Why doesn't my local contacts sync with my Google Contacts?

[Yousuf Khan]

It used to be that whenever I added a contact in Google contacts, it
would show up in my Android contacts, and vice-versa. Doesn't seem to be
happening right now.

Yousuf Khan

[123456789]

Have you tried a reboot? Just a few days ago the wife's iPhone stopped
wireless charging though It still charged fine on the wire. After
screwing around with the phone and charger for an hour I tried a reboot.
Fixed it. Damn phones are ruled by black magic. So give it a try, you
never know...

[Joerg Lorenz]

Am 02.05.20 um 07:20 schrieb Yousuf Khan:

> It used to be that whenever I added a contact in Google contacts, it
> would show up in my Android contacts, and vice-versa. Doesn't seem to be
> happening right now.

Sorry but you give us absolutely no information to judge the possible
causes. Are all permissions/authorizations correctly set? Check also
Settings - Accounts - Google - Synchronisation Check all items you want
to synchronise. As soon as you have Internet-access it will synchronise.

[Joerg Lorenz]

Am 02.05.20 um 07:40 schrieb 123456789:

Not very likely and a very wild guess. And btw this is an Android-group.

[123456789]

If he didn't change any phone settings and the sync just stopped
working, then changing phone settings as you suggest is a guess as well.
My guess is easier for a first try...

> And btw this is an Android-group.

I have an Android phone so I'm allowed to be here. And it was just a
story to illustrate that phone resets can and often do solve weird
problems. Also it was designed to bring out self designated Usenet cop
assholes. It worked...

[Yousuf Khan]

All of that is set right, still no sync.

Yousuf Khan

[Carlos E.R.]

Go to setup, accounts, select your google account. Tap on sync. There
will be a list of enabled synchronizations, and one of them should be
contacts. Maybe it says failed. You should be able to try manually. I
have a phone wich "failed" for months, but now it says it worked.


--
Cheers, Carlos.

[Yousuf Khan]

On 5/2/2020 1:43 AM, Joerg Lorenz wrote:

> Sorry but you give us absolutely no information to judge the possible
> causes. Are all permissions/authorizations correctly set? Check also
> Settings - Accounts - Google - Synchronisation Check all items you want
> to synchronise. As soon as you have Internet-access it will synchronise.

So the solution turned out to be that there are different types of
contacts in Android, some of which are local-only, and some of which are
through Gmail, and there's no easy way to find out which type of contact
you're working with. So you go into the Android app known as "Contacts",
click on the Triple-bars, and then Manage Contacts. Anything that's
listed as a local contact has to be moved over to your Google account.

Yousuf Khan

[123456789]

Yousuf Khan wrote:

> Yousuf Khan wrote:

>> It used to be that whenever I added a contact in Google contacts,
>> it would show up in my Android contacts, and vice-versa. Doesn't
>> seem to be happening right now.

> So the solution turned out to be that there are different types of

> contacts in Android some of which are local-only, and some of which

> are through Gmail, and there's no easy way to find out which type of
> contact you're working with. So you go into the Android app known as
> "Contacts", click on the Triple-bars, and then Manage Contacts.
> Anything that's listed as a local contact has to be moved over to
> your Google account.

I'm using the Google Contacts app (by Google LLC Ver 3.21.3) on my phone
and it does not have the problem you describe. I'm glad that you solved
your problem but let me suggest that you download and try the Google
Contact app (free in the Play Store) and perhaps it will save you the
hassle of moving local contacts around...

[Frank Slootweg]

It's not a problem, it's a feature! :-)

I've an old (5.1.1 [1]) stock Android 'Contacts' app and that allows
(at least) three categories of Contacts: SIM, phone and Google. The
first two categories are not synced to your Google Account.

The 'phone' category might not be too useful, but the SIM category can
have provider/country related things such as helpdesk, other provider
services, alarm number, etc.. It's handy that these numbers move with
the SIM, because with an other provider or/and in another country these
contacts might/will need to change.

I also duplicated some important contacts on the SIM, in case the
phone dies and I have to quickly have to use another phone, maybe even a
'dumb'/ 'feature' phone.

