Changing a mobile device is often a source of stress, especially when it comes to keeping personal information. Xiaomi smartphone owners moving from button phones or other brands often wonder how to safely move a phone book.The standard copying procedure takes only a few minutes, but requires attention to detail to avoid duplication of entries.
Modern Redmi and Poco smartphones are based on the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS, which have their own logic for working with contacts. Simple copying to a SIM card was the only way in the past, but today it is considered an archaic method with limited functionality.
In this article, we will explore not only the basic algorithm of actions, but also the hidden nuances of the phone book in the Xiaomi ecosystem, you will learn why storing numbers in a phone memory or in the cloud is preferable to storing them on a plastic medium, and we will also look at how to recover data if something goes wrong.
Preparation of the SIM card and compatibility check
Before starting the procedure, make sure your SIM card is physically and software-ready for data transfer. Older Mini-SIM or Micro-SIM cards that have been used for years may have memory limitations. Usually only a name and one number are stored on a single cell, and long modern names can be trimmed.
⚠️ WARNING: If you insert an old SIM card into a new slot, make sure it's not damaged. scratches on the chip can cause a read error and the phone just won't see the saved numbers.
Plug the card into the slot of your Xiaomi device and wait for the network signal to appear. Go to the settings menu or open the standard Contacts app. The system should automatically detect the presence of records on the media. If this does not happen, it may be formatted in a file system that is not readable by the phone, or the data is corrupted.
It is important to understand the difference between storage formats. SIM card has strict limitations, while the internal memory of the smartphone allows you to keep photos, email addresses, addresses and social networks tied to a single contact, so the ultimate goal should always be to transfer data to the memory of the device or account.
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Before mass import, back up your SIM card via the SIM Card Management menu if your carrier model supports this feature via the SIM Card Management Menu. USSD-codes or special appendix.
Basic import through the standard Contacts app
The easiest and fastest way to recycle data is to use a built-in control tool. Open the Contacts app (often with a green icon with a human silhouette). In the upper right corner of the screen, find the menu button represented by three dots or horizontal bars.
In the list that opens, select "Import contacts" and the system will prompt you to select a data source. SIM-Once you have selected the source, the phone will suggest you to specify the destination: phone memory, Google account or Mi Account.
- 📱 Select Device Memory if you plan to back up immediately or don’t want to link data to the cloud.
- 🌐 Select Google Account to automatically sync with all Android devices.
- ☁️ Choose a Mi Account for deep integration with Xiaomi ecosystem services.
- 📂 Choose. VCF file if you want to save contacts as a file for manual forwarding.
Once you select the target folder, you start copying, you can see a progress indicator on the screen, you can stop the process, you can block the screen until the operation is complete, and if you have a lot of records, it can take anywhere from 10 seconds to several minutes.
☑️ Import checklist
Using System Settings for Data Migration
An alternative method is available through the global Android settings menu, which is convenient because it works at the system level and sometimes allows you to see more technical details of the process. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management or find the System Applications section.
Find Contacts or Phone in the list, and there's often an Import/Export item inside the app menu, which can be expanded from the quick menu, and you can see options for merging duplicates, which is very useful after you've moved data from the old card.
| Parameter | Description | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Source | SIM-card 1 SIM-map | Check both cards. |
| Appointment | Phone, Google, Mi Cloud | Choose a cloud. |
| Format | Internal or vCard | Internal for synchronization |
| Action. | Copy or Move | Copy (more secure) |
If you use a two-sim phone, Redmi or Poco, the system can request confirmation of which card to import from. Be careful when choosing to not miss the numbers from the second card.
What to do if the import is frozen?
Working with duplicates and combining records
A common problem with portability is the appearance of duplicates, which happens when some numbers have already been stored in the phone's memory and some have been added from the SIM card, and the MIUI shell has an intelligent algorithm built in to solve this problem.
Go to the Contacts app, click on the menu, and select Clean Duplicates or Combine Repeats. The system will analyze the database and suggest combining the records with the same phone numbers, which allows you to save all additional data, such as photos and addresses, in one card.
- 🔍 Automatic merger: the phone itself will offer to combine similar records.
- ✋ Manual editing: you can choose which name to leave the main.
- 🗑️ Removing Excessive: After Merger, Old Empty Records Can Be Deleted.
Don't ignore this stage, as a cluttered phone book makes it difficult to find the right subscriber, and combining records frees up space in cloud storage and improves the smart dial. After cleaning, make sure that the right avatars are attached to the main contacts.
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Regular cleaning of duplicates after importing data is a must-do step to maintain order in the phone book and the correct operation of smart dialing functions.
Synchronization with cloud services Xiaomi and Google
The current approach to contact storage is to avoid local storage on a device or SIM card. The most reliable way is to sync with the cloud. For Xiaomi users, it is Mi Cloud, and for all Android devices, Google Contacts.
To activate sync with Google, go to Settings → Accounts and Sync → Google. Make sure the switch opposite Contacts is activated. All data you just imported from the SIM card will now be uploaded to the Internet.
Similarly, Mi Account works. Go to Settings → Mi Account → Sync and turn on contacts. The advantage of cloud storage is that if you lose or break your phone, you can recover the entire book in a couple of seconds just by logging in to your account on a new device.
⚠️ Warning: Make sure you have a stable Wi-Fi connection before starting mass sync so you don’t waste mobile traffic, especially if you have hundreds of contacts with photos.
You can check the synchronization success by using your browser on your computer. Go to contacts.google.com or i.mi.com. If your numbers are displayed there, it means that the process was successful and your data is safe. It is much more reliable than storing on a plastic card, which is easy to lose.
Solving problems and mistakes in importation
Sometimes it can be a mess, and users may encounter an error message or see that no contacts have appeared, most often the problem is the encoding format of the names on the old SIM card or the incompatibility of the encoding.
If the names appear as a character set or "cracker," try changing the input language or encoding in the phone's settings, although modern versions of Android do so automatically. In rare cases, exporting contacts to a.vcf file through another phone and then importing that file to Xiaomi helps.
- ❌ Memory error: If your phone’s memory is full, make room before importing.
- 🔒 Access Rights: Check that the Contacts app is allowed access to memory and phone.
- 📉 Symbol Limit: Long SIM names can be cropped, this is normal for this storage format.
In difficult cases, when the phone doesn’t see contacts on the SIM card at all, try pasting the card into another, older phone, exporting the data there into a file, and transferring the file to a Xiaomi smartphone via Bluetooth or messenger.