How to merge duplicate contacts on Android

The “Contacts” app is probably one of the most neglected apps on your Android phone. Email, SMS and phone apps use your contacts, so it’s important to clean them up routinely. We show you how to combine duplicates.

What is a “duplicate switch?” You can easily end up with two instances of the same person, one with a phone number and one with an email address. The good news is that you do not have to find these duplicates yourself.

Merge duplicate contacts with Google Contacts

Google offers its own simply named “Contacts” app for all Android devices. If it’s not already on yours, you can download it from the Play Store.

First, open the app and make sure you’re on the right Google Account – if you have more – by tapping the profile icon in the search bar. You can switch here if you need to.

Use the correct Google Account.

You can now switch to the “Correct and Manage” tab at the bottom of the screen.

Change to "Correct and manage."

Select the “Merge & Fix” tool.

choose "Merge and repair."

Google finds all contacts that it believes could be merged. Tap “Merge Duplicates” to review the suggestions.

Press "Merge duplicates."

Review the suggestions and tap “Merge” or “Reject” on one of them. If they all look good, you can merge them all in one go with the “Merge All” button.

Merge the contacts together.

You are ready! The contacts now appear as one, without multiple duplicates.

Merge duplicate contacts with Samsung contacts

The default “Contacts” app on Samsung Galaxy devices has a tool to merge duplicate contacts. Let’s open the app to get started.

Open "Contact persons."

Tap the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines) on the left side of the screen and select “Manage Contacts”.

Press the menu and "Manage contacts."

Select “Merge Contacts”.

Press "Merge contacts."

There are three sections on this screen. The duplicate contacts are organized by which part is duplicated: “Number”, “Email” or “Name”. Select one of the contacts you want to combine or press “Select All”.

Select the contacts.

Tap “Merge” at the bottom of the screen.

Press "Merge."

That is it! The contacts now appear as one. It is very easy for contacts to get out of hand. Fortunately, both Google and Samsung offer easy ways to help you keep things organized.

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