Changing your smartphone, especially the Xiaomi ecosystem, is often accompanied by a desire to customize your device as quickly as possible. The most critical element of personalization is the phone book, the loss of which can be a real disaster. Fortunately, modern technology offers many ways to transfer contacts from one device to another without losing data or distorting the formatting.
Redmi and POCO owners have the advantage of having deeply integrated system utilities that make data migration almost automatic. However, if you move from an iPhone or an old Android smartphone of another brand, there may be nuances that require manual intervention. In this article, we will examine all the current synchronization methods, from cloud services to local file transfer.
Whether you have a new model or a rebuilt one, the right organization of data at the start will save you hours of work in the future. We'll look not only at the transfer process itself, but also at ways to clean the phone book from garbage that often accumulates over the years. The most reliable method for Xiaomi devices is to use a Mi or Google cloud account, because this ensures that data is safe even if the device breaks.
Using the Mi Mover app for quick migration
One of the most effective tools Xiaomi engineers have developed is the built-in Mi Mover app, which allows you to transfer not only contacts, but also photos, messages and installed applications between phones, which is ideal if both devices are in your hands and work properly, the process does not require Internet traffic, since data is transmitted over a direct Wi-Fi connection.
To get started, you need to run the app on both smartphones. On the new Redmi, it is usually pre-installed in the Tools folder, and on the old phone it can be downloaded from the Google Play store or GetApps. Once launched, you will be asked to choose the role of the device: The sender (old phone) or the receiver (new Xiaomi) will appear on the receiving device. QR-code that needs to be scanned with the camera of an old smartphone.
⚠️ Warning: Make sure both devices are on GPS And Bluetooth, even if it's over Wi-Fi, these are the modules that are used to initially shake hands and find devices on the network.
Once the connection is successful, the interfaces synchronized, and you'll see a list of data categories to transfer. You'll need to select Contacts, although the default is often everything. The transfer speed depends on the volume of the phone book and the version of the Wi-Fi modules, but usually a few thousand numbers are copied in minutes.
It is important to keep the process running and keep the device screens on. If the connection breaks, you will have to start the procedure again, which may take additional time. Once completed, a notification of successful import will appear on the new Redmi, and all records will be distributed to the appropriate fields in the standard Contacts app.
☑️ Check before launching the Mi Mover
Synchronization through Google account
The most versatile and time-tested way is to sync through Google Contacts, a cloud-based service that doesn’t require two devices at once and allows you to prepare your phone book in advance. If you’ve used Android before, your contacts are likely already stored in the cloud, even if you didn’t know it.
To check for a backup, open your browser on your computer or any other device and go to contacts.google.com. Sign in to your Google account. If you see your numbers there, it will take only a couple of minutes to recover on the new Xiaomi. You will just need to add the same account to your new smartphone settings.
In the initial setup, Redmi will prompt you to log in to your Google account. If your phone is already set up, go to Settings → Accounts and Sync → Google. Make sure the switch opposite Contacts is activated. Once sync is enabled, the phone will automatically upload all the records from the cloud to the device’s memory.
| Parameter | Description | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Speed. | Depends on the Internet. | Use Wi-Fi. |
| Risk of loss | Minimum | High reliability |
| Duplicate | Automatic merger | Checking is required |
| Contact photos | Preserve. | Download automatically |
The advantage of this method is that you can manage your contacts with your PC, you can sort them, delete them, or fix them right in the web interface, and the changes will be applied to the phone after the next sync, which is especially useful for cleaning old records before migrating to a clean device.
What to do if your contacts are not synchronized?
Transfer of contacts from SIM-card
A classic method that is still relevant, especially when switching from push-button phones or simple smartphones. SIM-The card can store basic information, such as name and number, but this format has significant limitations: the length of the name is often limited. 10-15 symbols, and support for additional fields (email, address) is not available.
First, insert SIM-A card with an old phone book in your new Redmi. Once the network is found, open the standard Contacts app. Click the three dots in the upper right corner or the menu button to reveal the action list».
In the menu that opens, select the option “Import from” SIM-The system will suggest you choose a place to save records. It is strongly recommended to choose a Google or Phone account, but not the account itself. SIM-Once you've selected the target storage, confirm the action and the copying process will start.
⚠️ Note: When importing with SIM-cards long names can be cut, and Russian letters can sometimes be displayed incorrectly (krakozyabr) if the encoding of the card does not coincide with the system.
After importation, it is recommended to SIM-You often need to manually edit names because the format is SIM-The card is outdated and does not fully support modern Unicode standards, but it remains the fastest method for emergency reconnection.
💡
If you have two. SIM-Sometimes the contacts can be saved on the second SIM you forgot about.
Import and export via VCF file
VCF (vCard) is the de facto standard for sharing contacts between platforms. A single file can contain thousands of records with a whole structure: photos, addresses, multiple numbers, and social networks. This method is ideal if you want to transfer contacts to a computer or send them to another user via a messenger.
On the old device, you need to back up. Go to the contacts app, select Import/Export, and click Export to Drive or Export to.vcf. The system will create a file, commonly called contacts.vcf or with a date, at the root of the internal memory or download folder.
The resulting file must be transferred to the new Xiaomi. This can be done via Bluetooth, sending to Telegram ("Favorites"), email or copying the file through the USB-When the file is in the memory of a new smartphone, just click on it. The system will prompt you to open it with the Contacts app and automatically start importing all the records.
- 📂 Universality: File VCF Readable by any smartphone, iPhone, Android or computer.
- 📸 Photos saved: Unlike the SIM, This method saves images of subscribers.
- 🔄 Flexibility: You can combine multiple files from different people into one database.
This is also useful for creating archived copies. You can save the.vcf file to a flash drive or to cloud storage and be sure that even after 5 years you can restore your phone book on any device, the main thing is not to lose the file itself and remember the password from the archive if you decide to encrypt it.
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A VCF file is the safest way to create a local backup that doesn’t depend on Google’s internet or servers.
Solving Duplicate Contact Problems
A common problem after data migration is the appearance of duplicates, which occurs when the same contact is stored simultaneously in memory. SIM-Maps, Google account and local phone storage. Xiaomi offers a built-in tool to solve this problem, but it needs to be activated manually.
Open the Contacts app and go to settings (three dots or gears) and find Contact Management or Contact Management, where you can use the Connect Duplicate Contacts function, and the system will analyze the database, find the records with the same numbers or names, and suggest combining them.
The merger process can take time if there are too many records, and the algorithm will try to keep the most complete information: take a photo from one source and a work number from another, and after the operation is completed, the phone book will be clean and structured.
⚠️ Note: Before mass contact mergers, make sure that sync with Google is successful. If there is an error during the merger, you can roll back changes via the Google Contacts web interface (the Cancel Changes feature is available within 30 days).
It’s also worth checking which source your contacts are displayed from, so you can select to display only certain groups or accounts in your display settings, which helps remove the extra entries left over from old apps like Viber or WhatsApp, which sometimes create their own phone book entries.