Changing number, but retaining contacts?

[SonicAtrocity]

Hey everybody, 

So, I'm looking to join PM, and I prefer to change my phone number. Upon activating my SIM card will the number be given to me automatically? Or how does this work? Further, will all my contacts stay on my phone? I already checked that it will work (I have an LG G4). 

Essentially, I want to join PM, necessarily changing my number, and then text all of my contacts at once informing them that this is my new number. It's really important that I can do this, as my job absolutely requires that I can be contacted. 

Thanks!

[Luddite]

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wrote:

LG G4. 🙂

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Whoops, forgot that was in your first post!  Ralph was distracting me

Ralph

[stonechucker]

So, I still have the phone here, no sim, and no wifi.

Went to create a new contact, wanted me to try to go online.  Was able to choose store locally.

So, it is possible to store on the phone from setup, if you haven't already linked to a google account.

[will13am]

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wrote:

@SonicAtrocity, I just unlocked my mom's old Moto E 2 today, and when I was going through the factory reset, I was able to enter my 'google id' or gmail account, which basically automatically sets up your contacts to default to the syncronized gmail account / contacts / calendar / etc...

HOWEVER, I noticed an option to skip this, so I tried it, and at this time, I would imagine it would attempt to save possibly to the SIM card by default, but I do not have a spare card to see what happens.

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Back in the day, the OS may interface with the SIM card as storage medium.  I don't believe any modern OS would do that.  In android, the contacts is an apk that resides in the /system partition with the data stored in the /data partition.  Here is a brief explanation of android partititions.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/general/android-partitions-explained-t3657183

[stonechucker]

@SonicAtrocity, I just unlocked my mom's old Moto E 2 today, and when I was going through the factory reset, I was able to enter my 'google id' or gmail account, which basically automatically sets up your contacts to default to the syncronized gmail account / contacts / calendar / etc...

HOWEVER, I noticed an option to skip this, so I tried it, and at this time, I would imagine it would attempt to save possibly to the SIM card by default, but I do not have a spare card to see what happens.

[will13am]

@SonicAtrocity, if you go to settings, accounts, what accounts are showing?  Hopefully, there is a google account or similar that stores contacts.  If you go into an account that is found there, you will find options to sync.  If contacts are synced to that account, you are safe.  If there are no accounts there, I suggest starting up a google account and do the contact sync.  With a LG G4, the fear is not losing the contacts when switching carriers.  The G4 is known to boot loop at the most inopportune time.  If the phone fails, all that is stored on the phone will not be recoverable.  The G4 is a ticking time bomb with a short fuse. 

[SonicAtrocity]

Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it.

[NDesai · Accepted solution]

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@SonicAtrocitywrote:

Okay, so I have powered down, removed the SIM card, booted back up, and when I go to my contacts they are all there. At risk of sounding stupid, would it be safe to assume that they are indeed on my phone's storage and not merely appearing as though they are? I get the impression I'm good to go from here.

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As i said, just to be safe, back up your contacts may be to LG cloud or manually on your phone. If you google how to back up, there should be plenty of guides. 

[SonicAtrocity]

Okay, so I have powered down, removed the SIM card, booted back up, and when I go to my contacts they are all there. At risk of sounding stupid, would it be safe to assume that they are indeed on my phone's storage and not merely appearing as though they are? I get the impression I'm good to go from here.

[srlawren]

@SonicAtrocity I'm not sure about LG's contacts app.  I just looked in the current version of Google's Contacts app, and it wouldn't let me create any new contacts on the SIM nor copy any existings ones to the SIM.  I'm not sure how to tell, but maybe try Googling something like "LG G4 Android X.X.X Contacts on SIM card" or something...  where X.X.X is your current version of Android.  

Actually:  @imm1304 do you happen to know?

[NDesai]

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@SonicAtrocitywrote:

Thank you as well for your fast reply 🙂 

As I had asked the other poster, how do I determine where my contacts are stored? 

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My Android Contacts app allows to me select the list from different accounts i added. All my contacts are saved on Google Account. If your contacts are saved on your sim card, there should be an option to list them or simply remove the sim card and see if your contacts are still there.  

[SonicAtrocity]

LG G4. 🙂

[Luddite]

If you have an iPhone they cannot be stored on the SIM. What is make/model of your phone?

[SonicAtrocity]

Thank you as well for your fast reply 🙂 

As I had asked the other poster, how do I determine where my contacts are stored? 

[NDesai]

@SonicAtrocity When you activate, you will be able to select a new number of your choice from a list of available numbers. The contacts you have saved on your phone will stay there as they are saved on your phone's storage. Just to be safe, you might want to back up your contacts to cloud services like Google Drive or manually by using a backup app. 

[SonicAtrocity]

Thank you for the fast reply!

Okay, how do I determine whether or not my contacts are stored on my SIM card or on my phone?

[srlawren]

@SonicAtrocity unless you happen to be storing all your contacts on your SIM card (which is rare in 2018, but some people stick to old habits), you will be fine.  If you have your contacts on your SIM card, they would disappear when you take out your current provider's SIM card and put in your Public Mobile SIM. But if they are either stored on the phone, or more ideally in your GMail or other cloud-based service, you will be totally fine.  

[Luddite]

What you describe is no problem PROVIDED your contacts are stored on the phone and not your SIM card.

When you activate the PM SIM, one step involves picking a number.

Just for background info you may wish to peruse various topics in the forum and https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Getting-Started/BE-PREPARED/m-p/112014#M20827