Advice on updating contacts/dark theme?

I'm running the 10.2.0.1725 leak and when I first installed it I didn't restore the "settings" from my backup because I'd read that caused a conflict with the dark theme for contacts. However, what I didn't realize is that that part of the backup is where my contacts were saved. So after having a slight panic attack about losing some important contacts (and being stuck at work all day) I came home and restored the settings and all was good. In fact, the previous night I had installed the 2.1 camera and unlocked android runtime and my phone has been running perfectly. The only downside is I now can't use the Dark Theme for my Contacts (text, BBM, Calendar all running fine) and that was the one place I really, really wanted it. So, here I am, looking for some advice on how best to update my contacts so I can get the dark theme back?

Berryleaks nicely separated the components so I can sideload the .1725 contacts app without having to do a full wipe. However, I assume this will delete my contacts? Is this right?

What is the best way to back up contacts? Any recommendations on apps? (This is one feature I sorely miss from BlackBerry Protect. I used it all the time on my old phones)

I haven't previously used any of my email accounts to sync my contacts (I have 2 gmail / 1 hotmail on my phone) because there are contacts in those accounts I don't want on my phone and contacts on my phone I don't really need in those accounts (especially a lot of the linkedin/facebook contacts). I'm also worried that if I have addresses, birthdays, etc. in my contacts they won't transfer to the email and then back. I honestly just have no idea how that type of 'sync' works (1-way vs 2-way) and don't want it commingle or corrupt my data. Does anyone have any experience with this? Should I just open a new email account strictly for sync/backup of contacts?

I'm just really paranoid about losing what is really the only irreplaceable data on my phone. I haven't added any new contact info since my 10.1 backup prior to installing the leak last week so I don't mind "playing around" a bit now to get this sorted. I'm just looking for any and all recommendations on a "best practices" approach to fixing this problem and managing my contacts in the future. All advice is greatly appreciated. (Have I mentioned how much I miss the old BB Protect?!)

Thanks.

Use outlook or google to store your contacts to the cloud.

There are also several applications in the App World that'll backup and restore your contacts

Contactx works great for myself, found it app world and you can store on your sd card.

+1 for ContactX. Works great.

Well things didn't go quite as smoothly as I hoped. I downloaded ContactX and SMS Backup to archive my important info. I had hoped that sideloading the contacts bar would be an easy enough solution for me to start fresh but I ended up doing a security wipe and reloading all my accounts. I then restored the "media" and "apps data" from my previous backup. I then restored the ContactX backup and re-added my linkedin/facebook/email accounts. I then attempted to restore the SMS backup which didn't work (annoyingly). However, I was able to run the dark theme everywhere (BBM, SMS, Calendar, Contacts). The issue I'm having now is that my contacts are a disaster. I have a feeling I should have re-added my linkedin/facebook accounts prior to restoring the ContactX backup because I know have to re-link all the contacts. Worse still is that I lost some address info that was saved in the contacts and several birthdays came back wrong. I'm debating whether I should just forget about the dark theme for contacts and just restore the "settings" from my full backup to get my contacts back. It's really annoying. I've also noticed that my calendar is missing a few appointments from my "local" contacts (like birthdays which appear in the contact card). My phone was initially running great so I probably should have left it alone. I'll be in work for another couple hours and I'll use that time to decide how I want to proceed (fresh install, restore full backup, keep things the way they are).

Thanks to those who offered advice.

Originally Posted by LaFlamaBlanca

What is the best way to back up contacts? Any recommendations on apps? (This is one feature I sorely miss from BlackBerry Protect. I used it all the time on my old phones)

Get Fire Chest Backup. It's the closest thing you will find to the old BB Protect. It's slick. It's free. And it just WORKS!

Do a search in BB World. Checkout the website.