Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO smartphones often face the need to move the phone book when changing devices or resetting settings to factory ones. The standard procedure for copying data in the MIUI shell has its own features that are not always obvious to new users. Proper reservation of numbers on physical media avoids losing important connections in the event of software failures.
Modern Android operating systems by default offer to store data in the Google cloud, which is more convenient, but requires a constant Internet connection. SIM-The card remains a popular method for those who value autonomy or plan to move the card into a button phone. In this article, we will discuss in detail all the nuances of working with an address book in the Xiaomi ecosystem.
Before you start mass transfer, it is important to understand that the SIM card has a limited amount of memory and supports only basic text fields. This means that complex entries with photos, mail and multiple numbers can be cut down or not saved at all, so backup to the SIM card is better used as a temporary measure or for the most important numbers.
The process of data transfer in Xiaomi phones is carried out through the standard system application “Contacts”. The interface may vary slightly depending on the version of the MIUI shell or HyperOS, but the logic of actions remains the same. To start, you need to open the corresponding application, which usually has a blue icon with the image of the phone handset and the silhouette of a person.
When you start the app, you go to the data management section, and most firmware versions click on the "More" button (three dots or horizontal lines) located in the lower right or upper corner of the screen, and the menu that opens selects "Import/Export Contacts," which is where all the tools for manipulating the phone book are hidden.
The system will suggest you select a data source. If you want to save the numbers that are currently in your phone's memory to a SIM card, you need the option "Export to the phone". SIM-If the reverse is to transfer old records from the card to the memory of the smartphone, you choose "Import from the card". SIM-Choosing the right direction is critical to avoid creating duplicates or losing information.
⚠️ Note: When exporting to SIM-Long names can be cut down to the 10-15 symbols, and additional numbers (working, fax) will be lost, since the SIM card format supports only one number in the name.
Once you have selected a direction, the system will ask you to mark the contacts that are to be moved, you can manually select individual records or use the "Select All" function if you plan to move them fully, and the confirmation of action will start the copying process, which can take from a few seconds to a couple of minutes depending on the number of records.
The MIUI shell provides flexible tools for working with the address book, allowing you to not only copy, but also combine duplicates. The Repeated Contacts Combine feature helps to clear the list of unnecessary entries that may have arisen when synchronized from different sources, this is especially true if you have previously used several smartphones at the same time.
For more advanced data management, you can use a display filtering function, where you can choose from the contact settings whether to show only numbers from the SIM card, only from the device's memory, or all at once, which helps you visually control where information was stored after the export or import operation.
If the standard app doesn't work properly for some reason, alternative methods can be used, such as the Google Contacts app, which is often pre-installed on global firmware versions, has its own import and export interface, which is not fundamentally different, but can be more stable in working with a Google account.
☑️ Checklist before transferring contacts
One of the common problems with working with contacts on Xiaomi is the absence of the export button or its inactivity. SIM-The card or not defined by the system may also be restricted by corporate security policies if the phone is registered in a corporate domain.
Another common mistake is overflowing the SIM card memory, which can only hold 250 records, and if you try to export 500 contacts, the process will end in error or only a fraction of them will be saved, in which case the system will issue a warning, but not all users pay attention to it, losing some data.
To solve problems with the encoding of names (when instead of letters appear Krakozabra), it is recommended to change the language of the phone's interface to English before export, perform an operation, and then return Russian. This helps to avoid encoding conflicts, since the GSM standard is often based on Latin or basic character sets.
⚠️ Attention: Never take out SIM-This can damage the file system of the chip and completely lose all the records on it.
It's important to distinguish between "phone memory" and "account memory." SIM-The data is physically copied to the card chip, becoming independent of the operating system. When synchronized with a Google account, the data goes online. The first option is more reliable when the smartphone is completely broken, the second one is more convenient when you change devices often.
Technical limitations of vCard format
For users who are critically important to keep full profiles with photos and addresses, a SIM card is not suitable. In this case, the best solution is to create a backup file in.vcf format. This file can be saved to a microSD card or sent to yourself by email, recovery from such a file is faster and without losing the data structure.
The process of backing up.vcf in MIUI is as follows: the Import/Export menu selects Export to Storage. The system creates a file with all the contacts, which can then be found in the MIUI/backup/contacts folder or in the root of internal memory, which is the most reliable way to save data before flashing.
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Tip: Export your contacts to a.vcf file regularly and save them to cloud storage (e.g. Mi Drive or Google Drive) that will take a couple of seconds, but save your phone book in case your system crashes.
Comparing storage methods helps you choose the best option for a particular user, and here is a table showing the key differences between storage on a SIM card, in phone memory and in the cloud.
| Parameter | SIM-map | Phone memory | The cloud (Google/Mi) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memory capacity | Limited (250-500 contacts) | Depends on the smartphone. | Practically not limited |
| Additional fields (Email, photo) | Not supported. | Supported | Supported |
| Network dependency | Not required | Not required | Required for synchronization |
| Risk of loss on discharge | No (data on map) | High (data deleted) | No (data in the cloud) |
If you’re planning to upgrade to a new smartphone, using cloud sync through a Google or Mi Account will be much more effective. When you first log in to a new Xiaomi device, all your numbers, call history, and even desktop icon location will be restored automatically, eliminating the need to manually transfer data over the SIM card.
However, for older users or those who use simple button phones as backups, the SIM card method remains the only one available, and it is important to keep in mind the technical limitations and regularly check the integrity of the stored data.
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Cloud synchronization is preferable to storage on the SIM-card, as it stores complete contact profiles and protects against data loss when the device breaks.
In some cases, users are faced with a situation where contacts “disappear” after updating the system, most often they are not deleted, but simply hidden by the display filter. Check the display settings in the Contacts app and make sure that the checkbox is located opposite to the “All Contacts” or “Phone”.
Also worth mentioning is the Recovery feature in Google’s settings, where if you accidentally delete important numbers, the service allows you to roll back the state of the phone book in time (up to 30 days), which works even if contacts have been deleted from the SIM card, provided that they were previously synced to the cloud.