How to unlock a blocked contact on a Xiaomi phone: all working methods

A blocked contact on a Xiaomi smartphone can be a real problem if you accidentally blacklist a person or experience a system failure. Unlike other manufacturers, MIUI offers several unique ways to manage locks — from standard settings to hidden firmware features. It is important to understand that the method of unlocking depends on the version of MIUI, the phone model (Redmi Note 12, POCO X5, Xiaomi 13T) and even whether contacts are synchronized with Google Account.

In this article, we will discuss 5 proven ways to unlock contacts, including restoring through backups, bypassing locks through MIUI Security, and even manually editing system files for advanced users, focusing on common errors that can cause contacts to “disappear” after unlocking, and providing a checklist to prevent repeated problems.

1 Unlocking through standard MIUI settings

The easiest way is to use the built-in MIUI tools, which work on all modern Xiaomi smartphones (starting with MIUI 12 and later) and does not require additional programs, the main condition is that contact should be blocked through the standard menu, not by third-party applications like Truecaller.

Instructions:

• 📱 Open the phone application (pipe icon).
• ⚙️ Click on three dots in the upper right corner → Choose "Settings».
• 🔒 Go to the “Number Block” section (or “Blacklist” in older versions).
• 👤 Find the blocked contact in the list and swipe it left or click Unblock».

If the contact is not on the blacklist, but calls and SMS do not pass, check:

• 📞 Call settings: Redirect to voicemail may be enabled.
• 📧 Spam filter in “Messages” (Settings menu) → Spam filter).
• 🔄 Synchronize your contacts with your Google Account (more on this in the next section).

⚠️ Note: On some firmware (for example, MIUI Global for Redmi 9A) The section “Blocking Numbers” may be called “Blocked Numbers” and be in Settings → Annexes → Phone. → Lockdown.

2. Restoration via Google Contacts (if sync is enabled)

If a contact has been blocked but previously synced with a Google Account, it can be unlocked through the web version of Google Contacts.

• 🔄 Enable contact synchronization in Settings → Accounts. → Google.
• 🌐 Use the same account on multiple devices.
• 📱 Updated. MIUI before version 13+ (In older versions, synchronization may not work smoothly).

Step-by-step:

1. Open contacts.google.com on your computer or other phone and log in.
2. On the left menu, select “More” → “Restore Contacts”.
3. Specify the date when the contact was not blocked (for example, yesterday).
4. Confirm the recovery and wait for sync on Xiaomi (can take up to 10 minutes).

If no contact appears, check:

• 🔄 Is synchronization enabled in the settings → Accounts. → Google → Synchronization of contacts.
• 📶 Internet connection stability (better to use Wi-Fi).
• 🔄 Updates for the Contacts app in Google Play.

3. Unlocking through MIUI Security (hidden section)

In the firmware MIUI There is a hidden Security section where all the locks are stored, including contacts, apps and even the security. IMEI. This method is suitable for devices with MIUI 12-14 and requires access to Settings → PapaSSWORD & security.

How to unlock:

1. Go to Settings → Password and Security → Application Privileges.
2. Select “Number Block” (or “Black List”).
3. Enter your password/fingerprint if requested.
4. Find the blocked number and click “Unblock”.

If there is no section, try an alternative path:

Settings → Applications → Application Management → Phone → Permissions → Number Locking

⚠️ Note: On some models (POCO F4, Xiaomi 12 Lite may have limited access to this section if the system asks for Administrator Permission, it means that the lock was installed through third-party software (for example, Clean Master or Security Master).

4. Manual editing of system files (for advanced)

If standard methods don’t work, you can try manually removing the lock through system files, which is only suitable for users with unlocked bootloader and root rights (or through ADB).

Instructions for MIUI 13/14:

1. Connect your phone to your PC and enable USB debugging (Settings → About Phone → MIUI Version → 7 times Press → Developer → USB debugging).
2. Open ADB Shell and execute the command: adb shell su -c "sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/contacts2.db"
3. Enter. SQL-search for blocked contacts: SELECT * FROM blocked_numbers;
4. Delete the entry by the command (replace) PHONE_NUMBER real-number): DELETE FROM blocked_numbers WHERE phone_number='PHONE_NUMBER';
5. Reboot the phone.

Alternative method (without root):

• 📁 Use it. MIUI Backup to create a backup of contacts (Settings) → Additionally. → Backup).
• 🔍 Open the backup file on your PC (.mbk extension) through the archiver and find the contacts folder.
• 📝 Manually edit the contacts.vcf file by deleting the line X-BLOCKED:1 contact-wise.
• 🔄 Restore the edited backup to your phone.

💡

Before editing system files, make a full backup through Settings → Additional → Backup. This will allow you to recover data if something goes wrong.

5. Resetting phone settings (extreme case)

If none of these methods work, you'll have a complete reset, which will delete all the data from your phone, including the locks, but it will also be deleted:

• 📸 Photos and videos (unless saved in Google Photos).
• 🎵 Music and downloads.
• 📱 Application settings and Wi-Fi network.

How to reset your settings:

1. Go to Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
2. Select “Erase all data”.
3. Enter the password (if set) and confirm the reset.
4. After the reboot, restore data from your Google Account or MIUI Cloud.

⚠️ Note: On some models (Redmi Note 10 Pro, POCO X3 Pro) after the reset, you may need to re-assign your Mi Account. Make sure you remember your username and password!

💡

Resetting is a last resort, and before the procedure, be sure to save important data to an external drive or to the cloud.

Comparison of methods of unlocking contacts on Xiaomi

FAQ: Frequent questions about unlocking contacts on Xiaomi