The three categories of contacts are clearly labeled with a SIM-icon,
a phone-icon and a Google-icon.

And when I edit a SIM contact, it clearly says 'Card-only, unsynched'.
Simarly for a phone contacti ('Phone-only, unsynched').

So you see, this 'problem' is actually quite useful, sensible,
<whatever>! :-)

[1] My even older phone had a similar 'Contacts' app.

[VanguardLH]

Been several years since I had an app called Contacts on an Android
phone. In the last 2 phones, the Phone app had the contacts list (well,
along with other apps, like Gmail, MS Outlook, Hangouts, etc). Even
though there is a separate app called Contacts, that just loads the
Phone app with the Contacts tab pre-selected. I didn't see the point of
wasting screen space on an app that merely calls another.

Different versions of Android come with different bundled apps both by
Google and by the phone maker in branding their product.

- Android version?
- Phone brand and model number?
- Is the Android "contacts" app one that is listed at the Play Store?
Does it match the pics for Google's Contacts app listed at:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.contacts
That one requires Android Marshmallow, or higher. There are lots
of contact management apps.
Note: That is NOT the contacts app bundled on my phone. For me,
the Contacts "app" just links to the Phone app to preselect the
Phone app's contact list.

Go into the settings of the Android "contacts" app, go under Accounts,
and make sure your Google account is listed. Make sure that app's
auto-sync option is enabled. If it is a Google app, it may use the
system-level (global) account settings instead of having its own
separate configuration (of accounts defined in the system). For
example, whether I use the Phone app's contact settings and go into
Accounts & sync, or I go into Android's system settings and pick
Accounts, I end up at the same dialog regarding account definitions and
auto-sync.

Also use a web browser to log into your Google account to make sure you
aren't locked out. Has the problem been exhibited only within the last
24 hours?

[Arlen Holder]

In response to what Frank Slootweg <th...@ddress.is.invalid> wrote :

> The three categories of contacts are clearly labeled with a SIM-icon,
> a phone-icon and a Google-icon.

Hi Frank Slootweg,

I think maybe contacts are different than intuition would have us think.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Df1YWxJf/contact14.jpg>

Look at this screenshot taken last night which shows six contact databases:
<https://i.postimg.cc/prWb6KNF/contact08.jpg>

And this one taken from Google contacts, just like what the OP uses:
<https://i.postimg.cc/hPCzMrFV/contact09.jpg>

Like you, I recently found more than 3, although I certainly saw _those_ 3.
o *Does anyone know how the PHONE ties to CONTACTS ties to SMS*
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/EvXtsP9radE>

In Android 9, I had _six_ categories of contacts (actually 7 if you count
the apps I use that store their own contacts internally to the application,
namely SimpleMobileTools' contact app which imports/exports its own files):
<https://i.postimg.cc/c4XKLcXr/contact10.jpg>

In short, how Android does contacts is quite confusing to me.
<https://i.postimg.cc/3wXk659p/contact07.jpg>

Sometimes contact-related apps see only two contact databases:
<https://i.postimg.cc/02swXQH0/contact12.jpg>

But _some_ contacts can "resync", which is kind of what the OP needs, such
as this "OpenContacts" app I installed which is open source contacts:
<https://i.postimg.cc/1Xj5QvrF/contact13.jpg>

The trick, of course, is to ensure your app sees all six databases:
<https://i.postimg.cc/Df1YWxJf/contact14.jpg>

Since yesterday I've been trying to figure out _how_ Android does contacts,
since anyone who guesses using intuition will certainly be wrong on how
they do it.
<https://i.postimg.cc/8cFn3D7r/contact03.jpg>

If _someone_ can explain _how_ Android does contacts after 5.x, that would
be interesting since one of my apps (True Contacts) is said (by the
developer) to be the true Android contact compiled from src which he says
changed in Android 5.x.

Here are other related threads with _tons_ of screenshot examples:
o *Which free contact optimizer duplicate removal contacts merger app*
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/YheUv3Cl5aM>

o *What free bulk contact deletion method or tool do you prefer*
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/xfmXK8hfOr0>

In summary, contacts aren't what we might intuitively think they are.
--
The beauty of helping others on Usenet is we all learn more together.

