Why Contact Is Not Deleted From Xiaomi Phone and How to Fix It

You're trying to remove a contact on Xiaomi, but it keeps coming back to the phone book? This problem is familiar to many owners of Redmi, POCO and Mi smartphones - regardless of the version of MIUI. The reasons can lie in both basic synchronization settings and deep system failures. In this article, we'll look at all possible scenarios, from trivial user errors to hidden firmware bugs that prevent you from clearing contacts.

Xiaomi’s feature is that the phone book is integrated with several services at the same time: Google Contacts, Mi Account, SIM-If you delete a record in one place, you may not know it's automatically being retrieved from another source, but we'll show you how to identify the culprit and completely erase the contact from all the linked accounts so that it doesn't reappear.

1. Google sync: Why contact is coming back

The most common reason is automatic sync with Google, and even if you delete a contact directly on your phone, it can recover from the cloud in minutes, because Xiaomi, by default, links the phone book to your Google account, and all the changes are duplicated.

To check if Google is to blame:

• 📱 Open the Contacts app → Click on three dots in the upper right corner → Contact management.
• 🔍 See which account is listed in the Sync Contacts section. If there's Google, the problem is that account.
• ☁️ Go to contacts.google.com from your computer and check if there is a “non-removable” contact.

If you find a contact in Google Contacts, delete it there, and it disappears from your phone after the next sync, but what if you don't want to lose other contacts from Google?

Go to Settings → Accounts and Synchronization

Select your Google account

Disable the slider Contacts

Confirm the action

-->

⚠️ Note: After sync is disabled, new contacts will not be saved to Google.If you reset your phone to factory settings, all records added without the cloud will be lost.

2. Mi Account Contacts: Hidden Copy in Xiaomi Cloud

A less obvious but equally insidious reason is synchronization with Mi Account, and many users forget that Xiaomi has its own cloud-based contact store that runs parallel to Google, and if the contact is saved there, it will recover even after being deleted from the phone and Google is disabled.

How to check and delete contacts from Mi Cloud:

1. Open Settings → Mi Account (or Xiaomi Account in new versions of MIUI).
2. Go to the Cloud section → Contacts.
3. Find the problem contact and remove it manually.
4. Return to sync settings and turn off Mi Account Contacts if you do not want them to be restored.

If you're not using Mi Cloud for backup, you'd better delete all contacts from there altogether and turn off sync, which will eliminate conflicts between different sources.

Google

Mi Account

Both options

I'm not synchronizing with anything.

-->

Contacts to SIM-The map: why they don't disappear

If the contact is saved SIM-And the fact that you're not going to get the desired result from the card, if you delete it from the phone book, is that many users forget that you're not going to get the desired result. SIM It also stores its own copy of contacts, which can be automatically imported into the phone, especially for older Xiaomi models (e.g. Redmi). 4X or Mi A1), where SIM-Contacts are displayed by default.

How to Remove Contact with SIM:

• 📇 Open the Contacts app → press three points → Contact management → Imports/Exports.
• 🗑️ Choose Remove from SIM-maps and confirm the action.
• 🔄 If the option is not available, try exporting all contacts with the SIM In the memory of the phone, then remove them from there, and then clean them. SIM via settings.

⚠️ Note: Some operators (for example, MTS or Beeline) block editing contacts on the Internet. SIM-In this case, the only way out is to transfer all contacts to the memory of the phone and no longer use them. SIM storage.

If you have duality SIM-Check both slots – contact could have been saved on the second SIM, You don't use it very often. SIM They are displayed in the general phone book, but you need to delete them separately for each slot.

4.Cache and Contacts app data: when the system is "glutting"

Sometimes the problem is not synchronization, but the damaged cache of the Contacts app, which is especially true after MIUI updates, when system files may conflict with user data, resulting in the contact being deleted, but reappears after a while.

To clear the cache:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the Contacts app (or Contacts in English).
3. Click Warehouse → Clear the cache and Clear the data.
4. Reboot the phone.

💡

If the contacts are gone after cleaning the cache, don't panic! They will recover after re-syncing with Google or Mi Account, but if the contact was only in local memory, it will have to be restored from backup.

If cleaning the cache didn’t help, try resetting the app’s settings:

• In the same Application Management menu, select Reset (or Reset).
• Confirm the action – it will return the application to the factory settings without losing data.

In rare cases, reinstalling updates for the Contacts app helps:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Contacts → Three Points → Remove Updates.
2. Restart your phone and wait for an automatic update through the Play Market.

5. Contacts from messengers: WhatsApp, Telegram and Viber

Few people know, but messengers like WhatsApp, Telegram, or Viber can create their own copies of contacts in the phone book, which happens when you add a new contact to the messenger — some versions of the apps automatically duplicate it into the system phone book, which can result in the contact being restored when the messenger is next launched.

How to fix it:

• 💬 Open a messenger (like WhatsApp) and find a problem contact in the chat list.
• 🗑️ Remove it directly in the messenger: click on the contact → three-point → Delete contact (or Delete).
• 📱 Go back to the phone book and check if the contact has disappeared. If not, manually delete it again.

For Telegram, the process is a bit different:

1. Open the contact chat.
2. Click on the name at the top. → ⋮ → Delete contact.
3. In some versions, you need to additionally go to Settings → Contacts → Sync contacts and disable this option.

⚠️ Note: Viber syncs contacts to the phone book by default. To avoid this, go to Viber Settings → Contact and turn off synchronization with the phone book.

6. MIUI system errors: when nothing helps

If you've tried all the ways, but the contact is still not deleted, the problem may be deep system errors MIUI. This happens after failed updates, resets or conflicts between firmware versions, in which case standard methods do not work, and you have to resort to radical measures.

Here's what we can do:

• 🔧 Resetting the settings of the “Contacts” application: Settings → Annexes → Contacts → Warehouse → Reset the settings
• 📲 Removal of updates MIUI (If the problem occurred after the update: Settings → The phone. → Updating the system → Three points. → Remove the latest update
• 🔄 Hard reset to factory settings (last chance): Settings → Additionally. → Recovery and discharge → Reset settings Before you make a backup copy!

If the reset didn’t work, the problem could be a damaged contact database, in which case only manual deletion of files via ADB (for advanced users) will help:

adb shell pm clear com.android.contacts


adb shell pm clear com.miui.contacts

These commands will completely reset the Contacts application data, but they will require an unlocked bootloader and USB debugging enabled. Without experience, it is better not to take risks and contact the service center.

💡

If the contact is not removed even after the phone is reset, the problem may be hardware memory damage (for example, on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro with defective eMMC chips).

7 Viruses and malicious applications: hidden threats

In rare cases, undeleted contacts can be caused by viruses or spyware. Some malicious applications block changes to the phone book to save data for theft or spam. If you notice that, in addition to contact issues, the phone has slowed down, displayed strange ads or quickly discharged, this is an excuse to check the system for viruses.

How to check and remove viruses:

• 🛡️ Install an antivirus (like Dr.Web or Kaspersky) and scan your phone.
• 🔍 Check the list of installed applications in Settings → Delete suspicious programs (especially those with names like Contact Manager, Phone Cleaner, or unknown Chinese characters).
• 📵 Go to Settings. → Special facilities → Installed Services and disable rights for unknown applications.

If the antivirus has not found anything, but suspicions remain, try to start the phone in safe mode:

1. Press the power button before the off menu appears.
2. Press and hold the option to Turn off (or turn off power) until a request to go to Safe Mode appears.
3. In safe mode, try to delete the contact, and if you can, it's one of the apps you've installed that's to blame.

FAQ: Frequent questions about undeleted contacts on Xiaomi