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How does contact sync work in Android

Anonymous User136423-Nov-2015
I can understand the initial bit of all user contacts taken to the cloud and then matched against the Whatsapp global user list. But later when user adds more contacts in phonebook, it shows up in Whatsapp contacts in just a few seconds without any manual syncing button. Is it possible to keep passing the data from phone contacts to the cloud?
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Updated on 02-Jul-2023
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Aryan Kumar

Aryan Kumar

02-Jul-2023

Android contact sync works by using the Contacts Provider. The Contacts Provider is a data store that contains all of the contacts on the device. When a contact is added, modified, or deleted, the Contacts Provider is updated. The Contacts Provider then syncs the changes with the cloud service.

The cloud service can be Google Contacts, iCloud, or another service. The cloud service then syncs the changes with the other devices that are using the same service.

The contact sync process is usually automatic. However, you can also manually sync your contacts by going to Settings>Accounts>Google>Contacts and tapping on Sync now.

Here are the steps on how to manually sync your contacts in Android:

  1. Go to Settings>Accounts>Google.
  2. Select the Google account that you want to sync your contacts with.
  3. Tap on Contacts.
  4. Tap on Sync now.

If you are using a third-party cloud service, you may need to follow the instructions provided by the service provider to manually sync your contacts.

The frequency of the contact sync process depends on the settings that you have configured. By default, your contacts are synced once a day. However, you can change this setting to sync your contacts more or less frequently.

To change the sync frequency, go to Settings>Accounts>Google>Contacts and select the frequency that you want.

You can also choose to sync your contacts only when you are connected to Wi-Fi. This can help to save data if you are using a limited data plan.

To sync your contacts only when you are connected to Wi-Fi, go to Settings>Accounts>Google>Contacts and toggle the switch next to Sync only when connected to Wi-Fi to On.

If you are having problems with contact sync, you can try the following:

  • Make sure that you are connected to the internet.
  • Make sure that you have the latest version of the Contacts app.
  • Restart your device.
  • Clear the data and cache for the Contacts app.
  • Uninstall and reinstall the Contacts app.

If you have tried all of these things and you are still having problems, you can contact Google support for help.

Anonymous User

Anonymous User

23-Nov-2015
There is a background process running in OS, with is associated with whatsapp.

When you install whatsapp it will add it's account in your OS settings (You can check by going in ,Settings > Accounts ) that will allow it to use it's SyncAdaper, which can periodically sync data from app to server, in this case whenever a new contact is added in your phone, or after some fixed iterative time defined by OS, All SyncAdapters are called upon to sync data with associated server, in this case whatsapp app to whatsapp server.(Google Mail / Contacts works similarly - autonomous)

So next time when you open app, you find your new contacts listed in whatsapp..

P.S: Details accurate for android OS

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