Xiaomi smartphone owners often face the need to clean up their phone book completely, whether it’s because they’re selling the device, switching to a new model, or simply wanting to clean up the digital space. MIUI and HyperOS offer several effective ways to do this, but standard methods aren’t always obvious to the average user.
There is a misconception that to delete all records, you have to erase them one at a time, which takes hours with a lot of data. In fact, the process can take only a few minutes if you use the right synchronization tools or export-import system functions. In this article, we will look at all the available methods, from cloud services to manual management through system settings.
Before you start taking any radical action, you need to understand where your data is stored. SIM-This choice will determine which cleaning method will be the most effective and secure for your data in the future.
Use of the Google Contacts web interface
The fastest and most reliable way to clean a phone book is to use the desktop version of Google Contacts, which is ideal if your numbers are synced to your Gmail account, which is enabled by default on most Xiaomi devices. You don't need to delete anything on the phone itself, all changes will apply automatically after sync.
To start, go to the contact site via your browser on your computer or in full mode on your smartphone. On the left menu, you will see a list of all saved numbers. To delete them all at once, click on the checkbox icon in the upper left corner of the contact list. This action will highlight the first page, but to select all entries, you need to click on the "Select all contacts" that appears.
⚠️ Note: After deleting all Google records, they are placed in a 30 day shopping cart, which gives you a window of opportunity to recover data if the cleanup was accidental.
Once all the entries have been highlighted, click on the Recycle Bin icon or select Delete from the top menu. The system will request confirmation of the operation. Once you confirm the action, the data will be marked for deletion. On your Xiaomi, the changes will take effect after the next synchronization, which usually occurs instantly with the Internet.
If automatic sync doesn't work, you can manually speed it. Go to Settings → Accounts and Sync → Google and click Sync. This ensures that the phonebook on the device becomes a mirror image of cleaned cloud storage.
Cleaning through the Mi Cloud app
For users who are actively using the Xiaomi ecosystem, the native Mi Cloud is a handy data management tool, especially if you are not using Google services or want to clear data specific to your Mi Account. The web-based cloud interface allows you to manage contacts in a similar way to Google.
Go to the official Mi Cloud website and log in to your Mi Account. From the main menu, select the Contacts icon. You will see a list of all the numbers associated with your account. As with Google, you can select one entry and then use the "Select All" feature for mass action.
After selecting all records, click the delete button. The system may require re-entering the password or security confirmation code. This is the standard procedure for protecting against unauthorized access to personal information.
- 📱 Open your browser and go to i.mi.com.
- 🔑 Enter the username and password from your Mi Account.
- 🗑️ Select the Contacts section and click “Select All”, then “Delete».
- 🔄 Wait for synchronization on your smartphone.
It is important to note that deleting via Mi Cloud will only affect contacts that have been synced to this service. If some numbers are stored locally or in Google, they will remain intact, so before starting the procedure, it is recommended to check the source of saving contacts in the phone settings.
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Before cleaning completely, always back up in.vcf. This is a file that contains all your numbers and can be easily restored at any time.
Remove contacts through phone settings
If you don’t have access to the Internet or prefer to work directly with the device, you can use the built-in features of the MIUI phone book. This method requires a little more attention, since the interfaces of different versions of the firmware may differ, but the general principle remains the same.
Open the standard Contacts or Phone app and go to the tab with the list of numbers. The top right corner often has a three-dot menu or a "More" button. Click on it and find "Contact Management" or "Contact Management," and that's where the bulk editing functions are hidden.
From the control menu, select the option “Delete contacts” and the system will prompt you to select the source: “All contacts”, “Phone only” or «SIM-Select "All contacts" to cover the maximum number of records, then a list will appear where you need to tick "Select all».
| Action. | The way is on the menu | The result |
|---|---|---|
| Choice of all. | Contacts → Management → Choose all. | Allocation of all visible records |
| Removal | Menus. → Delete → Confirm | Removal to the cart or complete removal |
| Cleaning up the SIM | Settings → SIM-map → Contacts | Removal of SIM numbers only |
| Recovery | Contacts → Basket | Return of deleted within 30 days |
Once the deletion is confirmed, the data may not disappear instantly if sync is enabled, in which case the phone book may again be filled with numbers from the cloud, and to avoid this, it is recommended that the sync in account settings be disabled before deleting through the phone settings.
☑️ Pre-deletion check
Working with contacts on SIM-map
Contacts stored on SIM-These are managed separately from cloud and phone records, and this is the old storage method that many users still use when changing devices, and you can delete them massively through the standard Android settings menu.
Go to Settings. → Annexes → Show system processes (if necessary) and find the Contacts app SIM-But the simpler way is through the standard Phone app. Click three dots in the corner, select Settings, and find the section associated with the phone. SIM-card or import/export.
In the control menu SIM-The card often has the option to "Delete all contacts with the SIM». If there is no such option, you can use a trick: copy contacts with the SIM On your phone, clear the phone book in the cloud (as described above), and then copy the contacts from your phone to your phone again. SIM, You've cleaned it beforehand, but the easiest way to use the "Delete Everything" feature on the menu is to use it. SIM-management.
⚠️ Attention: Contacts to SIM-The card has a limit on the length of the name and the number of characters in the number. SIM Some of the information (e.g., second number or email) may be permanently lost.
If you just need to hide the numbers from the SIM, rather than delete them, you can change the display settings. In the Contacts app, click on the display settings and uncheck the box from the item «SIM-This won't delete the data, but it will remove it from the general list, which can be convenient for temporary sorting.
Resetting your phone as a radical method
When it comes to selling a device or transferring it to another person, simply removing contacts may not be enough, and in such cases a complete factory reset is recommended, which will delete not only the phone book, but all applications, photos, videos and personal data.
To perform the reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Reset. Select “Erase All Data.” The system will warn you that all data will be destroyed. This method ensures that the new owner will not be able to restore your contacts even with special software.
Before resetting, be sure to remove SIM-microSD card and memory card if used. Also make sure you remember the password from your Mi Account and Google Account, as after the reset, the device will request this data to confirm ownership (protection against theft).
- 🔒 Go to Settings. → The phone.
- 🗑️ Select "Resetting settings» → «Erase all data».
- 📝 Enter the screen lock password to confirm.
- ⏳ Wait for the reboot and initial setup.
Once the process is complete, the phone will look like you just took it out of the box, and this is the safest way to ensure that your data is completely private when you change handsets.
What to do if your phone is blocked by Mi Account?
Recovery of remote contacts
Often, after a mass cleanup, it turns out that important numbers that were not stored in the cloud have been deleted, and fortunately, modern systems allow data recovery if it has not been too long since it was deleted.
The Contacts app on Xiaomi has a built-in Recycle Bin, so to get into it, open the contact management menu and find the appropriate item, it stores deleted records for 30 days, you can select specific numbers or restore everything at once.
If your contacts have been synced with Google but removed from your phone cart, you can use the Unchange feature on Google Contacts. In the web interface, click on the gear icon (Settings) and select Cancel Changes, and you can roll back the status of your phone book by 10 minutes, 1 hour, yesterday or even a week.
⚠️ Note: Google Contacts rollback affects the entire list at once. You will not be able to select individual numbers to recover using this option, the state of the entire database will return at the selected time point.
To recover from the Mi Cloud backup, go to the cloud site, select Data Recovery, and specify the date you want to roll back, which will not only return contacts, but also other data if they were included in the backup.
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Regular cloud sync is the only reliable way to ensure that contacts are restored in the event of accidental deletion or device loss.