Losing your contacts can be a terrible experience and we all have gone through it at some point in time. Especially in older days where we used to store our contacts in a diary and could do nothing after losing them. However, that’s not the case today, because now we can restore our lost contacts using different data recovery apps and software.
Moreover, today we have options to backup our contacts so that we never lose them even if our phone gets lost or damaged. One such contact management and backup service is Google Contacts, which is provided by Google for free. It is similar to Google Photos that is used for image backup.
However, contacts can be deleted from backup as well. But don’t worry as you can recover deleted Google contacts from backup through Gmail, and this article is going to guide you for the same.
How To Recover Deleted Google Contacts From Gmail
Quick links to specific parts of the article:
- Recover Deleted Contacts From Gmail On Phone
- Restore Contacts From Gmail On Computer
- How To Import Contacts From Google Account To Phone
- FAQs
1. Recover Contacts From Gmail On Phone
1. On your smartphone(Android or iPhone), open the Gmail app. Once the app is opened click on the hamburger icon on the top left corner.
2. Now scroll down on the menu and select the Contacts option under Google apps.
With this, the Google Contacts app will open on your smartphone. If you don’t have the app already installed on your phone it will redirect you to the App/Play store to download the Google Contacts app.
3. Now, on the Contacts app, you will see all the existing contacts on your list. To find or recover the lost contacts you need to tap on the menu icon.
4. After that, you need to go to the Settings option and select Undo changes under Manage contacts settings.
5. As you do that, it will ask you to select the account from which you want to recover contacts (if you have multiple Google accounts linked on your phone). Select the Gmail account you wish to recover contacts from.
6. Now a new tab will open, here you can change the contacts to any state in the past 30 days i.e you can restore all the contacts that were deleted in the 30 days’ time.
You can select the different time periods to Undo changes, for example; if you have recently deleted the photo you can select the 10 mins or 1 hour ago option or any other option depending on the time of contact deletion. After selecting the time period you can tap on the Confirm option to restore your deleted contacts.
With this, you can simply recover all the deleted contacts that were lost in the last one month.
2. Restore Google Contacts From Gmail On Computer
If you don’t have access to your phone right now, you can also recover Google contacts from Gmail using your computer. The process is quite similar to the one we have seen on the phone.
1. On your computer, visit Gmail and login into your Gmail account from where you want to recover the lost contacts. After logging in click on the Google Apps icon next to the Settings icon on the top right corner. From Google Apps select Contacts.
2. Here you will see all the contacts that are present on your Google Contacts list. Now click on the gear icon(settings) on the top right and select Undo changes from the option that shows up.
3. Now, select the time period from which you want to restore the contacts and then click on Undo. With this, all your contacts deleted before the selected time period will be restored.
By just following these three steps you can easily recover your deleted contacts from Gmail that were deleted in the 30 days time period.
Now as you have successfully found your lost contacts you must be willing to import them to your phone. Here’s how you can do that in simple steps.
How To Import Contacts From Google Account To Phone
1. Open the Google Contacts app on your Android or iOS device. Now tap on the menu icon at the top.
2. From here select Settings> Export.
3. Now it will ask you to choose an account to which you want to export the recovered contacts. Since you want to import contacts to your phone select Device and then tap on the Export to .vcf file.
4. Now it will ask you to save the .vcf file on your device. You can name the file as you want and tap on the Save button to import contacts to your phone.
5. After that, it may ask you for some permissions, just ALLOW all the permission it asks.
And with this, all your contacts will be automatically stored in your phone’s contact list.
FAQs
Can You Restore Google Contacts Deleted 1 Year Ago?
No, the deleted contacts are stored in the Google Account only for a period of 30 days after that they are removed from there. So, it's not possible to recover contacts that were deleted over 30 days time period.
How Can I Recover My Deleted Contacts Without Backup?
The only way to recover deleted contacts without a backup is by using data recovery software. However, no data recovery software can give you full surety of recovering your lost contacts therefore it is important to keep a backup of your contacts.
How Do I Recover My Contacts From A Deleted Gmail Account?
Once you permanently delete your Google Account all associated data to that account including contacts are deleted forever and you can't get them back. However, if you can recover your permanently deleted Gmail account back you may also get back your contacts linked to that account.
