How to rename a contact in a Xiaomi phone

Changing the number owner or simply wanting to organize the call list often leads users to change the subscriber’s displayed name. In Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones, this process can have its own nuances, depending on the version of the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS. The standard editing procedure seems obvious, but the system often hides important save settings, which leads to duplicates or loss of changes.

The main difficulty is where exactly the information will be written: to the internal memory of the device, to the Google account or directly to the device. SIM-This choice will determine whether you see changes on other devices or after resetting. In this article, we will detail all the editing methods so that your contact list is always up to date and clean.

Before we start the massive renaming, we need to understand how the phonebook works in the Android ecosystem, which prioritizes cloud data, ignoring local records if they conflict, so managing data sources properly is key to avoiding future confusion. Below we will look at step-by-step algorithms for different use cases.

Editing through the standard Contacts app

The fastest way to change a subscriber's name is to use the built-in app, which is preinstalled on all smartphones of the brand. The interface may vary slightly depending on the regional firmware, but the logic of actions remains the same for all models. First open the Contacts app or go to the Phone section and select the tab with the address book.

Find the right entry in the list and click on it to open the subscriber card. In the upper right corner of the screen, there is usually an edit button represented by a pencil icon or three dots where you need to select the corresponding menu item. After clicking, a form will open where you can change not only the name, but also add a photo, an email address or assign a special ringtone.

It's important to pay attention to the field that indicates where the contact was saved. If you changed the name but didn't check the setting, the new record can be created separately from the old one, which will lead to duplication. The system will prompt you to save the changes, and after confirmation, the updated information will immediately appear in the general list.

  • πŸ“± Open the Contacts app and find the right subscriber.
  • ✏️ Click on the pencil icon to go into editing mode.
  • πŸ’Ύ Make changes to the name fields and check the save location.
  • βœ… Click Save or tick in the corner of the screen.

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It is worth noting that when editing through a standard application, changes are applied instantly. SIM-The system can create a copy of it in the phone's memory, leaving the original on the map unchanged.

Change of contact names saved on SIM-map

Working with contacts stored directly on a SIM chip has its own technical limitations. Unlike cloud records, SIM memory allows you to store only a number and a single name, often with a limited number of characters and encoding. To change such a record, you first need to copy it to the internal memory of the device.

Go to the contact application settings and select the control point SIM-You can see a list of all the numbers on the chip here, and if you choose the right contact, you can use the copy or move to your phone or Google account, and then you can edit the name in full using Russian letters and special characters.

⚠️ Note: Direct editing of names on SIM-The card is often unavailable or incorrect due to storage format limitations.Always copy the recording to the device's memory before changing.

Once copied, the original SIM card entry can be deleted to avoid confusion. The new contact in the phone's memory will allow the use of all the features of a modern address book, including the binding of messengers and social networks, especially for older SIM cards, which were used in button phones.

ParameterSIM-mapPhone Memory / Google
Symbolic limit14-20 signsNo restrictions.
Photo supportNo.There is.
Additional fieldsName and number onlyAddress, email, website
SynchronizationOnly when transferredAutomatic.
Why are SIM names displayed capsically?
Format of data storage SIM-maps (standard) GSM) Historically, it only supports capital letters of the Latin alphabet. When displaying Cyrillic, encoding artifacts can arise, so storing contacts in the Google cloud is the only reliable solution.

Synchronization and management through Google account

The most effective way to manage your contact book is to use Google Contacts, a cloud service that ensures that any changes you make to your Xiaomi smartphone will automatically affect your tablet, computer or new phone once you log in.

Go to the Settings menu, select Accounts and Sync, and click on your Google account. Make sure the switch opposite Contacts is activated. If you rename a contact directly in the Google interface via your browser, the changes will be pulled up on your phone the next time you connect to the Internet.

Using the cloud also makes it easy to recover lost data, so if you accidentally delete an important number or rename the wrong subscriber, Google stores the history of changes over the past 30 days, which allows you to roll back the address book to the right date without losing any other data.

