How to remove other people’s contacts from the smartphone Xiaomi: the complete guide

Did you open a phone book on your Xiaomi and find dozens of unfamiliar numbers? Or did you sync with your Google account and swell your contact list into an indigestible size? MIUI — Other people’s contacts not only clutter up the device’s memory, but also create privacy risks: someone may accidentally see the numbers of your colleagues, old acquaintances or even other people’s customers.

In this article, we will discuss 5 working ways to remove unauthorized contacts with Xiaomi Redmi, POCO, Mi and other models, from manual cleaning to resetting sync with accounts, and we will focus on hidden contacts from messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram) and social networks that are used to create a new network. MIUI It automatically adds to the phone book. All methods tested on the phone are MIUI 12-15 and do not require root rights.

Why are there other people’s contacts on Xiaomi?

Before cleaning, it is important to understand the sources of the phone book contamination, and 80% of the time the problem is due to synchronization settings or features. MIUI:

• 🔄 Automatic sync with Google account, Mi Account or corporate services (such as Microsoft Exchange) The smartphone pulls up contacts from all connected accounts, including old backups.
• 📱 Import with SIM-The first time you set up your phone MIUI Recommended to copy the contacts with SIM — The numbers of previous cardholders are often transferred together with them.
• 💬 Integration with messengers. Contact function from applications to MIUI automatically adds numbers from WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber and even Facebook to the phone book.
• 👥 Shared contacts from work accounts. If your phone is connected to Microsoft Outlook or Yandex.Connect, corporate numbers can be pulled up there.

Fun fact: on some Xiaomi models (for example, Redmi Note 10 Pro or other models). POCO X3 Pro) Telegram contacts are displayed in the phone book even without the user's explicit permission. API MIUI, which allow applications to “declar” their contacts as system contacts.

Method 1: Manually remove contacts through the “Contacts” application

The most obvious, but not always effective, method is manual removal, which is suitable if there are few other people's contacts (up to 50 pieces).

1. Open the Contacts app (an icon with a person’s silhouette).
2. Slip on three dots in the top right corner and select Contact Management.
3. Turn on the display of all contacts (click on the filter at the top and tick all accounts).
4. Find someone else’s contact, hold your finger on it, and choose Delete.

To speed up the process, use packet removal:

1. Hold your finger on one contact, then tick the rest.
2. Click on the basket icon at the top of the screen.

Check your contacts backup in Google Drive

Disable synchronization with Mi Account (Settings → Accounts)

Make sure that important contacts are saved in the cloud

Use the filter in groups (e.g. "Telegram")-->

⚠️ Note: With manual deletion, contacts will disappear only from the phone. If they are synced with Google or Mi Account, after a while they can return. To avoid this, turn off sync (see Method 3).

On Xiaomi models with MIUI 14+ (So, for example, Xiaomi 13 or Redmi Note 12, there's a smart cleaning feature that automatically finds duplicates and rarely used contacts:

1. Open Contacts. → Three points. → Smart cleaning.
2. Click Scan and confirm that unnecessary records are deleted.

Method 2: Removing contacts from messengers and social networks

MIUI It aggressively integrates contacts from third-party apps, which often causes other people to enter their numbers, for example, if you've been messaging on WhatsApp with a stranger, their number can be automatically added to the phone book to fix it:

For WhatsApp and Telegram:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find WhatsApp or Telegram, tap on it.
3. Select Permissions → Contact and disable access.
4. Return to the Contacts app, click on three points and select Settings → Contacts from the applications.
5. Turn off the sliders opposite WhatsApp, Telegram and other messengers.

For Facebook and VK:

Social media often syncs up friends' phone numbers to delete those contacts:

1. Open Settings → Accounts and Synchronization.
2. Find Facebook or VKontakte, tap on the account.
3. Turn off the contact synchronization option.
4. Return to Contacts and manually delete numbers marked as Facebook or Facebook. VK.

💡

If after disabling the synchronization contacts from the messengers remained, try to clear the cache of the Contacts application. → Annexes → Contacts → Warehouse → Clear the cache.

Method 3: Disabling account synchronization

If other people’s contacts appear again after deleting, the problem lies in automatic synchronization with cloud services. MIUI by default, pulling up the data from:

• 📧 Google Account (including backups from other devices);
• 🔵 Mi Account (Xiaomi Cloud);
• 💼 Corporate Accounts (Exchange, Outlook).

To stop this process:

1. Go to Settings → Accounts and Synchronization.
2. Select an account (like Google), then tap on Contact Sync.
3. Turn off the slider or click Delete Data (this will clear the contacts associated with that account).
4. Repeat for all accounts except the main one.

