How to know where your Android contacts are stored

Many owners of mobile devices with Android operating system wonder where their contacts are stored. It may be necessary to view all the saved data or, as an example, make a backup of them. Each user can have their own reasons, but in this post we will tell you where the address book information is stored.

Where to store contacts on Android

Smartphone phonebook data can be stored in two places and are of two totally different types. The first is the records in the accounts of the application that have an address book or its counterpart. The second is an electronic document stored in the internal memory of the phone., containing absolutely all the contacts available on the device and on the accounts connected to it. Users are usually interested in it, but we will talk about each of the available alternatives.

Option 1: app accounts

On a smartphone with a relatively recent version of the Android operating system, Contacts can be stored in internal memory or in one of the accounts. The latter, In most cases, is a Google account that is used on the device to access the services of the search giant. Other additional options are possible: accounts of “maker”. A) Yes, Samsung, ASUS, Xiaomi, Meizu and many others make it possible to save important user information, including calendar, in your own storage, acting as a kind of analog of a Google profile. This account is created when the device is first set up and can also be used as the default location for saving contacts..

Read also: How to save contacts to your Google account

Note: On older smartphones, phone numbers could be stored not only in the device memory or in the main account, but also on the SIM card. Now you can only see, remove and save SIM card contacts to another location.

In the case described, the standard application is used to enter the data contained in the address book. “Contacts:”.. But at the same time of this, there may be other applications installed on the mobile device that have their own address book, one way or another. These include messengers (Viber, Telegram, WhatsApp, etc.), email and social media clients (as an example, Facebook and its Messenger); each of them has a tab or menu item. “Contacts:”.. The information that appears in them can be extracted from the main calendar of the standard application or saved there manually.

Summarizing the above, a logical conclusion can be drawn, even though very trivial: contacts are stored in the selected account or on the device itself. It all depends on where you have chosen the main location yourself or what was specified in the device settings from the beginning.. Regarding the address books of third-party applications, we can say that rather they serve as a kind of aggregators of existing contacts, even when they offer the opportunity to add new entries.

Find and sync contacts
Once the theory is finished, let's go to practice. We will tell you where and how to see the list of accounts connected to your Android smartphone or tablet and activate their synchronization, if it has been deactivated.

1. From the application menu or the home screen of your mobile device, start the app “Contacts:”..
2. There, using the side menu (accessed by sliding your finger from left to right or by pressing the three horizontal bars in the upper left corner), navigate to “Settings”..
3. Click on the post. “Accounts”.to enter the list of all accounts linked to the unit.

Note: An equivalent section is found in “Settings”. Of the device, you just have to open “Users and accounts”. The information that appears in this chapter will be more detailed, which in our particular case is not essential.

4. From the list of accounts provided, select the one for which you want to activate data synchronization.
5. Most messengers only allow you to sync contacts, which in our case is the main task. To go to the desired section, select item “Synchronize accounts”.,

   and then simply move the rocker switch to the active position.

From now on, The information entered or modified for each of the points in the agenda will be sent in real time to the servers or cloud storage of the selected application and will be saved there.

Read also: How to sync contacts with your Google account

No additional backup of this information is required. At the same time, will be available even after reinstalling the application, and even if you use a new mobile device. All you have to do to see them is connect to the application.

Change where your contacts are stored
In the same case, if you want to change the default contact storage location, you must do the following:

1. Repeat steps 1-2 from the previous instruction.
2. Low. “Change of contacts”. click the item. “Default account for new contacts”.
3. In the box that appears, select one of the suggested alternatives: available accounts or mobile device memory.

Changes made will be applied automatically. From now on, all new contacts will be saved in the location you specified.

Option 2: data file

At the same time from the information in the address books of standard and third-party applications that developers store on their own servers or in the cloud, there is a shared file for all viewable data, copy and modify. It is named contacts.db O contactos2.db.Depends on the manufacturer's shell or operating system version, or firmware installed. Despite this, not easy to find and open; to get to your actual location, you need root rights and to view the content (on a mobile device or computer) – SQLite-manager.

Read also: How to get root rights on Android

The contact database is exactly the file that users search most frequently. It can be used as an address book backup or in a situation where you need to restore all your saved contacts. The latter is especially relevant in cases where the screen of a smartphone or tablet is broken., or when the device is completely inoperative and there is no access to the account containing the address book. Thus, when you have the file in hand, you can open it to view it or move it to another device, thus accessing all your saved contacts.

Read also: How to Transfer Contacts from Android to Android

Therefore, if you have root rights on your mobile device and have installed a file manager that supports them, do the following to get the contacts.db or contacts2.db file:

Note: Our example uses ES Explorer, so in case you are using another browser app, some steps may be slightly different, but not critical. At the same time, if your file manager already has root access, the first four steps of the following instructions can be skipped.

Read also: How to check root rights on Android

1. Start the file manager and if it is the first time you use it, read the information provided and press “Ahead”..
2. Open the main menu of the application: done by swiping from left to right or by tapping the vertical bars in the upper left corner.
3. Activate the root guide function by moving the toggle switch in front of the item of the same name to the active position.
4. Then press “Let”. in the pop-up window and make sure the app has the necessary rights.

Note: Sometimes, after granting root rights to file manager, it is necessary to finish it by force (via multitasking menu) and then restart it. Opposite case, it is possible that the application does not show the contents of the folder of interest.

5. Reopen the file manager menu, scroll down and select from “Local storage”. Post “Device”..
6. In the directory listing that opens, check folders with the same names one by one – “data”.
7. If required, change the folder display style to a list, then scroll down a bit and open the directory “Com.android.providers.contacts”.
8. In the, navigate to the folder “databases”. Inside it will be located the file contacts.db O contactos2.db. (remember, the name depends on the firmware).
9. The file can be opened for viewing as text,

   But this will require a special SQLite manager. As an example, the developers of Root Explorer have an application of this type and offer to install it from the Play Market. Despite this, this tool to view the content of the databases is distributed on a paid basis.

Now that you know the real location of the contacts on your Android device, or rather, where the file that contains them is stored, you can copy it and keep it in a safe place. As mentioned previously, you can open and edit the file using a special application. If you need to transfer your contacts from one smartphone to another, just put the file in the next path:

/data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/

Thereafter, all your contacts will be available to view and use on the new device.

Read also: How to Transfer Contacts from Android to Computer

Conclution:

In this post, we've talked about where contacts are stored on Android. The first of the alternatives described enables you to view your address book entries, find out where they are all stored by default and, if required, change this location. The second allows direct access to the database file that can be saved as a backup or simply transferred to another device where it will perform its main function.. We hope this material has been useful to you.

Has this post helped you?