I woke up to missing contacts

[vlj52007]

Woke up to a lot of missing contacts. Tried to restore contacts, but the latest backup was done at 6am and therefore backed up the missing contacts situation. Tried doing a Google backup but it asked for PIN. Used my lock screen PIN and it gives " wrong PIN" error. Really don't want to re-enter this info. Thoughts?

[mindy123]

I'm having the same problems not only with my contacts but with my messages. All contact names are gone leaving just phone numbers! Anyone? Just happened with the latest update the other day.

[realaud]

@mindy123 are you, by any chance, currently traveling and have your phone in airplane mode and using wi-fi for messages?  Do you have T-Mobile?  The numbers only showing in your conversations usually happens under the airplane mode/wi-fi scenario, or on a roaming cellular connection, but only if someone sends you a message under those conditions.  They come back when you are on your home turf and/or re-connect to your own carrier's mobile network.  Fortunately for me, I a) pretty much know the last 4 digits of any contact in my messages and b) can tell by the conversation, who it is.

So far, I haven't found anyone this has happened to that wasn't on T-Mobile.

[realaud]

@vlj52007 I don't know what could have caused your missing contacts, but you can go to contacts.google.com and see if they are in there. Although, if they were, they likely would have repopulated your address book automatically.  If your contacts were stored on your SIM, some carrier error or reconfiguration of your SIM could have erased them (just guessing here), if they were stored in your phone or on your SD card, did you recently do any file cleanup that may have deleted them?

If the missing contacts are contacts you use infrequently, if you end up having to manually add them back, you can take your time and do it gradually.  If they are people you communicate with frequently, you can wait for them to message/call you and then add them to your contacts from the call log.  A pita to be sure, but other than typing them in individually (depending on how many are to be done), that would be the only way. 

Samsung's backup system is really stupid, having only one backup copy allowed (I understand it's a space issue, you can't have millions of people's backups on your server in multiples), and it backs up every day.  Backing up every day is just plain dumb, as very few people have significant changes every day, and in the event of a catastrophic loss like this, any useable backup that might repair it is gone.  

When/if you recover re-enter your contacts, you should immediately export them as a csv file to your SD card, external drive, any other place but your phone.  Also, having them situated in Google contacts, makes them always available from any device and less likely to be wiped out by accident. In the contacts area of the phone app or the contacts app, you can go to the settings and manage your contacts and there you have options to merge them, export them, import contacts from somewhere else (another device?), or move them and you can move them to your Samsung account, your Google account, your SIM or your phone and then they are all in one storage location.  I sincerely recommend keeping them in Google contacts because they follow you from phone to phone and carrier to carrier without having to transfer them from a SIM card.  If you put them in your Samsung account, you will have to import them to a new phone, if you abandon Samsung and buy another brand. They are also clearly accessible, readable and editable from a computer or any other device with internet access, should you not have your device with you.

[AimeeGalaxy2012]

Just hopped on here to see if I should keep my contact in Google or Samsung Cloud, and you gave a great response! My omly doubt is that while Google is convenient and accessible across devices, it is less private?? More info for Google to have on us? Would Samsung Cloud be more private or the same thing?
Thanks!

[realaud]

I have been using Google contacts for at least 20 years now (or however long ago they developed it), and as far as I know I've never had a privacy issue with that information being there. Since I also like to do a lot of my editing on a computer it makes it easy for me to add contacts in Google contacts on the computer browser with a real keyboard.

[realaud]

@AimeeGalaxy2012 I recognize that what some people see as privacy violations are necessary for proper functioning of certain things, so for that convenience, I am willing to take the privacy risk.  You already have a Google account, so you gave up some privacy with that, Google contacts is just another function of your Google account.

[AimeeGalaxy2012]

You are right. it seems that every day, we give up more. As u said, it is easier to edit on Google and I too prefer a monitor to a phone.

[realaud]

I also very much like the fact that I can access the contacts from anywhere, regardless of whether I have my phone.