How can I recover deleted contacts and/or call history?

[ElisavetKat]

It is so important to find a deleted phone number that was in my contacts and in my call history. It is absolutely very very serious. Every way I have turned to ends up being a dead end. There is no back up at my google accounts. I have tried so many programs for data recovery, but they recovered contacts I didn't need, not the one I am searching for. My phone is not rooted, but I don't mind if I have to root it in order to find the number. Please help, this person did something bad and it's the only way I have of ever finding them.

 

[psionandy]

if you have itemised billing... check on your phone bill

 

[ElisavetKat]

That is a dead end, too. It was an outcoming call that wasn't answered and missed calls aren't billed.

 

[KBU2]

Were the contact ever backed up to a cloud source or a Google account? Also its a good idea to look in your the device internal and external memory for any .vcf or vCards files stored on the device because that's where your contacts are stored.

 

[svim]

Log into your account using a web browser at https://contacts.google.com
In the left side panel click on 'More' and in the drop-down contextual menu click on 'Undo changes' you should be able to recover anything deleted in the past 30 days. If not, your phone's Contact app wasn't syncing with your online account. In that case unless you've been manually exporting your contacts database (using either the Contacts app itself or something more extensive like the 'SMS Backup & restore' app) the odds are you won't be able to restore deleting contact entries.

 

[svim]

Were the contact ever backed up to a cloud source or a Google account? Also its a good idea to look in your the device internal and external memory for any .vcf or vCards files stored on the device because that's where your contacts are stored.

The OP already mentioned it's not a rooted phone.

 

[KBU2]

The OP already mentioned it's not a rooted phone.

What??? I'm not sure what you're referring to because the source I mentioned don't have to be on a rooted device. My device is not rooted and I can access my vCard from my file manager that contains my contacts.???

 

[KBU2]

The OP already mentioned it's not a rooted phone.

What are you talking about I didn't mention was the phone rooted nor implicated the methods to search for his contacts need to be on a rooted device?

 

[ElisavetKat]

It is very serious, I really really need to find a way to get it back. It can't be deleted forever, there must be a way to get it back. No, my phone is not rooted, but I don't mind if I have to root it in order to get it back. I have two google accounts connected to my phone, but none of them has saved my contacts. I have gone to the service department at phone stores and they told me that once something is deleted, it can't be recovered. But they didn't even mention back up or google, so I think that they just didn't give any thought to it. What confuses me a lot is how was that program able to recover another deleted contact and not the one I need? One week has passed since I deleted the second contact on purpose and the program still finds it as a deleted contact (even though it's not anywhere on my phone). But the one I need is nowhere. If I do root my phone, will I have a chance of recovering the contact or the call history? How do I find the vCard you are talking about?

 

[Hadron]

You would find a vcard (.vcf) file by looking using a file manager.

It sounds like you didn't have contact sync turned on, if (as your first post implies) there are no contacts stored at all. If you want to be safe you should turn that on, or "export" your contacts (which will write them to a vcf files you can then copy to somewhere off the phone).

You've not said how you managed to recover the one contact you did (I'm surprised you managed that, to be honest), so it's hard to say whether rooting will help (assuming your phone can be rooted - not all can, and for many rooting them will perform a reset in the process). But being able to recover one does not mean that you should be able to recover the other. If the one you want has been overwritten in the meantime it is absolutely gone, and the fact that one was not overwritten does not guarantee that the other has not been.

 

[KBU2]

@svim I think you have issue with wanting to put your answers above others in totally undermining a member's answer making false statements that wasn't made or implemented?

 

[svim]

@svim I think you have issue with wanting to put your answers above others in totally undermining a member's answer making false statements that wasn't made or implemented?

OK, so the first off the contacts database file will not be a vCard file type, it's a .db file and resides in /data/data, accessible only by rooting. A general user can't directly access that file, and I was just simply pointing that out. Apologies for being too abrupt, I wasn't aware you're so sensitive.

 

[KBU2]

OK, so the first off the contacts database file will not be a vCard file type, it's a .db file and resides in /data/data, accessible only by rooting. A general user can't directly access that file, and I was just simply pointing that out. Apologies for being too abrupt, I wasn't aware you're so sensitive.

I wasn't aware of that you didn't know that you can access your contacts from your vCard from your file manager as I said I can get mine from there and my phone is not rooted

 

[ElisavetKat]

So, in a phone that is not rooted and which didn't have contact sync, can I still have access to the vCard and will it have the deleted contact? I managed to recover the other one with dr.fone.

