The Samsung Galaxy S24
kzandrah's profile

Contributor

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2 Messages

Wednesday, January 15th, 2014 11:21 PM

Samsung Galaxy S3 Contacts App Crashing

I am currently having trouble with the stock Contacts app on my phone. I have a Samsung Galaxy S3, running Android 4.3. I am trying to update some contacts in my phone (specifically, adding contacts to the ICE - emergency contacts group). I am able to get to the groups screen and select the ICE group, but when I click "Save" I get the error message: "Unfortunately, Contacts has stopped." I am then taken back to my contacts list, and the group change has not been saved. 

 

I have tried doing other edits to the contacts (adding a note, adding a new phone number, etc.) and these changes are saved without a problem; the crash is only happening when I try to update the group that the contact belongs to. 

 

I have tried restarting the phone, as well as force stopping the app and then reopening it, with no luck. Any additional suggestions, or has anyone else run into this problem?

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Official Solution

Teacher

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7 Messages

10 years ago

I was able to fix the issue on my and my wifes phone.

 

The first thing I noticed when I was trying to find the cause is I noticed that google contacts hadn't synced for a while.Check Settings>Accounts>Google> and then click on your account to see when the last time it has synced. If it hasn't synced for a while, then you are having the same issue I had.  I figured this might be a clue so I went to www.google.com/contacts/ and logged in. I noticed two things, the first was there was more than a couple of contact entries on my phone that didn't sync with the online contacts feature. The second was that there was more than a couple of entries that were grouped under "other contacts". While I don't know if any of this was part or in whole the issue, I cleaned up my contacts online and made sure that all my contacts were part of "My Contacts" group at a minimum.

 

The next thing I did was to go to Settings>More>Application Manager. Scroll over to the "All" tab. Go to "Contacts" and choose "Force Stop". Then clear the data and cache for it. Back out once. Then go to "Contacts Storage" and choose "Force Stop" and clear the data and cache for it. Back out once. Scroll down to "Synchronize" and choose "Force Stop" and clear the data and cache for it.  Reboot your phone.

 

It is worth noting that before you do this you should take inventory of your contacts lists on your phone. If you haven't synced for a while then you are about to permanently delete all your contacts on your phone. So make sure you've manually inputted your contacts into the online version of google contacts before you do this.

 

After I rebooted I went to Settings>Accounts> Google> and chose "Sync All". My phone now synced correctly and all my contacts were put back on the phone. I could now change the group and it wouldn't crash. I noticed that when I wanted to change a group on my phone that there was a new category called "My Contacts" and it was greyed out and I couldn't deselect it. This is why I made sure I grouped all my contacts on google contacts as "My Contacts". I hope this works for everyone else since it worked on two phones so far.

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

Tutor

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1 Message

9 years ago

I was able to fix the same issue by :

 

  1. Export all contacts to a vcf file.
  2. Use the Application Manager to clear all data and the cache from the Contacts and Contacts Storage apps
  3. Import the contacts back into the Contacts App.  

 

I hope that helps,

Ski Bum

Former Community Manager

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10.4K Messages

10 years ago

Hello kzandrah,

 

When did it start doing that or when have you first noticed it? Was it after a software update or some app installation? It is possible that there is bug with the update and it might need to be reported to Samsung or another app is affecting it. Also, has your phone's software been modified in any way? Unfortunately a lot of times the best way to troubleshoot Android software issues is to do a factory reset, especially if issues developed after OS updates. Please send a private message to our Social Media care team and we can help you troubleshoot, please back up all your information before troubleshooting in case a reset will be required.

 

Thanks,

Dmitriy

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

I am having the same problem on My S3.  There hasn't been any updates that I am aware of in the last few days.

Teacher

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7 Messages

10 years ago

My wife and I both are having this same issue. We are running version 4.3 on our S3 phones. The issue only seems to happen when you try to change the group association.

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

I am having the same issue on my Galaxy S3. I discovered the issue in December when I tried to edit a contact and change the group, that was after AT&T forced a new OS update three times within the month of November 2013, I think two upgrades in one week and then one about 10 days later. I was able to edit my contacts successfully prior to the first November 2013 OS upgrade. To rule out interference from other apps, I have only installed two apps since I acquired this phone and both were installed about June 2013, I avoid updating any software due to too many issues with the new versions, therefore most of my app versions came with the OS. I would like to have this issue resolved, is there a fix for this without having to perform a factory reset? Does the Firmware have anything to do with this 'Contacts' issue?

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

Exact same issue here. Any time I try to add or remove contacts from a group on my S3, the contacts app stops, and the data is not saved. This happens whether I'm editing an existing contact or creating a new one and trying to add it to a group, in addition to when I am editing the group Itself and trying to add or remove members using that screen.

It happens even if I boot in safe mode, and I've tried clearing the cache/data for phone and contact apps to no avail.

The issue started immediately after the 4.3 Android update installed.

Teacher

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7 Messages

10 years ago

I forgot to include some other findings. The first was that some of my online contacts didn't have a name entered in the "Other Contacts" area. Perhaps this was a causing some issue with breaking the sync. The fact that I now have a "My Contacts" group on my phone also is telling me that how you had your contacts grouped on Google Contacts might have to do with why it was breaking on the phone.

 

When I was working on my phone first (I didn't want to break my wifes phone). I also deleted my google account from Settings>Accounts>Google. Once it was deleted, I added the account back. I made note that sync was still broken after doing this so I don't feel this accomplished anything. I didn't have to do it on my wife's phone either. I'm just sharing this fact that perhaps some people are going to have to do parts or all of everything I outlined.


After I fixed my phone I noticed my contacts for WhatsApp was showing contacts that I know don't have the app installed. I had to force stop Whatsapp and clear the data and cache to get it showing correctly in the contacts list. Now my contact list is complete and shows me the correct links to other 3rd party apps that use the contact list.

Professor

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454 Messages

10 years ago

None of those issues here and I too am having the same problem...

Brand new Galaxy S5 -- contacts synced to the phone, and then have never once worked, even with factory reset twice --same old "unfortunately contacts has stopped" message any time I touch a contact or try to use it in any way.

 

My only workaround was to download Contacts+ and use that instead. But that is inefficient and not what I want to do.

 

Other solutions people have posted: go into settings>date and time> change the date format to something else than change it back. Lots of people report this works. For me it did nothing.

 

Other solutions: go into Application Manager>contacts" and turn off cach and data...reboot, resync.

Nothing. Same problem.

 

SO my shiny new GS5 is totally worthless right now, and I am going back to my old phone until this is resolved. By the way, there are comments throughout the forums - ATT, Verizon, Sprint about this same problem -- clearly a serious bug.

 

 

 

Expert

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12.2K Messages

10 years ago


@RonAnnArbor wrote:

None of those issues here and I too am having the same problem...

Brand new Galaxy S5 -- contacts synced to the phone, and then have never once worked, even with factory reset twice --same old "unfortunately contacts has stopped" message any time I touch a contact or try to use it in any way.

 

My only workaround was to download Contacts+ and use that instead. But that is inefficient and not what I want to do.

 

Other solutions people have posted: go into settings>date and time> change the date format to something else than change it back. Lots of people report this works. For me it did nothing.

 

Other solutions: go into Application Manager>contacts" and turn off cach and data...reboot, resync.

Nothing. Same problem.

 

SO my shiny new GS5 is totally worthless right now, and I am going back to my old phone until this is resolved. By the way, there are comments throughout the forums - ATT, Verizon, Sprint about this same problem -- clearly a serious bug.

 

 

 


Then the best bet is to contact samsung support since it is carrier independent

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