Gaining numerous contacts and building up a strong network of friends is really a laborious process. But a single step of resetting your device can erase out all of your valuable contacts! Just thinking about regaining all that you have lost is a nightmare. This reset may be caused by anything – you may have bought a new device, and want to restore all your contacts again. You may have even reset your device to factory settings – there are even cases where people accidentally reset their phone! So, something has happened, your device was reset, and you lost all your contacts. Whatever may be the reason, what should you do to get all your contacts? Well, that’s what we are here for. We will help you restore your contacts after a reset. Just keep reading and we will walk you through the entire process.
Case 1 – Restore Contacts After Reset With a Backup
Using a backup file to restore all your contacts is the best possible way to recover them. It is both simple and highly reliable. So, do you have a scheduled backup enabled? This backup file may be of any kind – Google Backup (through Google Drive), Personal Cloud backup, or anything else. If you have it enabled, then consider your problem solved. However, this applies only if you have a backup file before resetting your device. Let us first discuss getting back contacts from your Google Backup, and then about using other forms of backup.
Method 1 – Using a Google Backup to Restore Contacts After Reset (Android Only)
Almost everyone would have enabled a Google Backup on their Android smartphone. For contacts, enabling a backup is not even necessary. You just need to sign in to your Google account on your Android device. Recall whether you have previously signed in to your Google account on your Android device. If yes, all your contacts are probably synced to your account already. Here is what you have to do to restore your contacts from your Google account –
Restore Contacts From Google Contacts Application
- Open the Google Contacts App.
- Click on Settings on the top right corner (denoted by the gear icon).
- From the list of options, click on Undo Changes.
- Select the timeframe from which your contacts were deleted. (You can recover contacts upto 30 days after you delete them)
That’s it. All the contacts that you deleted in the past time will appear again in your Google account. If it is more than 30 days since you deleted your account, or if you are not using Google contacts, then you can use your normal Google backup to recover contacts. Refer to the next method to know how to do it –
Restore Contacts From Google Backup
- Open the Settings application of your Android device.
- Find and move to Google. Then select Services.
- From the options listed there, click on Restore Contacts.
- Now, you need to select the backup that you want to restore. If you are using multiple Google accounts, choose the account whose contacts you want to recover.
- After this, select the location of your device to copy all those restored contacts.
- Finally, click on Restore.
This process will take a little time. Once everything is over, you will receive a message, “Contacts Restored”. Now, you would have gained all your contacts back to your device.
Method 2 – Using a Samsung Cloud to Restore Contacts After Reset (Samsung Devices Only)
All Samsung devices provide an option to store all your device to a personal cloud system called the Samsung Cloud. Using this cloud data, you can easily recover all your contacts in no time. So, if you have enabled a Samsung Cloud backup on your device, then this is how you can recover your contacts –
- Go to your Device Settings.
- Open Account and Backup.
- Now, click on Accounts and Backup, Cloud and Account, or Samsung Cloud (depends upon the type of device that you are using).
- Once inside, click on Backup and Restore.
- Now, click on Restore Data.
- Select the Contacts that you want to restore and click on Restore Now.
- After this, you may be needed to do a few confirmation clicks.
That’s it. You will now regain all your contacts from your Samsung Cloud. The process is similar to any other backup file you use. Just go to the service, choose the file that you want to recover, and click on restore.
Case 2 – Restore Contacts After Reset Without a Backup
If you do not have a backup enabled, or if you have a faulty backup, then this case is right for you. Though it is possible to recover your contacts without a backup, it is always advised to enable a scheduled data backup if you are working with valuable data, and wish to never lose your data. There are two methods under this category. Let us discuss them one by one –
Method 1 – Using Third-Party Data Recovery Software to Restore Contacts
Now that you haven’t enabled any backup, or you are possessing a faulty backup file, your next option is to make use of third-party data recovery solutions. These are software, either free or paid, which aid in recovering data that you have lost. Usually, when you lose data, they don’t get completely erased from your device. Instead, they are hidden in some other format within your device. These data recovery software programs scan your device for such files and make them recoverable. So all you need to do is to install a suitable software, make it scan the source folder, choose the files that you want to recover, and hit restore.
However, this method comes with a problem – there are thousands of such programs available on the internet. Some of them are really worthy, while some of them are just out there to steal your data. Some of them are efficient and cost very little (sometimes free), while some others demand a huge sum of the money, and fail to recover all your data. So, which software should you choose? You are trusting this with your personal data! Just to help you out, we have listed out some of the Best Data Recovery Software for Android, and the Best Data Recovery Software for iOS. We have discussed everything about them here. Go through it, select the one which suits you the most, and start restoring your contacts!
Method 2 – Using Professional Data Recovery Services
When things go out of your hands, there is nothing you can do on your own. If this is the case, then there is another option – seeking help from professionals. There are several reputed data recovery services around the world. These organizations have hired professionals, who offer to recover all your lost, deleted, erased, or damaged data. You can thus contact any of these services and ask them to restore your contacts. However, you can go with this method if your data is extremely valuable. This is because these professionals demand some money for their service (However, they usually demand money only if they are successful in recovering your data). So, if you consider your data to be extremely important, then you can go for it without any doubt. Just make sure that you select the best service available.
