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How to recover a deleted phone number on Android

Don't worry, your deleted contact info might not be gone!
By

Published onDecember 8, 2023

Did you delete a phone number you shouldn’t have? You could ask for it again, but this can be embarrassing, and we don’t always have other methods of communication with certain people. Let’s go over how to recover a deleted phone number on Android.

QUICK ANSWER

To recover a deleted phone number on Android, go to Contacts > Fix & manage > Trash. Select the contact and hit Recover.


JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS

How to recover a deleted phone number on Android

You’re lucky Google and many of its partners have thought of this. Most Contacts apps for Android have a trash can, including Google’s official Contacts app, as well as Samsung’s. Google will keep deleted contacts in the trash bin for 30 days. These will be permanently deleted after this period.

How to restore deleted phone numbers from the trash can on Google Contacts:

  1. Launch the Contacts app.
  2. Tap on the Fix & manage tab.
  3. Go into Trash.
  4. Tap on the contact you want to restore.
  5. Hit Recover.

How else can I recover a deleted phone number on Android

Is the method above not working for you? Here are some creative techniques that might save you from losing your contact’s info.

If you have Backup by Google One enabled, you can restore phone numbers from past backups. Your deleted contact is likely to be in one of these. Give it a try.

Restore contacts from a Google One backup:

  1. Launch the Contacts app.
  2. Tap on the Fix & manage tab.
  3. Select Restore contacts.
  4. Find a previous backup, and hit Restore next to it.
  5. Enter your PIN.
  6. Check if your deleted contact is back.

Also, you know how Facebook and Instagram ask you to sync your contacts when you log into your account? If you permit them to, it turns out Meta stores all this data, and you can download it.

How to download your uploaded contacts from Meta on Android:

  1. Launch the Facebook app.
  2. Tap on the three-line menu button, in the top-right corner.
  3. Hit the Settings gear icon.
  4. Select the Meta Accounts Center box, up top.
  5. Go into Your information and permissions.
  6. Tap on Download your information.
  7. Select Request a download.
  8. If you have multiple accounts, select the account and hit Next.
  9. Go into Select types of information.
  10. Find and select Contacts, then tap Next.
  11. Hit Submit request.

Facebook will let you know when the file is ready for download. When ready, download the zip file, enter Contacts, and launch the synced_contacts file. It will have a list of your uploaded contacts and their numbers!


FAQs

It turns out deleted files don’t automatically disappear into oblivion. They are stored in your storage unit until the space is needed to store other files. You can understand the concept and find solutions if you follow our Android data recovery guide.

Google’s Contacts app permanently deletes contacts after 30 days in the trash can. These can be recovered any time before then.

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