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How to Remove Duplicate Contacts on Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4 & Galaxy Note 4

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You can remove duplicate contacts on the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 3 and other devices like the Galaxy S3 in just a few seconds without spending money on apps to clean up your contacts.

This guide will show you how to find, merge and delete duplicate contacts on Samsung Galaxy smartphones on all major U.S. carriers.

Read: Galaxy S5 Tips & Tricks

Duplicate contacts happen when you connect multiple email accounts to the Galaxy S or Galaxy Note, such as one from work and one from home. There are also duplicates from poor entries made over the years and slightly different spellings of names.

Use this guide to remove duplicate contacts on your Galaxy S or Galaxy Note.

Use this guide to remove duplicate contacts on your Galaxy S or Galaxy Note.

You don’t need to delete the contacts to fix this problem. Instead you’ll want to merge the two, which keeps the contact in your work email address book and also in your personal email address book. If you find too many duplicates, you can delete them, but merging is a better option for most users.

How to Remove Duplicate Contacts on Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 3 & Galaxy Note 4

This method should work on any of the popular Galaxy S or Galaxy Note smart phones, as they all use similar software, including the contacts app. You can find, merge and delete contacts right from your Galaxy S5 or other device without the need to use a computer. If your contacts are a huge mess though, you may want to go into Gmail and edit your contacts from there.

Read: Galaxy S4 Tips & Tricks

Here’s how to remove duplicate contacts on the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4 as well as older versions of these phones. The contact app may look slightly different, but the directions should be the same across these devices.

Open the contacts app on your Galaxy smartphone to start.

Open the contacts app on your Galaxy smartphone to start.

Open the Contacts app. Don’t try to edit these from your Phone app. Got o the App drawer where you can see all of your apps and then tap on Contacts.

From here, you will want to find the duplicate contacts. Scroll through until you find the contacts you want to merge or link.

Tap on the first contact you need to merge. and then look for the spot where it says, Connected via. Tap on the link icon to the right.

Start the process to link your duplicate contacts.

Start the process to link your duplicate contacts.

Then tap on Link another Contact. It will show you some suggestions, and you can also search by scrolling through your contacts.

Choose the contacts to link to. This will look different depending on your phone, but the options are still almost identical.

Choose the contacts to link to. This will look different depending on your phone, but the options are still almost identical.

Select the contacts to link and then tap back. Newer devices like the Galaxy Note 4 allow users to select multiple contacts at the same time, as shown in the image below. If you are on a Galaxy S4 or similar device, you will need to link contacts one by one.

You'll see the new linked contacts and be able to go back to the main Contacts app screen.

You’ll see the new linked contacts and be able to go back to the main Contacts app screen.

Clean Up Galaxy S5 & Galaxy Note 4 Contacts Faster

On the newer Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S5, users can clean up contacts using a built-in tool. Here’s how to identify similar contacts on these devices to merge and clean up your contacts.

Choose the option to search for duplicate contacts on the Note 4 or Galaxy S5.

Choose the option to search for duplicate contacts on the Note 4 or Galaxy S5.

Open the Contacts app and then tap on the three menu dots in the upper right area of the screen. On the Note 4 select Manage similar contacts. On the Galaxy S5 tap on Link Contacts.

Read: Galaxy Note 4 Tips & Tricks

This will show you a screen where you can sort by name, phone number or email address to find duplicate contacts. You can tap on the contacts to link them. After you select the ones you want to merge, tap on Done. This links the contacts.

If it finds them, link contacts sharing a name, phone number or email.

If it finds them, link contacts sharing a name, phone number or email.

Samsung does not include this bulk cleanup option on the Galaxy S4 we tested it on, so users with older devices will need to look for an app to do this like Duplicate Contacts or Contacts Cleaner.

11 Comments

11 Comments

  1. claudina

    12/24/2014 at 2:24 am

    I do the link function to link my contacts but it does nit link the contacts. ..what can be the problem?

  2. Viking

    06/21/2015 at 6:19 am

    This doesn’t work at all! Even after linking contacts, they still show up several times in the contact list….

  3. Mick Hamilton

    06/25/2015 at 10:12 pm

    It doesn’t work for me. I’ve just returned from an Optus shop, and they couldn’t make it work either.
    The 267 contacts on my old phone have come across to my new one as 1121 contacts. Help!

  4. Mirna

    07/06/2015 at 10:18 am

    did not work for me either….

  5. RAJU APPUKUTTAN

    07/07/2015 at 7:49 am

    On your PC or Lap Top, Please sign in to your GMail account. Go to Menu ( 9 dots) Find your contacts. Click find Duplicates on left and Merge. Sign Out. On your Android Samsung Note 4, go to Accounts, sign in to Gmail and sync contacts and emails. Switch off your mobile and after few minutes start. Your duplicate contacts will disappear within the next one hour after you have checked sync contacts / email. Good Luck !

  6. RAJU APPUKUTTAN

    07/07/2015 at 10:22 am

    Please note that sync contacts on fb / whatsapp and other accounts must be off

  7. kkcompute

    10/14/2015 at 9:07 am

    On the S5 the link option is available with kit kat allowing for a bulk merge (Link Contacts) but once you upgrade to lollipop you have to do them individually via “Manage similar contacts”. An upgrade that takes you backwards???

  8. helen

    03/05/2016 at 4:58 pm

    This is all too confusing for me! I don’t have a computer–only a Samsung 4 which won’t let me delete contact nr. Also most everything is duplicated in contact listings.
    I do have 2 E-Mail addresses. Need instructions while doing, what u suggested. Will write down & try.

  9. Harold Jefferson

    04/04/2016 at 12:49 pm

    I had duplicates on my Samsung as well. I used http://www.mergix.com service to wipe out all the duplicates. It worked pretty well.

  10. Barbara

    12/25/2016 at 7:04 am

    Thank you! I had people listed 5 or 6 times and it’s been driving me nuts :) Your instructions were clear and concise — what a relief!!

  11. Katin

    06/10/2017 at 9:40 am

    So I have 4 copies of contacts, all linked and taking up too much space. How do I delete all but one?

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