Changing your smartphone, especially from one ecosystem to another, such as Samsung to Xiaomi, is always accompanied by a worry about the safety of personal data. The most valuable information for any user is the phone book, the loss of which can be a real disaster. Fortunately, modern Android operating systems provide many tools for fast and secure data migration without losing a single record.
In this article, we will take a look at all the current methods of transferring the phone book, from cloud services to local utilities, learn how to use the built-in Mi Mover application, which greatly simplifies the process, and also consider the classic methods through a Google account and the Internet. SIM-map.
We will focus not only on successful copying, but also on possible errors that may occur in the process, and understanding the nuances of synchronization will help you avoid duplication of records and loss of important numbers when changing devices.
Preparation of devices before the migration
Before you start directly copying data, you need to properly prepare both smartphones. Charge both devices to a minimum of 60-70%, as active data transfer can quickly consume battery power. Also make sure that both phones are connected to a stable Wi-Fi network if you plan to use cloud methods or transmission over a local network.
On a Samsung device, check where your contacts are stored. This is critical because it's the transfer method that you choose. Open the Contacts app, go to the settings, and see where the numbers are stored. SIM-Map, phone memory or synced with Google account.
⚠️ Note: If the contacts are only stored in the internal memory of the old phone without being linked to the cloud, a simple repositioning is possible. SIM-The map will not be enough to save them.
On Xiaomi’s new smartphone (which runs on MIUI or HyperOS shell), make sure you’ve already completed the initial setup and signed in to your Mi Account or Google account. Having internet on both devices will speed up the process of checking app versions and logging in to services.
Using the Mi Mover app for full portability
The most efficient and quickest way to deliver the experience to Xiaomi users is the Mi Mover app, which allows you to transfer not only contacts, but also photos, apps, system settings and even the location of icons on the desktop, which is ideal because it does not require a computer connection or Internet connection to transfer the files themselves (Wi-Fi Direct is used).
The process starts with installing the app on both smartphones. On newer Redmi and Poco models, it is often preinstalled in the Tools folder. On a Samsung device, you will need to download the Mi Mover from the Google Play Store. Once installed, run the app on both devices.
☑️ Preparation for work with Mi Mover
On the old Samsung phone, select the role "Sender" (Sender), and on the new Xiaomi - "Receiver". QR-pairing code. Scan the code with the old phone's camera or connect to the Wi-Fi network you've created. Once connected, you'll see a list of data categories to transmit.
Select Contacts. You can deselect everything else if you only need numbers, or you can leave everything to fully clone the system. Press Send and wait for the process to be completed. The speed depends on the amount of data, but the contacts are usually copied in seconds.
💡
Mi Mover uses direct Wi-Fi connection between devices, so the transfer speed is independent of your home internet speed and traffic is not consumed.
Once completed, a successful import report will appear on the screen of the new smartphone, and the system will automatically prompt you to combine duplicates, if any, which is a convenient feature for cleaning the phone book.
Synchronization through Google account
If you’ve been using Android on a Samsung device, chances are your contacts are already saved in the Google cloud, which is the most reliable way to do it in the background and doesn’t require manual intervention every time you change your phone, and the main condition is that you have the same Google account on both devices.
First, check your old phone. Go to Settings → Accounts → Google. Make sure the switch opposite Contacts is active. If it's turned off, turn it on and press Sync. This action will send all local numbers to the cloud.
Now, to set up the new Xiaomi. When you first turn on, you enter your Google account. If the phone is already set up, add an account through Settings → Accounts and Sync → Add an account → Google. After entering your login and password, the system will ask what data you need to sync.
- ✅ Make sure the contact slider is green.
- ✅ Click "Sync" or wait for automatic updates.
- ✅ Open the Contacts app on your new phone and pull the list down for an update.
It's important to understand the difference between local storage and cloud storage. If you save a new number to a Xiaomi phone but the sync is turned off, if you reset or lose your phone, you lose that contact. So always keep the sync on.
⚠️ Attention: When synced through Google, old contacts may temporarily disappear from view while the download process is underway.Don't panic or create duplicates, just wait a few minutes.
What to do if contacts do not appear?
Transfer through SIM-map: classical method
The SIM-transfer method is considered outdated, but it remains the only viable option if you don’t have access to the Internet or Google accounts, but there are significant limitations to this method that you should be aware of in advance.
On a Samsung device, open the Contacts app, click on the menu (three dots or lines) and select Contact Management or Import/Export Contacts. SIM-The system will warn that some data may be lost.
Really, SIM-The card has very limited memory and recording structure, and it usually only retains a name and a single phone number, and all the additional fields, such as email, address, photo, second number and ringtone, will be permanently deleted.
| Parameter | Google Account | Mi Mover | SIM-map |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photo preservation | Yes. | Yes. | No. |
| Several rooms. | Yes. | Yes. | No (usually 1) |
| Length of name | No restrictions. | No restrictions. | Limited (10-15 SIMV) |
| Internet is required | Yes. | No (Wi-Fi Direct) | No. |
After exporting to Samsung, extract SIM-Map and paste it into Xiaomi. Go to contacts on your new phone, select the import menu and specify the source"SIM-Select destination "Phone" or "Google account" (preferably immediately to the account, so as not to lose data again).
Import and export via vCard (.vcf)
The universal format for contact transfer is the.vcf (vCard) file, which is good because it creates a physical file that can be transferred in any convenient way: via Bluetooth, messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp), mail or USB-cable.
On Samsung, go to Contact Management and select "Import/Export Contacts." Click "Export" and select "Device Memory" or "Internal Storage." The system will create a file with a name like "Device Memory" Contacts_02052026.vcf.
Now you have to send this file to Xiaomi, and the easiest way to send it to your own messenger or to send it over Bluetooth, and on the new phone, just open the file you get, and the system automatically recognizes the format and suggests that you import the records you find.
When you import, it will ask where to save your contacts, and you can choose your Google account over your phone's memory, so that in the future, any change in your device will automatically restore your contacts, which is the most reliable archiving option.
If there are multiple files or they are very large, the process may take some time.Do not interrupt the import and do not switch between applications to avoid corruption of the contact database.
Solution: duplicates and missing numbers
After transferring data, users often face the problem of duplication of records, which occurs when the same contact is maintained and on the Internet. SIM-It's in the card, in the phone's memory, in the Google account. Xiaomi has a built-in tool to solve this problem.
Open the Contacts app, click on a profile or three dots in the corner, and find Merge duplicates, and the system will analyze the database, find matches by number or name, and suggest combining them into one card, which is secure and does not delete the data, but only structures it.
Another common problem is that contacts are in your account, but they don't show up in the list. Go to the contact display settings. Make sure you check the "All contacts" box or the specific account you want to check out. Sometimes the default filter is "Only with a phone number," which hides the entries without a number.
💡
Regularly back up contacts to the file.vcf and save it to your computer or in the cloud, independent of your phone (for example, Yandex.Disk or Dropbox), in case of blocking your Google account.
If you're faced with names written in characters or incomprehensible characters, that's an export encoding problem, and then you'd better use Google Synchronization, which automatically converts the encoding to UTF-8, which is understandable to all modern devices.