I don’t have a google account and don’t want one and really prefer to not upload my contacts to someone else’s server as a matter of principle. I have a personal nextcloud server so could use that if it helps, but it’s not clear that it does.
I tried exporting the old contacts as a .vcf file and importing the .vcf to the new phone, and that MOSTLY worked, but it seems to have lost the labels on the phone numbers. E.g. my entry for XYZ Bank had separate phone numbers for payments, credit card, and so on. Those got transferred to the new phone as home, mobile, work. I.e. .vcf doesn’t seem to handle custom labels.
Is there some kind of workaround? The vcf scheme seems like about the best, except for the issue of losing the contact labels.
To complicate matters a bit, I’ve been using the new phone for a couple weeks now, so I have added or edited some contacts on it. That means if I do another transfer, I’d prefer to not wipe out the contacts database on the new phone, though if that is unavoidable I guess I can survive.
Old phone is Android 7 and new phone is Android 13 if that matters. I haven’t examined the .vcf file in an editor but I guess I should try that.
Thanks for any advice.
Have you tried this app?
https://www.f-droid.org/packages/com.github.tmo1.sms_ie/
I think it exports contacts in a .json file (it can also export sms and call logs).
No I haven’t. It sounds promising! I will check it. Thanks!
Added: meh, it is able to export my calls logs and messages, but crashes about 3/4 of the way through exporting contacts. It seems to consitently crash at the same place, so I suspect there is a particular contact making it barf. I’ll see if I can narrow it down further. This is at least a step in the right direction.
At least Samsung phones support migration via USB cable using their Smart Switch app. Not sure about others.
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.simplemobiletools.contacts.pro/ should also work
I’m guessing it’s contacts as in phone numbers so sim card save them all there and move it to the new phone
Yeah it might be that, though I thought sim card contact save had some pretty severe capacity limitations. Anyway the vcf transferred the names and phone numbers, but not the descriptions of the phone numbers, which were important. I’ll see if I can get the SMS export program to stop crashing.
It’s annoying that afaict, no mobile phone contacts app has been nearly as good as the HP 100LX PDA app from the 1990s. Meh.
Open the Contacts app -> Fix & Manage -> Export to file
I think that does the VCF file as the OP mentioned.
Thanks, yes, that is what I did, exported to .vcf (the only choice), and it lost all the contact labels. I’ve edited the initial post to add info about the phone versions.
I have personally had the most luck with SMS Backup Pro. I know it’s on the Play Store and paid, but after having lots of issues with Fdroid apps that supposedly did similar things as well as the OEM phone transfer apps failing it just worked.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.riteshsahu.SMSBackupRestorePro
I don’t know if this will keep the labels, but you can try to sync your contacts via DAVx5 to your nextcloud instance. Use https://f-droid.org/packages/at.bitfire.davdroid on both phones, this app syncs calendars, contacts and notes. In the setup it should be enough to login via URL and credentials. If you run into problems with this setup, let me know, I can try to assist you :)
Once you got that set up, it is a neat way to keep your contacts backed up and synced with other devices like a PC. If you want to dive further into the syncing without relying on Nextcloud, I recommend Baikal.
Good luck!
.vcf can handle custom labels. It’s the apps that are the problem. Either the one that does the export doesn’t do it right, or the one that does the import.
If all else fails try using MyBackup Pro, it’s what I use to transfer contacts and SMS when I switch phones.
Thanks, I’m using the standard google contacts app for both import and export, but I will try to examine the exported vcf. Any idea what files contacts are actually stored in? I’ll look for some backup programs on fdroid but MyBackup Pro sounds like a Google Play app and I don’t want a google account (or more broadly, to install anything non-FOSS on the phone, though I’m for now holding my nose and using a few of the preinstalled Google apps). That is interesting about vcf handling the custom labels.
Just nextcloud will do. Get Davx5 from f-droid and give it a long term login (on NC settings > security). It’ll sync contacts, calendar events, tasks, etc on its own
The android NC client will backup contacts and calendar to hidden files on Nextcloud. Go into the app settings.