[123456789]

Frank Slootweg wrote:
> 123456789 <12...@12345.com> wrote:
>> Yousuf Khan wrote:
>>> Yousuf Khan wrote:
>>
>>>> It used to be that whenever I added a contact in Google
>>>> contacts, it would show up in my Android contacts, and
>>>> vice-versa. Doesn't seem to be happening right now.
>>
>>> So the solution turned out to be that there are different types
>>> of contacts in Android some of which are local-only, and some of
>>> which are through Gmail, and there's no easy way to find out
>>> which type of contact you're working with. So you go into the
>>> Android app known as "Contacts", click on the Triple-bars, and
>>> then Manage Contacts. Anything that's listed as a local contact
>>> has to be moved over to your Google account.
>>
>> I'm using the Google Contacts app (by Google LLC Ver 3.21.3) on my
>> phone and it does not have the problem you describe. I'm glad that
>> you solved your problem but let me suggest that you download and
>> try the Google Contact app (free in the Play Store) and perhaps it
>> will save you the hassle of moving local contacts around...

> I've an old (5.1.1) stock Android 'Contacts' app and that allows

> (at least) three categories of Contacts: SIM, phone and Google.

Google Contacts also has those options.

> The first two categories are not synced to your Google Account.

Google Contacts can back up and sync local contacts
by automatically saving them as Google contacts. That's why I thought it
might help with the OP's having to manually move local contacts to his
Google account. It was just a suggestion. As always YMMV and HMMV...

[Arlen Holder]

In response to what VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH> wrote :

> Been several years since I had an app called Contacts on an Android
> phone. In the last 2 phones, the Phone app had the contacts list (well,
> along with other apps, like Gmail, MS Outlook, Hangouts, etc). Even
> though there is a separate app called Contacts, that just loads the
> Phone app with the Contacts tab pre-selected. I didn't see the point of
> wasting screen space on an app that merely calls another.

Hi Vanguard,

I could be wrong in everything I say below 'cuz I'm trying to understand.
<https://i.postimg.cc/K8SZHjbN/contact16.jpg>

It's super confusing to me, as you noted above, the distinction between the
phone (dialer) and the contacts, particularly since I _replace_ all Google
apps with privacy-based third-party apps.
o Phone (dialer)
o Contacts
o SMS app

Notice there is only this in Android 9:
o Phone app (aka Contacts)
o SMS app

From my tests on Android 9...both the "Phone app, aka Contacts" and the SMS
app (PulsSMS in my case) can use _any_ dialer they want to use (where mine
each use a different dialer app).
o For example, SimpleMobileTools Contacts uses the Google dialer for calls
o Likewise, PulseSMS uses the default Google dialer to make phone calls

Yet, each can use any contacts database they want to use.
o For example, SimpleMobileTools Contacts uses its own contacts db
o Yet, PulsSMS uses _one_ of the six contacts dbs on my Moto G7

These three functions "interact" but they are not at all the same thing,
even as Google used to intertwine them in the stock Android apps more in
the past then they do now, at least according to this reference:
o True Contacts, by Ondrej Psencik
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.psencik.com.android.contacts>
Which suggests you actually get the app from the developer at:
<http://www.psencik.cz/true-contacts>
Which is said to be compiled from Android icecream sandwich src up to 5.1:
This True Contacts application does not contain the Android dialer.
The dialer has not been part of Android Contacts since Android 5.

Notice there are _many_ contacts databases (I have seven!):
<https://i.postimg.cc/prWb6KNF/contact08.jpg>

Where apps like Google Contacts only see "some" of those contact dbs:
<https://i.postimg.cc/hPCzMrFV/contact09.jpg>

Worse, some apps only see _one_ contacts database:
<https://i.postimg.cc/G90FGXd1/contact15.jpg>

While other apps see only two or three of the contacts databases:
<https://i.postimg.cc/63W0q4q9/contact11.jpg>

And yet other apps see six of the seven contact databases:
<https://i.postimg.cc/Df1YWxJf/contact14.jpg>

I'm still working on trying to figure this all out over here:
o *Does anyone know how the PHONE ties to CONTACTS ties to SMS on Android 9*
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/EvXtsP9radE>
--
Usenet allows purposefully helpful sharing of ideas for common benefit.

