How to transfer contacts from Xiaomi to Samsung via Bluetooth: detailed instructions with nuances

Transferring contacts between Android smartphones over Bluetooth seems like a simple task, but in practice users often face synchronization errors, a connection break or loss of data. This problem is especially relevant when switching between devices of different brands - for example, from Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 to Samsung Galaxy S23. Unlike file transfers, contacts require a special exchange protocol vCard, which does not always work correctly through a standard Bluetooth profile.

In this article, we’ll break down three reliable ways to transfer contacts over Bluetooth (including workarounds for older versions of MIUI and One UI), explain why not all fields are sometimes transferred (such as photos or additional numbers), and give a checklist to check the success of the operation, and learn how to avoid duplication of contacts in Google Account and what to do if Samsung does not see the.vcf file after transfer.

Why Bluetooth is not always the best way to transfer contacts

Despite being versatile, Bluetooth contact transfer has 5 key limitations that are rarely warned about:

• 🔹 Limit on volume: most Xiaomi and Samsung smartphones block the transfer of.vcf files larger than 1-2 MB.+ Contacts with photos, Bluetooth will refuse to send them.
• 🔹 Loss of formatting: Fields like “Birthday,” “Notes,” or “Email Address” may not move or appear as plain text.
• 🔹 Coding problems: Cyrillic symbols in contacts (for example, surnames in Russian) are sometimes converted to "crazy cherry" due to incompatibility of protocol versions OBEX.
• 🔹 No change history: Unlike syncing through Google Contacts, Bluetooth does not keep the versioning – if the contact already existed on Samsung, it will simply be overwritten.
• 🔹 Dependence on the Android version: on Xiaomi with MIUI 14 and later, it may be necessary to enable hidden developer mode to transfer.vcf.

However, Bluetooth remains a valid method if:

• 📶 You do not have access to Wi-Fi or mobile internet.
• 🔒 You do not want to sync your contacts with your Google Account for privacy reasons.
• 📱 Both phones support Bluetooth 4.0 protocol.+ (All Xiaomi and Samsung models after 2016).

Preparation of telephones before transfer of contacts

Before starting the transfer, be sure to follow 4 steps to avoid errors:

1. Update the firmware on both devices. On Xiaomi, check for MIUI relevance in Settings → About Phone → System Update. On Samsung, Settings → Software Update. Older versions of Android (below 9.0) may not support.vcf transmission.
2. Clear the Bluetooth cache. On Xiaomi: Settings → Connections and sharing → Bluetooth → ⚙️ → Clear the cache. On Samsung: Settings → Connections → Bluetooth → ⋮ → Clear the cache.
3. Turn off the power saving for Bluetooth. MIUI: Settings → Battery and productivity → Choice of regime → Productivity. In One. UI: Settings → Maintenance of the device → Battery → ⋮ → Settings → Adaptive battery → Turn off for Bluetooth.
4. Check the contact format. Make sure that they are saved in your device account (not in Google or SIM) on Xiaomi, otherwise they cannot be exported.

Important: If Samsung already has contacts synchronized with Google, it is inevitable to duplicate them when importing via Bluetooth. To avoid this, export your existing contacts to a.vcf file on Samsung before transferring them (via Contacts). → ⋮ → Contact management → Exports) and after importing new ones, merge manually.

Method 1: Standard Bluetooth transmission (for MIUI 12–14 and One UI 3–5)

This method works on most modern smartphones, but requires the following instructions:

1. Activate Bluetooth on both phones. On Xiaomi: swipe down → hold the Bluetooth icon. On Samsung: swipe down → "Bluetooth" → turn on.
2. Create a pair: On Xiaomi, click Device Search → select Samsung model → confirm the pairing code. On Samsung, accept the connection request.
3. Export contacts to Xiaomi: Open the Contacts app → press ⋮ → Contact management → Exports/imports → Export to file. Select "Device Account" → Check the appropriate contacts (or "Select all") → press "Export" → Select "Bluetooth." Select Samsung from the device list. → confirm the transfer.

