How to remove favorite contacts on Xiaomi: all ways to delete

On Xiaomi smartphones, Favorite Contacts lets you quickly connect with important people, but sometimes this list requires cleaning. Maybe you added a contact accidentally, or it became irrelevant, or just want to clean up the phone book. Unlike other manufacturers, MIUI offers several ways to manage favorites, from standard settings to hidden shell features.

The problem is that not everyone knows where this section is hiding, and depending on the MIUI version (12, 13, 14 or HyperOS) and the smartphone model (Redmi Note 12, POCO X5, Xiaomi 13T, etc.), the location of menu items may vary, and some contacts may be duplicated in Favorites due to synchronization with a Google account or Mi Account, which makes it difficult to delete them. In this article, we will discuss all the current methods, from basic to advanced, including solving problems with stuck contacts.

Method 1: Delete via the standard Contacts app

The most obvious and quickest method is to use the built-in Contacts app (or Contacts on global firmware), which works on all Xiaomi devices, regardless of the MIUI version, but can vary visually.

Open the Contacts app and go to the Favorites tab (usually located in the bottom menu next to All Contacts), and here you will see a list of all the numbers added to your favorites.

• 📱 Press and hold your finger on the desired contact for 1-2 seconds until the context menu appears.
• ❌ Select the Remove from Favorites (or Remove from Favorites).
• 🔄 If the contact does not disappear, try swiping it left - on some versions MIUI This is an alternative method of removal.

If the swipe doesn't work, check if the gesture is blocked in the app settings.

1. Open Contacts. → ⚙️ Settings → Gestures.
2. Make sure that the Swipe option to delete is enabled.

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On some models (e.g. Redmi 10 with MIUI 13), the swipe only works in landscape orientation. Try turning the phone if the gesture doesn't work.

Method 2: Manually editing the contact

If the previous method didn’t work, try to remove the contact from the favorite through his/her card, which is useful when you need to not only delete from the favorite, but also edit other data (for example, change a number or name).

Instructions:

1. Open the Contacts app and find the contact you need through a search or in a shared list.
2. Slap it on to open the card.
3. Click on the icon. ⭐ (star in the upper right corner - it should go out (become gray).
4. Save the changes by clicking Ready or Save.

If the star is not active (you can't press it), it means that the contact is no longer in the favorite, but sometimes there is a bug where the contact is displayed in the favorite, even though the star is gone, in which case the forced synchronization will help:

• 🔄 Go to Settings. → Accounts. → Google (or Mi Account).
• 📥 Select your account and turn on/off contact sync.
• 🔄 Reboot your smartphone.

Method 3: Delete via Google Contacts (if sync is enabled)

Many Xiaomi users are unaware that their contacts may be duplicated in Google Contacts. If you use Gmail or another Google service, your favorite contacts can sync there automatically, in which case deleting through the standard Contacts app doesn’t always work – you need to clean up Google as well.

How to do this:

1. Open your browser and go to contacts.google.com (authenticate if necessary).
2. Select the Favorites (or Starred) section on the left menu.
3. Check the unneeded contacts and click on the icon. ⭐, to remove them from the chosen.
4. Update your contact list on your smartphone: Contacts → ⚙️ Settings → Synchronize.

If the contacts are still displayed in the favorites on Xiaomi after that, try a forced cache reset:

Settings → Applications → Application Management → Contacts → Storage → Clear cache

Method 4: Using the Phone App (for quick access)

MIUI has a separate Phone app (green handset) that also displays favorite contacts, and sometimes deleting through it works better, especially if the contact is stuck in the favorite after updating the firmware.

Step-by-step:

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Go to the Contacts (or Contacts) tab.
3. Put it on the icon. ⭐ In the top menu to open the list of favorites.
4. Press three points (⋮) Next to the contact and select Remove from the favorite.

If this doesn't work, check if you have a third-party call app (like Truecaller or Drupe) that can intercept contact management and block changes.

• 📱 Remove the third-party call app.
• 🔄 Reboot your smartphone.
• ⭐ Repeat deletion via the standard Phone app.

Disable VPN (can block synchronization)

Check for duplicate contacts

Make sure that the contact is not tied to your Mi Account

Update the Contacts app in Google Play-->

Method 5: Reset the settings of the Contacts app (advanced method)

If none of the previous methods worked, the problem may lie in the failure of the settings of the Contacts application, in which case resetting to factory settings for this application alone (without data loss) will help.

How to do this:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the Contacts (or Contacts) app and tap it.
3. Select Warehouse → Delete Data (not to be confused with Clear Cache!).
4. Confirm action. Attention: This will delete all application settings, including call history and favorite contacts, but the contacts themselves will remain in the phone book.
5. Reboot your smartphone.

Once reset, all of your favorite contacts will be deleted, and you'll have to add them again, and this method also helps if you:

• 🔄 Selected contacts are duplicated.
• 🚫 It is impossible to remove the contact (button is inactive).
• 📱 The “Contacts” application works unstable (flys out, slows down).

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Resetting the Contacts app is a last resort. Before you do so, export your contacts to a VCF file via Settings → Import/Export to avoid data loss.

Frequent problems and their solutions

Even after deleting, the selected contacts can reappear, and this is due to the MIUI and synchronization, and let's look at the typical situations and the ways in which they can be addressed.

If none of these methods worked, the problem could be a damaged contact database, which can only help you completely reset your smartphone to factory settings (with a pre-backup!), but before you do that, try another way to install an alternative contact app (like Simple Contacts or Contacts+), which is independent of MIUI and can offer more flexibility in managing your favorites.

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Before resetting your smartphone, check if Contact Backup is enabled in Settings → Additional → Backup. If so, turn it off to avoid retrieving old favorite contacts.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

If none of the proposed methods solve your problem, contact Xiaomi support via the official chat or forum c.mi.com. Specify the model of the smartphone, the version of MIUI and describe the problem in as much detail as possible - this will speed up the solution.