[Yousuf Khan]

On 5/2/2020 12:50 PM, 123456789 wrote:
> I'm using the Google Contacts app (by Google LLC Ver 3.21.3) on my phone
> and it does not have the problem you describe. I'm glad that you solved
> your problem but let me suggest that you download and try the Google
> Contact app (free in the Play Store) and perhaps it will save you the
> hassle of moving local contacts around...

Yeah, I don't know which specific manufacturer of Contacts I'm using
here. I guess it could be the Samsung version of Contacts, though there
is no app developer named here, just a version number (v10.2.30.1).
Since it's a Samsung phone, it could be from Samsung. I'm using a Galaxy
A8, running Android 9.

Yousuf Khan

[Joerg Lorenz]

Am 02.05.20 um 14:04 schrieb Carlos E.R.:

That is what I told the OP to do. Are you my echo?

[Joerg Lorenz]

Am 02.05.20 um 14:19 schrieb Yousuf Khan:

That was easy. You can only synchronise what you have in the cloud/on
the server.

[Arlen Holder]

In response to what Yousuf Khan <bbb...@spammenot.yahoo.com> wrote :

> Yeah, I don't know which specific manufacturer of Contacts I'm using
> here. I guess it could be the Samsung version of Contacts, though there
> is no app developer named here, just a version number (v10.2.30.1).
> Since it's a Samsung phone, it could be from Samsung. I'm using a Galaxy
> A8, running Android 9.

Hi Yousuf Khan,
You should never need to "guess"...

See this thread I wrote up for you just now to help you, me, and everyone
_not_ guess at the unique app package name (please improve with your info).

o *How do you find the unique app package real name on your Android device?*
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/4TcwyAcSPqM>

Using _that_ method, what unique name do you get for your "Contacts" app?
--
Android can pretty much do anything you ever wanted it to do!

[Yousuf Khan]

On 5/3/2020 10:52 AM, Arlen Holder wrote:
> Using _that_ method, what unique name do you get for your "Contacts" app?

Okay, just installed your app, and it says that the Contacts is from:

com.samsung.android.contacts

So it is the Samsung version of Contacts.

Yousuf Khan

[Arlen Holder]

In response to what Yousuf Khan <bbb...@spammenot.yahoo.com> wrote :

> com.samsung.android.contacts

Hi Yousuf Khan,

Thank you for letting us know your Contact app is from Samsung, named:
o com.samsung.android.contacts

Where, I think, the "official" Google Contacts app is named:
o com.google.android.contacts
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.contacts>

I think the OEMs like Samsung can do "anything" they want with their port
of the Google Contacts source code, where, for example, this web page
implies Android no longer has the dialer "attached" to "contacts"...
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.psencik.com.android.contacts>

But the OEMs (like Samsung) can add the dialer if they want to.
o Or anything else they want...

Also notice this is "said" by the developer to be the "true" Android
contacts app based on his use of the Android "true contacts" source code:
<http://www.psencik.cz/true-contacts>

Helping you actually helped me, by the way, as when I documented how to
find the unique name of the app, I noticed I had _more_ contacts apps
installed than I had tested previously!
<https://i.postimg.cc/bwJWKsws/contact19.jpg>

Notice that has an app called "com.simpler.contacts" that I forgot I had
o And it found a "com.simpler.dialer", which I also had forgotten about.
<https://i.postimg.cc/cLb12VZN/contact21.jpg>

I'll have to test these apps in addition to the other 'contacts' apps!
o Where the point is that contacts apps do whatever the developer wants.

In summary, you have the Samsung contacts app, which does whatever Samsung
wanted it to do (it's likely a port of the Google contacts app though).
--
Every Usenet thread should add on-topic technical tribal knowledge value.

[Carlos E.R.]

Sorry, I did not notice.


--
Cheers, Carlos.

[Joerg Lorenz]

Am 05.05.20 um 22:10 schrieb Carlos E.R.:

> On 03/05/2020 10.44, Joerg Lorenz wrote:
>> That is what I told the OP to do. Are you my echo?
>
> Sorry, I did not notice.

;-)