How to move phone contacts to your Google account on a Samsung Galaxy

By Saadat Rafiq · 2 min read · 4 steps · Published 6 October 2026

Device

Android

Shown on

Samsung Galaxy A57 5G (SM-A576B), One UI 8.5, Android 16

App

Settings

Real screenshots

3 of 4 steps

Checked

October 2026

Sources

1 official, linked below

Step by step

1. Open Contacts settings

   Open Contacts, tap the menu (three lines) and Settings.

   Done

2. 

   Move the old contacts

   Tap Move contacts to other storage location, choose where they are now (Phone or SIM) and move them to your Google account.

   Done

3. 

   Set the default storage

   Tap Default storage location so new contacts go to Google too.

   Done

4. 

   Choose your Google account

   Pick Google. Phone and SIM 1 say contacts there won't sync to your account. We blurred our two accounts and chose nothing.

   Done

About this guide

Contacts saved to the phone or the SIM stay on the phone and are lost with it. Contacts in your Google account are backed up and appear on any new phone. We only looked at these screens on our phone and changed nothing.

The screenshots are from a Samsung Galaxy A57 5G with One UI 8.5 and Android 16, in Dark mode. Other Galaxy phones on One UI 8 use the same menus; on older One UI versions a few names and positions differ.

Good to know

Check the result on a computer at contacts.google.com.

Merge duplicate contacts, on the same settings page, tidies up names that appear twice after a move.

In short: Contacts, menu, Settings: Move contacts to other storage location to Google, then Default storage location to Google.