πŸ“Š Where do you prefer to keep your contacts?
Nana SIM-map
In the memory of the phone
Google account
On a third-party service.

Always carefully check which address book is being changed so that the data does not β€œdissolve” in another profile. all contacts through the Google Contacts web interface are often more convenient than through a mobile application.

Removing duplicates and combining records

A common problem after changing phones or importing data is the appearance of duplicates. The same person can be listed twice: for example, "Ivan Work" and "Ivan Mobile." Android and the MIUI shell have built-in tools to combine these cards into one.

To do this, open the contact app and find the settings or contact management menu. Select the Repeat Combine or Contact Management function. The system automatically analyzes the list, finds matches by phone numbers and suggests combining them. In the process of combining, you can choose which name to keep the main one and which numbers to add as additional ones.

If the automatic linking doesn't work, you can do it manually. Open one of the duplicates, click the menu (three dots) and select Combine with another contact. Then select the second entry in the list, resulting in one card with all the numbers and the correct name, which will make it easier to find and identify the caller.

  • πŸ” Open the contact management menu in the application.
  • πŸ”„ Select the function of searching and combining duplicates.
  • πŸ‘€ Confirm the merger of cards with the same numbers.
  • βœ‚οΈ Manually delete the remaining incorrect records, if any.

Cleaning your contact list regularly not only improves visual perception, but also speeds up the phonebook search algorithm, which can have a positive impact on the speed of opening your contact app on devices with a large address book volume.

Setting up the display and sorting of the list

Once contacts are renamed, users may find that the order of sorting in the list seems counterintuitive, and in the contact app settings, you can choose to sort by name or surname, which is especially important for users who are used to different naming standards.

Go to the Contacts app settings (usually through a gear or menu). Find Contact Display or Sort. You can prioritize first to show your first name or first to show your last name. SIM-cards with contacts from the phone memory or hide them.

πŸ’‘

Use prefixes in the contact name (e.g., "A - Alex", "B - Boris") if you are uncomfortable with standard sorting by last name, which will allow you to group contacts manually at the beginning of the alphabet.

Another useful feature is visibility, which means you can hide contacts that don't have a phone number, or contacts from certain groups, so you don't clutter up the main list, and it doesn't remove them, it just hides them from the general view, leaving them available when you search.

Problems with encoding and special symbols

When renaming contacts from older devices or other operating systems, there may be problems with text display, and instead of letters, there may be question marks or crankshares, due to differences in UTF-8 encoding and outdated recording standards.

Most often, the problem is solved by re-saving the contact: open a "spoiled" record, change the name (even just add and remove the space), and save it again in the memory of the phone, not on the phone. SIM-The system will rewrite the data in the current encoding, and the text will become readable.

⚠️ Avoid using rare emojis or special symbols in contact names if you plan to pass business cards through the phone. SMS Or old protocols, which can cause the recipient's name to be incorrectly displayed.

If the problem is massive after importing from a vCard (.vcf) file, it is recommended to use intermediate synchronization via Google Contacts on your computer. The web interface is often better at fixing encoding errors when importing files than a mobile application.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why does the name of the caller not change after the caller is renamed?
This can happen if the contact is stored in local memory and the caller uses a number determination via Internet services (such as GetContact or Android built-in databases) that prioritize the local ledger.
Can I rename my contact if it is blocked?
Yes, locking a number does not affect the ability to edit his name in your phone book.You can change the name, add a comment or a photo even for contacts that are on the blacklist.
How to rename a contact group immediately?
With Android, you can't rename individual contacts massively, but you can rename the group itself, and that will change the name of the category, not the names within it. Massive name-replacement requires third-party contact editor apps.
Where do contacts go after resetting Xiaomi?
If the contacts were saved to a Google account or synced to Mi Cloud, they will be automatically restored after logging in, and if they were stored only in the phone’s memory and were not exported, they will be lost.
Why is the contact displayed as an "Unknown Number"?
This happens if the number is written in a different format (e.g., with eight and a +7 call) edit the contact and bring the format of the number to the international standard, adding the country code so that the system can match the record.