How to Transfer All Contacts from One Xiaomi Smartphone to Another: A Complete Guide to 2026

Why Xiaomi’s standard contact copy methods don’t always work

Shifting contacts between Xiaomi smartphones (including the Redmi and POCO lines) seems like a simple task — as long as you don’t face the typical problems of duplicate recordings, loss of contact photos or incomplete synchronization, the fact is that MIUI uses its own contact management system, which does not always correctly interact with universal solutions like Google Contacts or vCard.

For example, when transmitting via Bluetooth, the fields “Additional phone” or “email address” are often lost, and synchronization via Mi Account can freeze if the background processes for the Contacts application are disabled on the old device. In this article, we will discuss 5 working methods taking into account the nuances of the MIUI 14/15 firmware and the features of new models (for example, Xiaomi 14 Ultra or Redmi Note 13 Pro+).

Important: If you’re using POCO F6 or other devices with a pure Android (without a MIUI shell), some of the methods will be different – we’ll talk about this separately in the relevant sections.

Method 1: Sync through Mi Account (the fastest way for Xiaomi)

This is a good way to do it if both phones are MIUI-powered and you have a Xiaomi account (Mi Account), and the main advantage is that you automatically update your contacts when you add new entries to either device.

1. On an old phone: 📱 Open the Settings. → Accounts. → Mi Account 🔄 Make sure the Contact Sync switch is active (green) 🔍 Check that there is a contact item in the synchronized data list

On the new phone:

• 📱 Sign in to the same Mi Account via Settings → Accounts.
• 🔄 Enable contact synchronization (reboot may be required)
• ⏳ Wait 5-10 minutes for contacts to appear automatically

⚠️ Note: If no contact appears, check:

• 📶 Both phones have mobile internet or Wi-Fi enabled.
• 🔋 Battery level above 20% (background processes can be turned off when low charge is used)
• 🛠️ B Settings → Permits → Auto-Run for Contacts Application Auto-Run

The same Mi Account on both phones|Contact synchronization enabled|Stable Internet connection|Adequate battery charge-->

If contacts are duplicated after synchronization, use the built-in merging function:

1. Open the Contacts app
2. Press. ⋮ (three-point) → Contact management → Connecting contacts
3. Select duplicates and click Unite

Method 2: Export/import via VCF (Universal Method)

The.vcf (or vCard) file is the standard contact storage format that all smartphones, including Xiaomi, Samsung and iPhone, support, and is suitable if you are migrating contacts to a different brand or want to back up.

Instructions for MIUI:

1. Exports on an old phone: 📱 Open Contacts. → ⋮ → Contact management → Import/Export of contacts 📤 Select Export to File (can be called Export to Storage") 📁 Specify a folder to save (for example, Downloads) and confirm
2. Transfer the file to a new phone: 📎 Connect both phones to your PC and copy the contacts.vcf file (or similar file) 📲 Or send the file via Bluetooth, Telegram or Mi Share

Import on the new phone:

• 📱 Open Contacts. → ⋮ → Contact management → Imports/Exports
• 📥 Select Import from the device and specify the.vcf file

⚠️ Note: If photos of contacts are missing during import, check:

• 🖼️ In the export settings, the vCard 3.0 format was selected (supports photo)
• 📸 Photos saved in the Google Contacts cloud or MI Cloud (can be downloaded separately)

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If the VCF file does not open on the new phone, rename it to contacts.vcf (without spaces and Cyrillic) and repeat the import.

Method 3: Sync through Google Account (Reliable but Slow)

It's universal and works on any Android device, including Xiaomi, and the main advantage is that contacts are automatically backed up in the Google cloud and accessible from any device, but sync can take up to an hour if contacts are more than 1,000.

Step-by-step:

1. On an old phone: 📱 Go to Settings. → Accounts. → Google 🔄 Enable synchronization for Contact (if disabled) 🔍 Make sure that in the settings → Annexes → Contacts → Storage selected by Google (not Device or Mi Account)

On the new phone:

• 📱 Add the same Google Account to Settings → Accounts.
• 🔄 Turn on contact synchronization
• ⏳ Wait (you can speed up the process by opening the Contacts app)

If the contacts are not synchronized:

• 🔄 Reboot both phones
• 📶 Check your internet connection (synchronization doesn’t work through mobile data with restrictions)
• 🛠️ Remove the app cache Contacts in Settings → Annexes

Mi Account|Google Account|File. VCF|Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Direct|Other-->

Method 4: Transmission via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Direct (without the Internet)

If you don’t have internet access or you’re transferring contacts to a device without MIUI (like POCO F5 with pure Android), you can use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Direct.

Instructions for Bluetooth:

1. 📱 On both phones, turn Bluetooth on in the notification panel
2. 🔗 Connect the devices (enter the same one) PIN-code, if required)
3. 📱 On your old phone, open your contacts. → ⋮ → Share.
4. 📤 Select contacts (or click "Select All") and send via Bluetooth.
5. 📱 On the new phone, confirm the file acceptance and import contacts.

⚠️ Note: When transmitting via Bluetooth:

• 📵 Contact photos will only be shared if they are saved in the contact itself (not from Google Photos or Google Photos). MI Cloud)
• 📌 Names with emojis or special symbols may not be displayed correctly.
• 🔋 Battery charge should be above 30% - transmission may be interrupted

Wi-Fi Direct (faster than Bluetooth):

1. 📶 Enable Wi-Fi Direct in Settings → Wi-Fi → Wi-Fi Direct on both phones
2. 🔗 Connect devices to each other
3. 📱 Send a.vcf file (see Method 2) or use the Share function in Contacts

Method 5: Use of third-party applications (for advanced users)

If the built-in methods don't work (for example, due to a failure in MIUI or a large amount of data), you can use third-party applications.

• 📱 My Contacts Backup – Exports contacts to file and sends them by email
• 🔄 Copy My Data – Transfers Contacts, Photos and Calendars over Wi-Fi
• 📁 Super Backup & Restore – Creates backups of contacts, SMS applications

Use of My Contacts Backup:

1. 📱 Install the app from Google Play on both phones
2. 📤 On an old phone, click Backup and send the file to an email.
3. 📥 On a new phone, open the letter, download the file and import through the app.

⚠️ Note: When using third-party applications:

• 🛡️ Check permissions – the application should not request access to the SMS geolocation
• 📌 Save backup to the cloud (like Google Drive) and not just to your device
• 🔍 After importing, check contacts for duplicates and errors (especially if different encodings were used)

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The app side is useful if you want to move not only contacts, but also SMS, notes or call logs, but they require more action and can collect data — only use proven programs with high ratings.

Frequent mistakes and their solutions

Even if you follow the instructions, you can have problems, and here are the most common mistakes and ways to correct them:

• 🔴 Contacts are not synced via Mi Account: Check if the background mode for the Contacts app is disabled → Battery → Power Management Apps Update MIUI until the latest version - in the old firmware were bugs with synchronization
• 🔴 When importing VCF File corrupted error: Try opening a file on your PC via Outlook or Google Contacts – if it opens, the problem in your phone Resave the file in encoding UTF-8 (You can use Notepad.++)
• 🔴 Missing photos of contacts after transfer: Photos could be stored in Google Photos or MI Cloud – Check these services If photos were attached to your WhatsApp contacts, they should be transferred separately

If none of the methods worked, try resetting the Contacts app settings:

1. 📱 Go to Settings. → Annexes → Application management → Contacts
2. 🔄 Press Warehouse. → Drop it.
3. 🔁 Try to synchronize or import again.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions