deleted contacts reappear

[madrepore99]

I deleted a contact and blocked them on calls and texts. About 4 weeks later they reappeared in my contacts list, and I deleted, then they reappeared about a week later. Why would that happen?

 

[webworkings]

If you have the phone 'synced' to a google account, then your contacts are being backed up there. So when you delete them on the phone, it is readding them from the synced data. You would have to delete the contacts in that account (or whatever online account saved to) as well to stop this.

 

[madrepore99]

If you have the phone 'synced' to a google account, then your contacts are being backed up there. So when you delete them on the phone, it is readding them from the synced data. You would have to delete the contacts in that account (or whatever online account saved to) as well to stop this.

I don't have it synced to google or any other accounts, and I had not done any updates between the blocking and the contact reappearing...

 

[webworkings]

If you go into "Settings" and then tap "Google", does it say sync is off or on? I ask because it tends to be auto on unless you specifically turn it off.

 

[madrepore99]

If you go into "Settings" and then tap "Google", does it say sync is off or on? I ask because it tends to be auto on unless you specifically turn it off.

I have it disabled.

 

[webworkings]

OK. That rules that out.

When you added them to the phone, did you transfer them from a SD card or SIM (some SIMs allow for storage of contacts). If so, your contacts app may be looking on both the card (either/or) and the phone itself for the contacts. If they are not deleted from both, then they could reappear. Also if you transferred them from a VCF file, the would still be in the file to be reinstalled.

You may want to deleted them, make a back up of the contacts as you want them (creating a VCF file) and save the file off the phone. Best would be to a computer where you can also check that the data was saved correctly in the file.

Now clear out all contacts from the phone and restart the phone (turn it off and back on). It should still have no contacts after the restart. Then put the VCF file back on the phone and add the contacts back.

 

[madrepore99]

OK. That rules that out.

When you added them to the phone, did you transfer them from a SD card or SIM (some SIMs allow for storage of contacts). If so, your contacts app may be looking on both the card (either/or) and the phone itself for the contacts. If they are not deleted from both, then they could reappear. Also if you transferred them from a VCF file, the would still be in the file to be reinstalled.

You may want to deleted them, make a back up of the contacts as you want them (creating a VCF file) and save the file off the phone. Best would be to a computer where you can also check that the data was saved correctly in the file.

Now clear out all contacts from the phone and restart the phone (turn it off and back on). It should still have no contacts after the restart. Then put the VCF file back on the phone and add the contacts back.

I did a data transfer from my last phone. The only thing on my SD card are photos. I think the problem fixed itself, I was just curious why it would happen in the first place. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[webworkings]

It could be any number of things. In the future, after removing something from a phone (app, file, contacts, etc.) it is a good idea to restart (turn it off and back on) the phone this way any data or remnants associated with what was remove will also be removed from the device. Just for future reference.

Good Luck.