How to sync contacts with Google Redmi Note 8: full instructions

Shifting contacts to a new smartphone is one of the first challenges faced by Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 users. If you use a Google account, it will only take a few minutes to sync contacts, but there are nuances to be aware of in advance, such as why contacts sometimes don’t appear in the phone book or how to avoid duplication of records.

Redmi Note 8

MIUI

vCard

If you just bought a Redmi Note 8 or reset it to factory settings, our guide will help you avoid losing important numbers, and for those who have tried to sync contacts but have had difficulties, we have prepared a section with solutions to common bugs.

1. Preparation of the smartphone for synchronization

Before you start syncing, make sure your Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 is ready to work with your Google account.

✅ Internet connection: Synchronization requires a stable connection — preferably via Wi-Fi to avoid wasting mobile traffic. If you use mobile data, make sure that the Internet packet allows you to download data from the cloud.

✅ Updated version MIUI. Outdated software may contain errors that interfere with synchronization. Check the relevance of the firmware in the Settings menu → The phone. → System Update: Redmi Note 8 Recommended Version — MIUI 12.5 and higher.

✅ Free space in memory: Although contacts take up little space, caching and backups can require up to 50 to 100 MB. Make sure that the device has at least 1 GB of free space.

⚠️ Note: If you have previously used another Google account on this phone, delete it via Settings → Accounts. → Google to avoid synchronization conflicts.

It is also worth checking if sync is enabled in your account settings.

1. Open Settings → Accounts → Google.
2. Choose your account.
3. Make sure the switch opposite the Contact is active.

2.Adding a Google account to Xiaomi Redmi Note 8

If you haven’t already added a Google account to your Redmi Note 8, do so before syncing contacts.

📌 Step 1. Open the Settings. → Accounts. → Add an account.

📌 Step 2: Select Google from the list of services.

📌 Step 3: Enter your email address and password. If two-factor authentication is enabled, confirm your login via SMS The Google Authenticator App.

📌 Step 4: Accept the Terms of Use and set up your backup options (it is recommended to leave Contacts, Calendar and Gmail enabled).

After adding an account, the system will automatically prompt you to sync the data. If this does not happen, perform forced synchronization:

Open the Settings. → Accounts. → Google

Select your account

Click on three dots in the upper right corner

Choose to Sync Now

Wait for the process to be completed (the synchronization icon will disappear)-->

⚡ Important: If you use multiple Google accounts, make sure that contacts are saved in the same account that was added to your phone.

3.Configure the display of contacts in the phone book

Even after successful synchronization, contacts may not appear in the standard Contacts app. MIUI. To correct the situation:

🔹 Go to the Contacts app (the icon with the person’s silhouette on the home screen).

🔹 Click on three horizontal lines in the upper left corner (menu).

🔹 Select Contact Management → Display contacts.

🔹 Make sure that you have Google (or your account name) marked).

If contacts are still not visible, try the following:

• 🔄 Update the Contacts app through the Google Play Store.
• 🗑️ Clear the app's cache: Settings → Annexes → Contacts → Warehouse → Clear the cache.
• 🔍 Check filters: the contact menu can activate a filter by group (for example, only "Favorites").

⚠️ Note: If the phone book displays duplicate contacts, it means that they are stored in both the Google account and the phone's local memory. To eliminate duplicates, use the "Connect and fix" function in the contact management menu.

4. Alternative methods of synchronization of contacts

If the standard method doesn’t work or you prefer backup options, consider alternative ways to port contacts to the Redmi Note 8:

📄 Export/import via vCard file (.vcf)

This method is suitable if you have a backup of contacts in.vcf format (for example, from the previous phone).

📤 Export from another device:

• 📱 On your old phone, open your contacts. → Settings → Exports/imports → Exports to the vault.
• 💾 Save the contacts.vcf file to SD-Map or cloud (e.g. Google Drive).

📥 Imports to the Redmi Note 8:

• 📁 Copy the.vcf file into your phone memory.
• 📱 Open Contacts. → Settings → Imports/Exports → Imports from storage.
• 🔍 Select a file and confirm the import.

🔄 Synchronization through SIM-map

This is a good way to do it if you have few contacts (SIM-The card usually supports up to 250 records).

🔹 Exports to SIM:

1. On an old phone: Contacts → Settings → Imports/Exports → Exports to SIM.
2. Choose your export contacts (or all).

🔹 Import with SIM on the Redmi Note 8:

1. Put it in. SIM-map in Redmi Note 8.
2. Open Contacts → Settings → Import / Export → Import with SIM.
3. Choose where to save your contacts: in Google account or locally.

⚠️ Limitations of method:

• 🚫 SIM-The card does not store photos of contacts and additional fields (for example, addresses).
• 📏 Limitation on the number of records (usually 200-250).
• 🔠 Names and numbers are stored in the encoding GSM 7-bit, What can distort the Cyrillic alphabet.

💡

If, when importing from SIM-cards are missing Russian letters, try changing the encoding in the import settings (if such an option is available) or use the vCard file instead of the original. SIM.

5. Solving synchronization problems

Sometimes contacts don’t sync even after you set up your account correctly, and consider common mistakes and their solutions:

If none of the solutions worked, try resetting the sync settings:

1. Go to Settings → Accounts → Google.
2. Click on your account → Delete your account (the data on the Google server will not be deleted).
3. Add the account again and enable synchronization.

Critical error: if after resetting your contacts disappeared from your Google account, restore them through the basket on the website contacts.google.com (remote contacts are stored for 30 days).

6. Automatic contact backup

To avoid losing contacts in the future, set up automatic backups to Google and MIUI:

☁️ Backups to Google:

• 🔗 All contacts added to your Google account are automatically backed up in the cloud.
• 🔄 To check backup, go to contacts.google.com and make sure all contacts are in place.
• 📅 For additional security, export contacts to vCard every 3-6 months.

📱 Backup to MIUI:

• 🔄 Open the Settings. → Additionally. → Backup and reset → Local backups.
• 📁 Select Contacts and click Backup.
• 💾 The backup file will be saved in the folder MIUI/backup/AllBackup internal.

⚠️ Note: Local backups in the MIUI It's not synced to the cloud. If you drop your phone back to factory settings, you can only restore contacts from this file. For security, copy it to your computer or to the cloud.

💡

The most reliable way to save contacts is to combine sync with Google and periodically export to vCard.

7. synchronize contacts with other services

If you use not only Google, but also other services (such as Yandex, iCloud or Microsoft Outlook), they can also be synced with Redmi Note 8:

🌐 Yandex:

• 📱 Install Yandex Mail from Google Play.
• 🔑 Log in and allow access to contacts.
• 🔄 Enable synchronization in the settings of the Yandex account.

🍎 iCloud (for iPhone users):

• 📱 Export your iCloud contacts to vCard via iCloud web.
• 📥 Import the file to Redmi Note 8 as described in Section 4.

📧 Microsoft Outlook:

• 📱 Add Outlook account to Settings → Accounts. → Add an account → Exchange.
• 🔄 Enter account details and enable contact synchronization.

⚠️ Important: When using multiple services at the same time (e.g. Google and Yandex), duplicate contact conflicts may occur. To avoid chaos, choose one primary contact storage service and use the rest only for backup.

FAQ: Frequent questions about contact synchronization