 

[KBU2]

This where my contact are on my device and I thought this option goes across all Android devices, that's why I mentioned it in my post.

 

[Hadron]

So, in a phone that is not rooted and which didn't have contact sync, can I still have access to the vCard and will it have the deleted contact? I managed to recover the other one with dr.fone.

They will only be in an accessible vcard file if you have exported them from the contacts app. Otherwise they would normally be in a database file in a directory you can only access with root.

 

[ElisavetKat]

Okay, so the only possible way is that file. So, only with root. Is it hard to root a phone? And if the root requires to delete everything in the phone, doesn't that mean that the database file will also be deleted?

 

[KBU2]

Okay, so the only possible way is that file. So, only with root. Is it hard to root a phone? And if the root requires to delete everything in the phone, doesn't that mean that the database file will also be deleted?

No this is in your device (root folder) this is not a rooted device

 

[Hadron]

How hard or easy it is depends on what phone it is, sometimes what software version and whether a service provider had a hand in the software (e.g. Verizon, a US carrier, are infamous for making their phones as hard to root as possible).

Whether rooting will reset the phone depends on the phone. If it does then yes, this will erase all contacts from it.

As for the vcard file, I note that KBU2's screenshot has the title "MicroSD", implying that those vcard files are on the removable card rather than the /data area. If so they will have been exported from the contacts app. You will only have this if you have exported them yourself (and you'd not need root to see this). Otherwise they live in a database file in the /data area.

 

[KBU2]

I'm only using Asus file manager with dark theme enable, that's all. On the .vcf file just long press and a account list will pop up on from where you want the files to come from that's all. Your device do not have to be rooted to access these files.

 

[KBU2]

It's strange that this post was on here because I was looking for my daughter's phone number that I accidently deleted sometime ago, and I just use it to retrieve it before I logged in to this post this morning.

 

[Hadron]

I'm only using Asus file manager with dark theme enable, that's all. On the .vcf file just long press and a account list will pop up on from where you want the files to come from that's all. Your device do not have to be rooted to access these files.

If you have the file in the first place. I've only ever seen those on an android device when I have used the export option in the contacts app (i.e. manually made a backup myself). Are you sure you haven't done this at some point?

 

[lunatic59]

Okay guys, first this must be said ... cooler heads, please. Even minor bickering will take this off track enough to not help the OP with his/her problem.

I think the confusion lies in that normally contact and call information is stored in a protected database that users wouldn't have access to unless rooted. I would suspect @KBU2 that you have some sort of backup utility that is touching your contacts and backing them up to an SD card. I looked on my phone (LG G6 running Oreo) using X-plore file manager and I do indeed have a similar path to /root/storage/[volume label] and what it appears to be is a simlink to my SD card, because when I expand the folder it is all the content on my card only.

@ElisavetKat, rooting your phone won't miraculously make these contacts appear or give you access to some secret hidden backups. What I am confused about is that you say the number you are trying to retrieve was a dialed number that was not answered so it wouldn't be part of your carrier's records, but it may be. Have you contacted them to ask for a list of calls that weren't completed? If the phone rang on the other end, then it certainly hit their network and they'd have a record of it.

Was this number ever setup as a contact? If not, then looking in contacts or rooting your phone is useless. Also, as @Hadron points out, rooting your phone will remove all user data which defeats the purpose of rooting it if you are trying to recover data. If you could possibly let us know what model you phone is, what version of Android it's running and who your carrier is, maybe we can point you in a better direction.

 

[KBU2]

The only backup that I have is what my device does automatically from the settings when I enable it. In the backup and restore. Note: My Google account plays a large part in how and when the device backup takes place. But as stated my device is not rooted and no kinds of ways with no special applications installed that does that.

 

[lunatic59]

Look at the dates on those files, @KBU2 . One is from May of this year and the other is about a year older than that. If it were part of a regular ongoing backup, then there would either be more of them or they'd be more current. However they got there, they are not part of Android/Google automated backup or sync. You must have either exported them at one point (maybe to switch devices?) or you tried an app and then deleted it. In any case, these are probably something the OP doesn't have unless they'd ever exported or backed up contacts using a manual or 3rd party solution. And I don't think it would include call logs. I did search my phone for any .vcf files on internal and external storage and even looked in the system as deep as it would let me go without root. File not found. I do have my contacts set to sync and use backup and restore for apps, so I should see what you do if it's part of the Google process.

@ElisavetKat , I am guessing that this is a pretty recent event. Where did you get the number in the first place? Maybe you can get it that way? Just looking for alternatives here.