it or transfer it to another device at any time, in case you sell your phone or buy a new one.