How to Import and Export Contacts on Android Device

If you just purchased a new Android phone, you’re probably looking for ways to transfer your phone numbers from the old device to the new one. Fortunately, on Android it’s a pretty smooth process. Here we’re going to show you how you can get your contacts on your new device in no time.

Easily Transfer Your Contacts with Google

By default Google has a very good system in place that backs up your data automatically (not only your contacts, but also photos, videos, texts, and other data).

All this is done in background and the resulting file is linked to the Google account you’ve been using on your Android device. Now, if you go on to use the same Google account on your new phone, all this data will be relocated there fast and easy. Without you having to do anything, except logging in with your Google credentials.

All your data is stored in Google Drive, and the good news is that Google doesn’t count it towards your Drive’s storage quota (pictures are exempted from this rule, however).

Even if Google’s backup tool is on by default, you can still go ahead and check if the feature is working properly.

1. Open up the Settings app on your phone.

2. Scroll all the way down until you find System.

3. Hit Backup to see more details.

4. Make sure the “Back up to Google Drive” toggle is on and that the tool is backing up data connected to your primary Google account (or whichever other account you want).

5. You can also instruct the phone to make a new backup by pressing on the blue “Back up now” button.

Keep in mind that Google will back up your data once a day, and the Backup section will show you when the last backup was performed. If you’re not satisfied with that, you can go ahead and make a new one.

How to Save New Contacts to Your Google Account

Google usually does a great job at backing up your data, but if you want to make sure that new contacts are saved straight to your Google account it’s possible to do so manually. You will want to do this especially if you’re on Samsung device, which will automatically save your data to the Samsung account instead of Google.

1. Open the Phone app on your phone.

2. Press o the “+” button in the top right of the display.

3. Input the contact’s info, but before pressing Save look for the “Save to” option underneath “Create contact”.

4. Tap on the default “Device” option and select your main Google account.

This will ensure the new contact will be saved to your Google account of choice.

How to Manually Transfer Your Contacts from Android to Android

It’s possible to transfer your contacts manually to your new phone. You will have to create a .vcf file and then transfer it over to the device to get access to the data. Here’s how you can do so.

1. Get your old Android device and head over to the Contacts app.

2. Tap on the three-dot menu in the upper right corner of the display and select Settings from there.

3. Select “Import/export” from the Contacts Operations section.

4. Tap on “Export to .vcf file” to start the process.

5. Select where you want to place the backup. It can be in your internal storage (the Downloads folder, for example) or your Google Drive.

6. After you’ve made your selection, the creation of the .vcf file will finally begin.

Once the process is completed, you can go and check to see if the file is at the location you’ve indicated. If you’ve opted for your local storage, you’ll have to send the .vcf to your Gmail account, so that you can easily access it on your new device.

How to Import Contacts to Your New Phone

To manually import contacts to your new phone, you’ll first need to get the .vcf file on your device. If you’ve saved it to Google Drive that’s great, you can easily access it from there (provided you’ve signed up with the same Gmail account).

On the other hand, if you sent the .vcf file to your new device via email, go ahead and download the file on your new device. You should find it in the Downloads section on your phone (this might vary; on OnePlus devices you will have to access File Manager first). Then follow these steps:

1. Open the Contacts app on your phone.

2. Select the three-dot menu in the top right corner and hit “Settings”.

3. Tap on the “Import/Export” button.

4. Select “Import from .vcf file”.

5. Select where you want your contacts to be saved. The first option is on your Phone, but you can also select to have them added to your Google account.

6. Next, the phone will scan for any .vcf files on the device. It will then show a list of the available options. Select the correct .vcf file and then press OK. Your numbers will be loaded onto the new handset.

If you re-check the Contacts app on your new phone now, you should see it has been populated with all of the phone numbers you had on your older device.

That’s it! As you can see it’s very easy to transfer your contacts from one Android phone to the next. Regardless of what phone models you’re using, you should have no issue in moving your data safely.

If, on the other hand, you want to transfer contacts from an Android to iPhone, check out the dedicated guide right here. Alternatively, you might be interested to learn how to transfer files from your computer to your Android.