10.2.1.537 Update corrupting contacts

Hi,

One of the issues I am having with the new 10.2 update is it is corrupting my 240+ contacts. It seems random, sometimes affecting some contacts over time, then affecting other contacts at other times. Usually it duplicates telephone numbers, sometimes email addresses. For example, assume a contact that looks like this:

John Contact
(XXX) YYY-ZZZZ
Call Home
[email protected]
Email Personal

The contact could be corrupted to:

John Contact
(XXX) YYY-ZZZZ
Call Home
XXXYYYZZZ <--------Same number as the home number but without the parentheses and the dash
Call Work
[email protected]
Email Personal

Occasionally the email will be replicated in the as a work email or a work email replicated as a personal email.

I have shut off display from the SIM card. I have done battery pulls. I correct the contacts as I come across them, but eventually they, or others, become corupted.

The only pattern I have found is the corruption seems to occur when I turn my phone on or after a battery pull.

I've looked elsewhere, and have not seen this problem listed before. Has anyone come across it?

Thanks.

I see this happening too sometimes when I restore my contacts from a backup. Try this:

1. Open up a contact that has been "corrupted".
2. Tap the "Links" icon on the bottom. This will show what types and kinds of contacts are linked together to form your displayed contact.
3. Tap on each of the contacts and see which one has the phone number without the dashes and parenthesis. This is usually a "SIM" contact or a "Local" contact. Even if you shut off these in your settings, they will still show up here.
4. I then tap the Unlink button and save, then delete the offending contact.

I think there is a setting to delete all of the SIM contacts at once. I've never done that because I want to make sure I'm not deleting a contact that only has a SIM setting so I do them one-by-one.

To prevent this from happening in the future, I syned all my contacts to Outlook using BB Link. I then compared each contact with those on my phone, deleted all of the duplicates and fixed any errors in the ones I wanted to keep.

I then wiped my phone, deleted all of the "Local" and "SIM" contacts. Then I synced my contacts back to my phone. I have never had the problem again.

Yes it took a bit of time (I have 501 contacts) but I did it over a period of time and many of them were not "corrupted".

Note also that when you create a new contact on your phone, the newer OS versions now prompt you if you would like to save this contact into "Local", "SIM", the name of your computer where it syncs with Outlook, or any combination. I only choose the Outlook sync location. Doing otherwise perpetuates the problem.

I don't know what OS causes those issues but I've noticed the same. FOUR versions of the same phone number and repeats of email addresses.

I would hope that BB gets a handle on these issues as contacts are an important aspect of smartphones.

Originally Posted by russb#CB

The only pattern I have found is the corruption seems to occur when I turn my phone on or after a battery pull.

Thanks.

Just wondering why you would be pulling the battery, especially if it's causing issues. There is a proper way of shutting down or doing a hard reset.

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by F2

I don't know what OS causes those issues but I've noticed the same. FOUR versions of the same phone number and repeats of email addresses.

I would hope that BB gets a handle on these issues as contacts are an important aspect of smartphones.

Have you checked if it's pulling the phone # in from other accounts such as Facebook? I get duplicate phone numbers sometimes because it's getting it from my Gmail contacts and also from Facebook. The phone # from Facebook usually lacks the spaces or dashes, I'm guessing this is why it doesn't match them.

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by tdaye

Have you checked if it's pulling the phone # in from other accounts such as Facebook? I get duplicate phone numbers sometimes because it's getting it from my Gmail contacts and also from Facebook. The phone # from Facebook usually lacks the spaces or dashes, I'm guessing this is why it doesn't match them.

Posted via CB10

I HOPE (but I'm not sure!), that I do not sync with anything anymore. I don't have a facebook account but I don't know if it goes out and matches my various contacts with their facebook accounts and then "helps" me by linking them. I do have gmail but don't sync the contacts, or, at least, I stopped or tried to stop that when I first got the phone and kept getting dupes endlessly.

There are certainly times that I truly detest automation. It can run amok. (this from a former computer programmer)