Storing Contacts to SIM Card doesn't work!

[BigZ1]

All I want to do is make a copy of my phone contacts on my SIM Card. I've tried 3 different android phones with 3 different SIM cards, and not a one of them will copy to the SIM card. I get errors from all 3 phones. I can export to a vcf file but when I try to import to the SIM, I get an error (the exact message varies with the phone). I've also tried several SIM manager apps from the playstore and none of them work either. The apps can read the info on the SIM card but show contacts as empty.

I have come to the conclusion that something must have changed in android as compared to years ago, when I was able to do this without errors. The phones I have tried vary from Android 5.1 to 7.1 . Looks to me like some kind of a permissions problem with writing to the SIM card.

Anybody have any thoughts on why I'm having this problem? Any suggestions?

Can you export contacts to the SIM card on your phone? If so, let me know. Maybe I have to adjust some settings.

 

[ocnbrze]

what are the errors? how are you copying them to the card? what phones did you try them on?

 

[BigZ1]

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Because the phones have different versions of android, the exact verbage of the error message varies with the phone (I didn't save the exact messages). Some variation of copy failed, or contacts not saved on SIM. The exact message doesn't really matter; it fails to write to the SIM card!

Tried using apps from the google playstore, SIM Toolkit, SIM Manager. Using Android, I export the contacts to a .vcf file and that works. If I then try to import vcf file to SIM card, the contacts won't save to SIM.

Tried using Nexus 5, LG K7, LG K8, and a couple of Samsungs.

Try it on your phone. See if you can copy your contacts to your SIM card by any method you choose. Doesn't take long; it either works or fails. If you can do it, maybe it can be traced to settings. If it works for you, I can try to replicate the process, assuming your version of android isn't too far off from mine.

I managed to find a friend who let me look at his Samsung S6, and he had successfully stored a handful of contacts to the SIM card, so I know it is possible. He was no help in telling me how he managed to save them. He wasn't even aware that he had any contacts on his SIM card! And no, I can't use his phone for debugging purposes. It's his only phone and he needs to use it.

Thanks again for your time and efforts in replying.

 

[Hadron]

I've not stored a contact on a SIM for at least a decade, but I just did the following on a Galaxy s21 running Android 12, latest security patch:

1) Created a contact on the SIM manually.
2) Moved a contact from internal storage to the SIM (and back). Method: Contacts app, choose move, select contact to move, select destination, done.

That was all I could do with the stock (Samsung) Contacts app. It had an option to export contacts to the SIM, but no option to select which; as the SIM certainly could not handle my full contacts list I did not test this. It would not offer to import contacts from vcf to SIM, i.e. SIM just wasn't one of the destinations available (which didn't wholly surprise me, I'm pretty sure my previous phone, a Pixel 2, didn't either).

However, I also tried the Simple Contacts app, and that allowed me to export selected contacts to a .vcf and also allowed me to import that .vcf to my SIM. I confirmed this by viewing (and deleting) the copied contact on my SIM using the default contacts app.

So it is possible as far as Android is concerned, but does depend on what contacts app you are using.

 

[BigZ1]

Thank you again for taking the time to research and respond.

I looked on google play store for Simple Contacts, and the closest thing I get is Simple Contacts: Address Book, and Simple Contacts Pro. Which one were you using?

How were you able to create a contact on the SIM card. I've been looking for this and can't find any way to do it with the native Contacts app. It's also not in the Simple Contacts: Address Book app.

 

[Dannydet]

Why not install the Google Contacts App on your device, then do the same on each of the other devices?
Wham! There's all of your contacts on all devices....

 

[Hadron]

Thank you again for taking the time to research and respond.

I looked on google play store for Simple Contacts, and the closest thing I get is Simple Contacts: Address Book, and Simple Contacts Pro. Which one were you using?

How were you able to create a contact on the SIM card. I've been looking for this and can't find any way to do it with the native Contacts app. It's also not in the Simple Contacts: Address Book app.

I used the native Contacts app on my Galaxy s21 to create a SIM contact. You do need to spot the place in the user interface where you choose where the contact is written: it isn't particularly obvious on many apps, but if you see anything that looks like a location ("phone" or "Google") try touching it and see whether there are other options.

As for Simple Contacts, the developer is Simple Mobile Tools, i.e. either of those apps. I'm not sure there's any difference apart from one being a "donate" version of the other - I happen to have Simple Contacts Pro installed, but as far as I remember just because I believe in paying developers for their apps.

 

[BigZ1]

Why not install the Google Contacts App on your device, then do the same on each of the other devices?
Wham! There's all of your contacts on all devices....

Thanks for the suggestion. The reason I need to have contacts on my SIM is that I live in an area where cell coverage is spotty. I need to be able to look up a contact, even if I'm on the fringe of coverage. It's a long story, but trust me, I need it. I think I have found the answer to my question, so thanks a million for the help.

 

[BigZ1]

Thanks to all who contributed. I think the final answer is that if you want contacts on your SIM card on older phones that I use, you have to get a paid for app to do it. Older versions of Android didn't support the SIM card, but newer versions do support it.

 

[Hadron]

Thanks for the suggestion. The reason I need to have contacts on my SIM is that I live in an area where cell coverage is spotty. I need to be able to look up a contact, even if I'm on the fringe of coverage.

I don't understand this though. Contacts on your phone, whether phone-only or synced with Google/Microsoft/whoever, are still accessible even if you have no network connection. They are actually stored on the phone, just backed-up online. So I don't understand how storing on the SIM improves access.

 

[Stephanie Sy]

Turn off your device, Once the phone is off, wait 30 seconds and turn it on. Check to see if this fixed the issue once it reboots.