Take the file to Samsung

• Samsung will have a notification about the incoming contact.vcf file → click “Accept”.
• After downloading, open the file → select Contacts → confirm the import.

Typical errors and decisions:

• ❌ File not sent: check that Xiaomi has Bluetooth Visibility Mode enabled (Settings) → Bluetooth → ⚙️ → Visibility of the device).
• ❌ Contacts are imported without photos: Contact photos are only transmitted through Google Account or third-party apps.
• ❌ Samsung doesn’t see a.vcf file: try renaming the file to Xiaomi before sending it (e.g. to mycontacts.vcf).

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If contacts are not portable due to the large volume, break them into pieces: export 200-300 contacts at a time, creating separate.vcf files.

Method 2: Move through Hidden Developer Mode (for older versions of MIUI)

On Xiaomi smartphones with MIUI 11 and below, standard Bluetooth contact exports can be blocked, in which case activation of the developer mode will help:

1. Turn on developer mode on Xiaomi: Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times in a row) After the notification “You became a developer” appears, return to the main settings menu.
2. Activate debugging via Bluetooth: Settings → Additional → For developers → Debugging via Bluetooth (enable)
3. Repeat the standard export procedure (see Method 1), but reboot both phones before sending the.vcf file.

Warning:

⚠️ Enabling the developer mode on Xiaomi with MIUI 14+ This can cause resets of Mi Account settings (particularly fingerprints and faces) and after transferring contacts, disable Bluetooth debugging for security reasons.

Method 3: Alternative method using file manager

If the standard transmission does not work, you can use the workaround by transferring the.vcf file as a regular document:

1. Export contacts to file on Xiaomi: Contacts → ⋮ → Contact management → Export to file → Remember the path of saving (usually) /storage/emulated/0/Download/contacts.vcf).
2. Send a file via Bluetooth: Open Files (or Explorer) on Xiaomi → find contacts.vcf → click Share → select Bluetooth. On Samsung, accept the file and save it to the Download folder.

Import contacts to Samsung

Contacts → ⋮ → Contact management → Import/Export → Import from device → Select contacts.vcf file

The advantage of the method is that.vcf files are transmitted as normal data, which bypasses the limitations of the OBEX protocol for contacts.

Comparison of Contact Transfer Methods between Xiaomi and Samsung

Bluetooth is suitable for transferring a small number of contacts (up to 500) without photos. If you want to migrate a full database with media files, you should use Google Contacts or third-party applications like My Contacts Backup.

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Bluetooth is not the most reliable way to transfer contacts between Xiaomi and Samsung. If you have more than 500 contacts or profile photos are important, choose an alternative method (Google Account or.vcf file via cable).

What to do if the contacts are incorrectly transferred

After importing, check the integrity of the data. Common problems and their solutions:

• 📇 Duplicate contacts: Open Contacts on Samsung → ⋮ → Contact management → Use the Duplicate Contacts app (available on Google Play).
• 🔤 Cracosyabra instead of Cyrillic: Repeat export to Xiaomi by choosing encoding UTF-8 (version MIUI Open the.vcf file in the text editor and replace the encoding manually.
• 📞 No additional numbers: This is a vCard 2.1 format restriction. Export contacts to vCard 3.0 (if you have a vCard 2.1 format limit). MIUI supportive).
• 🖼️ No photos of contacts: Photos are not transmitted via Bluetooth.Use Google Contacts or Xiaomi's Clone Phone app.

Attention:

⚠️ If some contacts are missing after importing to Samsung, check if they were tied to Xiaomi's Mi Account.These contacts are not exported to.vcf - they must first be transferred to the Device Account (Contacts) → ⋮ → Settings → Accounts. → Mi Account → Synchronize, then disable synchronization and repeat export).

FAQ: Frequent questions about Bluetooth contact transfer