For Mi Account, the process is a bit more complicated:

1. Open the Settings. → Mi Account.
2. Slip on Sync and turn off Contacts.
3. To delete already synchronized data, go to Settings → Additionally. → Backup and reset → Local backup and select Clear Mi Cloud Data.

⚠️ Note: Disabling sync with your Google account will delete all contacts associated with it, including backups. Before doing so, export important numbers to a.vcf file (see Method 5).

Method 4: Reset the Contacts app to factory settings

If previous methods didn’t work, try resetting the Contacts app settings, which will delete all local data (including cache and temporary files), but won’t affect contacts synced to the clouds.

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find Contacts (or Contacts on firmware with English interface).
3. Slip it on the Warehouse.
4. Click Clear Data and Clear Cache.
5. Reboot the phone.

After discharge:

• 🔄 Contacts from Google and Mi Account will be restored automatically (if sync is enabled).
• 📱 Local contacts (only saved on the phone) will disappear forever.
• 💾 Contacts with SIM-The cards will remain intact.

💡

Resetting the Contacts app is a radical method that should only be used if other methods have not worked. Always back up before cleaning!

On some models (for example, Xiaomi Mi 11 or Redmi). K40) After the reset, a notification may appear Contacts stopped. This is normal - just restart the device or update the app via Google Play.

Method 5: Export and import contacts (for advanced users)

If you want to have complete control over which contacts are left on your phone, use export and selective import.

• 📂 Backup before mass removal;
• 🔍 Manual filtering of unnecessary numbers;
• 📤 Transfer contacts to another phone without unnecessary “garbage».

Export instructions:

1. Open Contacts → Three Points → Contact Management → Import/Export.
2. Select Export to the file and specify the location of the save (for example, Internal Memory).
3. The file will be saved in.vcf (business card) format.

Now open the file on your computer (e.g., through Google Contacts or Outlook) and manually delete the unwanted contacts.

1. Return to Import/Export and select Import from the device.
2. Specify the path to the edited.vcf file.
3. Confirm the import (contacts will replace the existing ones).

💡

For easy editing of.vcf files, use Google Contacts. Upload the file there, tick off unnecessary contacts and click Delete. Then export back to.vcf.

If you need to delete contacts selectively by group (for example, only from Telegram), use filters when exporting:

1. In Contacts, click on the filter icon (top right).
2. Select a group (e.g. Telegram or Telegram) SIM-map).
3. Export only this group, then remove it from your phone.

Method 6: Radical measures - resetting the phone to factory settings

If none of these methods work, the last option is a hard reset, which will delete all data, including contacts, apps and settings, so use it only as a last resort.

Create a backup of contacts (export to.vcf)

Save photos and videos to your computer or cloud

Record logins/passwords from accounts (Google, Mi, social networks)

Make sure you're on SIM-The map has enough space for important contacts.-->

Resetting instructions:

1. Open Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
2. Choose to erase all data.
3. Enter the password from the lock screen (if any).
4. Confirm the action and wait for the reboot (it will take 5-10 minutes).

After discharge:

• 📱 Set up your phone as new without restoring data from a backup (otherwise, someone else’s contacts will return).
• 🔄 Connect only one Google account and turn off contact sync for others.
• 📂 Import only a filtered.vcf file with the desired numbers.

⚠️ Attention: On phones with MIUI 14+ and the Mi Data Protection feature (e.g. Xiaomi 13 Pro) may require you to enter the old Mi Account password after reset.

How to Prevent Other People's Contacts in the Future

To avoid the problem, set up Xiaomi according to these rules:

• 🚫 Turn off automatic sync for all accounts except the main one. Just leave one Google account with contact sync enabled.
• 🔒 Disable access to contacts for messengers and social networks (see Method 2).
• 📱 Check your contacts regularly for duplicates through Contacts → Smart cleaning.
• 🔄 Use separate accounts for work and personal purposes (e.g. one Google account for personal contacts, another for work).
• 🛡️ Set up two-step authentication for Mi Account and Google to avoid unauthorized access.

On Xiaomi models with MIUI 13+ And we got a feature called Private Mode, which allows you to hide your contacts from prying eyes:

1. Open Contacts. → Three points. → Settings → Private regime.
2. Add contacts you want to hide (they will only be available after you enter them). PIN-code).

It is also helpful to set up spam phone filtering to avoid adding fraudulent numbers:

1. Go to Settings. → Annexes → Contacts → Spam filter.
2. Enable the options of Spam Blocking and Number Check.

FAQ: Frequent questions about removing contacts on Xiaomi