How to extract phonebook out from an android device

Question

A friend has a Samsung android phone with broken display and he wants to extract all contacts saved on the device.

I'm trying to help, but I have a Linux OS on my PC, not windows or mac. I also have my android Motorola Moto-G phone to try with.

I have an USB cable to connect the phone.
I also have a wifi router which my PC is connected to by a LAN eth cable and I usually connect also the phone to the router wireless network so that it can be routed to internet.
```
       |---- ethernet Modem ---> Internet
       |
Router |---- LAN eth ----------| PC
       |
       -))) WiFi network  ((((( Android_Phone
```
I think possible to connect my phone through a bluetooth dongle I used years ago with an old non-android cell. I've never tried it with my android phone.

My PC doesn't have any WiFi adapter so I can't create any "ad hoc" wireless connection between PC and phone.

Is there any way to extract my android Moto-G phonebook working from my Linux system?

Can you connect through adb? That has more of a chance of working than through the network. Unless you've set something up specifically on the phone, you can't access the phone from outside through the network. What exact phone model do you have? Although your question is on-topic here, you'd have a better chance at getting an answer on Android Enthusiasts, since this question mostly requires Android expertise, not Linux expertise. — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 23:29
If I well understood what I read about ADB: the phone has to be configured with "USB debugging" enabled and my moto-g it is. My friend samsung phone is likely in a default status so usb debugging should be disabled... — Joe, Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 13:12
Anyway I read the device needs to be rooted for phone book extraction by adb. In that case neither my moto-g nor my friend's samsung is rooted... As regard Samsung specific model, unfortunately I haven't that phone now and I don't know exactly its model name. — Joe, Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 13:20

Cyclic3 · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-16 15:23:43Z

4

The best method for this is to collect all of your contacts into a vcf file, and then copy it between the phones

To import them, you just follow the same steps, but you choose import instead.

I have a Moto-G, and this works for me!

answered Jan 16, 2017 at 15:05

Cyclic3

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My friend phone has a broken display, I have to work from the PC only. I can't "Go to contacts", nor "Click on the triple dot..." and so on, because I don't have any display to touch...
– Joe
Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 15:45
My friend phone has a broken display, I have to work from the PC only. I can't "Go to contacts", nor "Click on the triple dot..." and so on, because I don't have any display to touch... An example: years ago I had an old Nokia cell (not a smartphone) and I broken its display, despite of that I found a numbers shortcut to activate bluetooth, so I extracted its
– Joe
Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 15:52
phonebook by using Wammu
– Joe
Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 16:05
The system, AFAIK, has been locked stop stop this sort of thing. Imagine if you could see all the contacts of a person, just by plugging in their phone when they are not looking!
– Cyclic3
Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 16:07
One could accomplish all you said just by following your six points... Anyway, there are several softwares to do it from windows.
– Joe
Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 16:40

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chicks · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-07 18:58:58Z

1

On other Android phones -- like Verizon Samsungs -- you might have to use the "share" option since there is no "Import/Export" option.

answered Aug 7, 2018 at 18:58

chicks

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