How to completely clean contacts on Xiaomi: from duplicates to reset to factory settings

The phone book on Xiaomi smartphones eventually turns into chaos: duplicate records, outdated numbers, contacts from messengers and social networks that have long been out of use, which not only complicates finding the right subscriber, but also slows down the system, taking up precious memory, especially for devices with limited storage capacity, such as the Redmi 9A or POCO M3, where every megabyte is on the account.

In this article, we’ll look at all the ways to clean contacts, from manually deleting unnecessary records to completely resetting your phone book through MIUI. You’ll learn how to get rid of duplicates, clear the Contacts app cache, disable sync with unnecessary accounts, and even restore deleted numbers if something goes wrong. And for Android 12+ device owners, we’ve prepared separate guidelines, taking into account changes in Google’s policy.

Why Xiaomi contacts get clogged and how it affects the phone

The main reason for filling a phone book with garbage is automatic synchronization with different services. By default, MIUI pulls up contacts from:

• 📱 Google Account (including numbers from Gmail, Hangouts and other services)
• 💬 Messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber – if you allow access)
• 👥 Social media (Facebook, VK, Instagram via MIUI Contacts)
• 📧 Corporate Accounts (if Exchange or Outlook is connected)

As a result, the list of contacts appears:

• 🔄 Duplicates – the same number is saved several times (e.g. from Google and SIM- maps)
• 👻 Dead contacts are numbers with no names or with irrelevant data.
• 📱 Service records – technical numbers from operators or applications
• 🗑️ Cached data – temporary files that take up to 50–100 MB of memory

⚠️ Warning: If you notice that the phone book slows down when scrolling or searching, the problem may be not only the number of contacts, but also the damaged database, in which case only a complete reset or reinstallation of the Contacts app will help.

How does this affect the smartphone?

Method 1: Manual removal of unnecessary contacts

The most obvious, but also the most time-consuming, method is to manually delete records one by one, and it's good if you have 200 to 300 contacts or less and you know exactly what numbers to leave.

How to remove contact on Xiaomi:

1. Open the Contacts app (a icon with a person's silhouette).
2. Find an unnecessary entry through search or scrolling.
3. Press the contact, then tap on three points (⋮) top-right.
4. Select Delete → Confirm the action.

To speed up the process, use packet removal:

1. In the Contacts app, click on the three lines (☰) in the upper left corner.
2. Select Contact Management → Delete contacts.
3. Check the boxes for unnecessary entries (you can sort by group).
4. Click Delete at the bottom of the screen.

⚠️ Warning: When you manually delete contacts, they disappear only from the device. If they are synced with Google or Mi Account, the records will remain in the cloud and return the next update. To delete them completely, clean the contacts in the web version of the account.

Make a backup copy of contacts|Disable synchronization with clouds|Check the groups (e.g. "WhatsApp")|Remove duplicates first.-->

Method 2: Removing Duplicate Contacts

Duplicates are the most common problem. They occur when:

• 🔄 Sync with multiple accounts (e.g. Google + Mi Account)
• 📱 Import contacts from SIM- card or old phone
• 🤖 Automatically combine records in MIUI (sometimes not working correctly)

To find and remove duplicates, use the built-in function:

1. Open Contacts. → press three points (⋮) → Contact management.
2. Choose Find and combine duplicates.
3. MIUI will scan the phone book and show you a list of possible take-offs.
4. Opposite each pair will be a Combine button – press it to merge the records.

If the built-in tool failed, try third-party apps:

• 🛠️ Contacts Optimizer – Finds duplicates by number, name and email.

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Before using third-party contact cleaning apps, disable autosynchronization in your Google account settings.This will prevent duplicates from being restored after deleting.

Method 3: Clearing the cache and data of the Contacts application

If the phone book is slowing down but the number of contacts is small, the problem may be a contaminated cache.The Contacts app (or com.android.contacts) accumulates temporary files that slow it down over time.

How to clear the cache:

1. Find Contacts (or Contacts and Calls on newer versions of MIUI).

If the contacts are gone after cleaning the cache, don't panic! They're not deleted, just the app needs time to re-index. Reboot the phone and wait 5-10 minutes.

⚠️ Warning: Some Xiaomi models (e.g. Redmi Note 10 Pro) may need to reset sync with Google after clearing the Contacts app data. Check in advance if the backup is enabled in the cloud!

Method 4: Disabling sync with unnecessary accounts

By default, MIUI syncs contacts to all connected accounts, which leads to duplication and cluttering of the phone book, to disable unnecessary sources:

For the Google account:

1. Go to Settings → Accounts and Synchronization.
2. Select your Google account.
3. Turn off the slider opposite Contact.
4. Click Delete Data to erase already uploaded contacts.

For Mi Account:

1. In the same account settings, select Xiaomi Account.
2. Turn off contact sync.
3. If necessary, delete the stored data through Clear.

For social networks and messengers:

• 📌 WhatsApp: Settings → Account → Contact Sync → Disable.
• 📌 VK: In the application settings, disable access to contacts.
• 📌 Telegram: Contact sync can be turned off in Settings → Privacy → Contacts.

Method 5: Complete contact reset (including cloud copies)

If the phone book is completely littered and previous methods have failed, the radical way is to completely reset contacts on the device and in the cloud, which will delete all records, including those synchronized with Google and Mi Account.

How to reset contacts completely:

1. Backup (required!): Open Contacts → Settings (⋮) → Import/Export. Select Export to your device and save the.vcf file to your phone memory or to your SD- card.
2. Delete contacts from the cloud: For Google: go to contacts.google.com, highlight all contacts and click Delete. For Mi Account: in the Xiaomi account settings, find the Sync section and clear the data.

Clear contacts on the device

• In the Contacts app, select Contact Management → Delete all contacts.
• Confirm the action (a password may be required).
• Reboot your phone and make sure your contacts are gone.

After discharge, you may:

• 🔄 Restore contacts from a backup (.vcf file).
• 📥 Import only the required records from the cloud (e.g., only work contacts from Google).
• 🚫 Set up selective synchronization to avoid repeated cluttering.

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A complete reset is the only way to get rid of the "unremovable" records that remain even after manual cleaning. But without a backup, you risk losing important numbers forever!

Additional tips: how to maintain contacts in order

To prevent a phone book from becoming a landfill, follow the following simple rules:

• 📅 Regular cleaning: Check contacts for duplicates and outdated numbers every 3-6 months.
• 🔒 Sync Control: Leave only one account (e.g. Google) enabled and disable the others.
• 📱 Use Groups: Separate contacts into categories ("Work," "Family," "Friends") for easy management.
• 🔄 Automatic backup: set up weekly backup in Settings → System → Backup.
• 🚫 Restrict application access: In the privacy settings, disable access to contacts for unnecessary programs.

For advanced users:

• 🛠️ Use Tasker to automatically clean your Contact Cache on schedule.

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If you frequently communicate with foreign contacts, you can enable name transliteration (e.g., Ivan → Ivan) in MIUI settings, which will help avoid duplicates when synchronizing with foreign services.

FAQ: Frequent questions about cleaning contacts on Xiaomi