Google contacts suddenly synced, how to remove those contacts?

Johanna12221

Hello! I've been using GrapheneOS for a couple of years and love it.

I'm logged in to Google to be able to use Google Play.
Suddenly yesterday I discovered that all contacts had synced from Google Contacts to the phone, even though that settings is off under “Settings -> Accounts -> Google account -> “Sync off for all items” (and has been off for years, and it was not accidentally turned on)

Dig a little further and found that under “Apps” setting that the “Google Play services” was given permissions to contacts (even accessed in past 24 hours) and that probably synced them.

Now my question is how do I get rid of the contacts that synced from Google contacts?
I tried clearing all data from the Contacts & Phone apps, but that didn’t help. I also went trough the Google settings to find anything, but did not.

de0u

Johanna12221 It is possible to delete all contacts using the "SMS Import/Export" app. I don't think it can selectively delete, though.

Oggyo

Johanna12221

If you need to delete contacts online (cloud) - log in to https://contacts.google.com with the respective account
if you want to delete locally ALL contacts (are you sure?) - clean the storage of the SYSTEM app named Contacts Storage (not the Contacts app)
If you want to delete ALL local contacts per account - you can use a tool like Fossify Contacts.
I had a similar case discussed here - https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/12194-how-to-copymove-contacts-between-two-accounts/4

Johanna12221

Oggyo
Thank you so much! I found the System App Contacs Storage and cleared it which removed all Google contacts from my phone!
I didn't even have to resync my Nextcloud contacts, they stayed automatically.

For my next phone (Pixel 10?) I will be sure to skip Google Services altogether and use F-Droid/Aurora Store.

Thanks!