My "Smart"Phone uses Android 2.3. All my friends and family are in "Contact". I am linked to my Gmail account.

Why do contacts all of a sudden vanish? I positively know they were in my "Contacts", they still exist in WhatsApp, but they are no longer in "Contacts". I certyainly did not delete them.

Is GMail doing some crazy stuff? Or am I doing something wrong?

By the way, I talked to other people and they experienced the same with Android and a GMail account.

When I bought a new phone and imagined, all my contacts are safe in my GMail account, I was up for a big surprise. 50% had vanished without a trace.

Does someone know what is happening here? Is it a bug or a feature?

it doesnt happen on mine ,in android you can choose to have the contacts on the sim ,the phone handset ,the google account etc

chances are ,they are still stored on one of those 3 and have not merged together

I upgraded to Android 4.0 last week, I had backed up all my contacts, I have ~ 1,249 contacts (and backed-up calls, smses, calendar) via MyPhoneExplorer (synched to Outlook), and Go Contacts Ex and Super Backup. Go Contacts Ex is pretty good; you can Import numbers, like service provider USSDs, from the SIM.

And I use WhatsApp!

Anyway, once every 24 hours all my contacts, except for ~ 50 disappeared. It was easy for me to restore, but I am honestly not sure what was going on?

I did a fair amount of research and couldn't find any root cause, so I assumed it was due to the custom ROM I am using?

I turned off all the synches I could identify and that didn't help.

However, my contacts have not disappeared in the last 6 days.

All my contacts are still in Gmail.

You can choose which Contacts are displayed, so maybe this is the problem? Open Contacts, press Menu, Choose Contacts to Display, choose ALl contacts.

If you Google android contacts disappearing you get a fair amount of info.

Now some contacts simply vanish from my "Favorites". I went to check in my GMail account. They are there. But not anymore on the phone.

I see my contacts in my GMail account, I synchronize on my Samsung ... nothing. The addresses in the GMail account simply don't move to the Samsung. Mystery to me.

And sometimes I chat with people on WhatApp. I see the convesation in WhatsApp and I can access the contact details of the other person. But the contact is NOT in "Contacts".

Something is seriously messed up.

I Googled the problem of disappearing contacts in Android. Seems to be a common problem, but no definitive answer... I keep looking and will keep you updated.

Thanks for the help, anyway.

What phone model do you have? Is this a new problem? Are you using the dialer? Or the Contacts app?

I suspect that the contacts are there but you've just inadvertantly selected not to display them. That's my best guess.

I think you have to manually select those contacts which you want to add to Favorites.

Maybe just play around with both the Dialer and the Contacts, examining the menus, esp. Accounts and Synching.

I noticed same issue in my HTC running GB. Also i got all the time notifications to link contacts again and again. Bit annoying but always able to restore those few that went missing.

Now i'm running Samsung with modded CM7, i only sync with outlook now and no issues.

As a hint, it costs bit money but not too much, i use Plaxo premium that has save my life more than once when phones are lost or something else happens. It syncs with almost anything like gmail, outlook and so on. I also have 1000+ contacts and have been able to restore from Plaxo couple of times already. They also have android app but haven't used it yet.

What phone model do you have? Is this a new problem? Are you using the dialer? Or the Contacts app?

I suspect that the contacts are there but you've just inadvertantly selected not to display them. That's my best guess.

I think you have to manually select those contacts which you want to add to Favorites.

Maybe just play around with both the Dialer and the Contacts, examining the menus, esp. Accounts and Synching.

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note (the 5" display thing) and I use the built-in Contact app, nothing added.

Yes I can "star" some contacts as Favorites, but sometimes they simply disappear both from Favorites and from the list of Contacts.

What phone model do you have? Is this a new problem? Are you using the dialer? Or the Contacts app?

I suspect that the contacts are there but you've just inadvertantly selected not to display them. That's my best guess.

I think you have to manually select those contacts which you want to add to Favorites.

Maybe just play around with both the Dialer and the Contacts, examining the menus, esp. Accounts and Synching.

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note (the 5" display thing) and I use the built-in Contact app, nothing added.

Yes I can "star" some contacts as Favorites, but sometimes they simply disappear both from Favorites and from the list of Contacts.

I am now running ICS so can't look at a 2.3 implementation. with ICS; I open Contacts, click on menu (lower left soft key), and can choose Contacts to display (all, WhatsApp, Gmail customize), Import/export (from SIM, from storage, to storage, share visible contacts), Accounts (Accounts & synch: WhatsApp, Gmail, can turn synch on or off) and Settings.

If you go to Gmail do you see all your contacts?

Definitely try Go Contacts Ex (free, as is Go Dialer Ex, as is Super backup), if only to back up your contacts. My Phone Explorer (requires both phone and PC SW) is an incredible product, and it's free!

Thank Iomatopo, I will try that.