See also: How to Add New Contact on Samsung Galaxy S3
In Galaxy SIII you can save contacts to SIM or Phone. But, for some reasons you might want to copy the contacts from the SIM to the phone, for example if you want to change the SIM card and want to move all the contacts that you have saved on the SIM card to phone.
Image Credit: telecom.co.nz
How to import contacts from SIM to phone?
As written on vodafone.co.uk, you can do it by following the steps below:
- Go to Apps through Home screen.
- Scroll to Contacts, then tap on it.
- Tap on the Contact tab.
- Tap on Menu key.
- On the pop up menu select Import/Export.
- Tap on Import from SIM card.
- Tap on Phone.
- Tap on Select all.
- Tap on Done button.
- Finish. Now all contact on your SIM has been successfully copied to your Phone.
By knowing on how to copy contacts from SIM to phone, now you can still keep your contacts even when you change the SIM card. So, hope this article useful for you :)
Great tute and easy to follow. Thank you :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Ria,
DeleteThanks for coming and leave your comment here.
I'm so happy found this post can provide benefit and help to you.
Enjoy reading and have a nice day :)
Please help. I followed your instructions but i do not see the option to "select all" so i cannot copy from dim to phone
ReplyDeleteHi Jason,
DeleteThanks for coming.
In step #8, Select all option is under search box or at the top of contact list.
Hope it helps :)
Ive got a problem I have gotten some water damage on one galaxy and am trying to transfer to a new one, but my menu key doesn't work to transfer to the sim is there any other way to get my contacts to my new phone
ReplyDeleteHi Sgtcheeze,
DeleteDo you have a Gmail account? Do you have added your Gmail account on your old phone? If you do then your contact should automatically be backed up. Open your Gmail on the computer. Click the down arrow next to Gmail (in red near the top left on your computer screen), there should be a contacts option. Now, add your Gmail account on your new Galaxy S3 then sync your Gmail contacts with your new phone.
Hope it helps :)
when i bought the phone an out dated contact list was downloaded,can I copy contacts from the sim card of my old phone to this one?
ReplyDeleteHi Mella,
DeleteThanks for coming.
Yes, you can. Try to insert your SIM card to the phone then copy the contact used the steps I've mentioned above.
Hope this helps :)
Tap on Import from SIM card.
ReplyDeleteNo option to import from Sim Card.
Hi Awfulart,
DeleteThanks for coming.
Can you please tell me, what options available on your phone when you tap 'Import/Export' option?
Thanks for this. This was easy and useful. However when i view my contacts list I see doubles of each contact. How can I change my settings to just display from my phone memory?
ReplyDeleteHi Rosie,
DeleteThanks for coming
Glad to know you can find something useful here.
To set the Contacts app to only display contact on your phone, on Contacts app> tap the Menu key then select "Contact to display"> select "Phone".
This step will make your Contacts app only display phone's contact. Or, you can also visit our post about displaying contact from a single source here:http://inside-galaxy.blogspot.com/2013/07/samsung-galaxy-s3-how-to-remove.html
Hope this helps :)
Hi have no option on my phone except to import and export to USB storage? what do I do to access my contacts?
ReplyDeleteHi Alana,
DeleteThanks for coming.
CMIIW, did you mean to copy contacts except from or to USB storage? If so, if the SIM card is inserted properly in your phone, then you should have the option to import and export to SIM card. And, if the SD card is inserted properly in your phone, then you should have the option to import and export to SD card. However, can you please tell me what's the model number and the Android version of your phone?
Hi Rehan
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be the expert so can you help me with something?
All of my contacts have photos allocated to them, but when i view or compose a txt msg to any of my contacts, their photos to not appear.
All my contact information is stored on my phone but i have previously imported the information from my sim card and I think this may have something to do with it.
My phone is set to only display phone contacts.
Thanks
Hi Katherine Hunt,
DeleteThanks for coming and I'm so sorry for late answer.
FYI, I'm not an expert, I'm just a Samsung phone's user.
Well back to your case. I'm so wondering, how did you save additional information(including with the contact's picture) on certain contact you saved in the SIM card? AFAIK, when we save a contact in the SIM card, we're only allowed to add contact's name and phone number.
Anyway, try to add a new contact to your phone and change the contact's picture. Send him a message. When you get a reply, see in Messaging app, does the contact's picture show up there or not?
Very simple and easy to follow, thank you :)
ReplyDeleteHi Yandinna Skvaridlo,
DeleteThanks for coming and let me know about it.
I'm so glad to know that you can find something useful here :)
Hi there, thanks for your time writing about this issue. I tried copying my contacts from my sim card to my Samsung G3, bit that option does not come up. Here is the what comes up in the menu:
ReplyDeleteImport from USB storage
Export to USB storage
Import from SD Card
Export from SD Card
Share namecard via
Would appreciate your help in resolving this issue. Many thanks!
Hi SUN KISSED,
DeleteThanks for coming.
Is your phone not an international version? If yes, I noticed that in some models other than the international version, some of import/export options are not available.
If you don't mind, you can try to install third-party app(e.g: SIM Manager app) that will allow you to copy/export SIM card contacts to your phone contacts and vice versa.
Excellent thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Tiffany J'adore,
DeleteThanks for coming and let me know that you can find something useful here :)
If you had a non-working screen on a Samsung Galaxy siii and got an upgrade, transferred the sim and SD card to the new phone (newer model) and the user couldn't remember the login/password for the old phone and store rep created a new login and has setup everything to the new login, is there anyway to retrieve the contacts off the old phone if the screen were replaced? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi JATaylor,
DeleteThanks for coming.
It depends the place you're using to save your contacts:
- If you save your contacts in your SIM card, you can copy your contacts to the new phone by inserting that SIM card.
- If you save your contacts in your Google account, you can copy your contacts to your new phone by adding that Google account in your new phone and then sync contacts.
- If you save your contacts in your phone memory, as long as the phone can be turned on(even when the screen is broken), you can copy your contact by using Samsung kies. You just need to connect your phone to your PC> launch Samsung kies(you can download this app from the Samsung website) on your PC> backup your contacts. Once done, connect your new phone> (if it's a Samsung Galaxy phone) launch Samsung Kies on your PC> restore the backup file.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteHas anyone had the problem on their Samsung S3 where when you do go to the Contacts app, then menu, you do not see a selection for "Import/Export". I think my wifes S3 must be a previous version, as this selection does not show and she is having a difficult time in moving 400 contacts over to her new OnePlus X device! Any help is appreciated
YES !!! Hi PD,, I am having the same issue with a S3 GT19305 , Android vers 4.4.4.
ReplyDeleteAny suggestions would be appreciated.
Cheers