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To delete a contact on most Samsung Galaxy phones, open the Contacts app, tap the contact, tap More (the three-dot menu), tap Delete, and confirm if the phone asks. Menu names and screen layouts differ by model, region, and One UI version, so if your screen looks different, look for the same options under a similar label. Samsung’s UK contact guide says the same thing: screens can vary by device and operating system.

Delete a single contact

  1. Open Contacts. You can also reach your contacts from the Contacts tab inside the Phone app.
  2. Tap the contact you want to remove.
  3. Tap More (three vertical dots).
  4. Tap Delete. On Samsung’s UK guide, the deleted entry is moved to the recycle bin, which is the Trash feature described below.
  5. If a confirmation dialog appears, tap the confirming option to finish.

Samsung’s own wording for the one-at-a-time route, from its Galaxy Z Fold6 User Guide (2024), is: “To delete contacts one by one, tap a contact from the contacts list and tap More → Delete.” You can read the guide in the Galaxy Z Fold6 user guide PDF.

Delete several contacts at once

If you want to clear out a batch of entries, some Galaxy models support multi-select deletion. The Galaxy Z Fold6 guide describes this route:

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  1. Open Contacts.
  2. Tap the menu icon, then tap Edit.
  3. Select each contact you want to remove.
  4. Tap Delete and confirm.

Not every Galaxy model or software version uses this exact sequence. If you do not see Edit in the menu, delete the entries one at a time instead, or check whether your phone’s Contacts app has a selection mode under a different label.

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Recover a deleted contact

Samsung’s Contacts guidance for Japan documents a Trash feature that can restore deleted contacts. Two conditions apply:

  • Trash must have been enabled at the time of deletion. If it was off, Samsung says the contact cannot be restored through this feature.
  • The restore window is 30 days according to Samsung’s published Contacts instructions. Treat that as the documented period for those instructions, not a guarantee across every model, account, or software version.

To restore a contact, go to Contacts, tap More options, tap Trash, choose the contact, and tap Restore.

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Why a deleted contact keeps coming back

A contact you have just removed from the Contacts screen may still exist somewhere else. Samsung’s troubleshooting guidance points to four common sources. Work through the one that owns the entry, because deleting the visible copy in one place does not remove a separate copy stored elsewhere.

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Where the contact is stored or shown Why it returns Where to remove it
Phone storage The entry lives on the handset itself. Contacts app, using the single-contact or multi-select steps above.
SIM card The entry was saved to the SIM, which the phone reads again. Check the SIM storage option in Contacts and delete the entry there.
Google account Account sync restores the entry after you delete it on the phone. Google Contacts at contacts.google.com, then sync again.
Messaging or other apps Apps such as WhatsApp or Viber can show a contact name from their own address data. Remove or edit the contact inside that app.

Samsung’s Russian-language troubleshooting page, last updated 2026-07-03, covers the same checks: storage location, other apps, and sync-related recurrence. If the contact still returns after you have checked each source, review the account it belongs to before making any other change.

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Last-resort steps

Samsung’s troubleshooting guidance also mentions clearing the Contacts app data and performing a device reset. Use these only if the storage and account checks above fail. Clearing app data can remove stored contact information on the device, and a device reset deletes device data, so back up the phone first. If the problem continues after these checks, contact Samsung Support.

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A note on eSIM contacts

Samsung says that saving contacts to an eSIM is no longer supported on Galaxy devices running One UI 6.1 or later. Whether eSIM features are available depends on your country and carrier. This matters only if you are looking for a contact that was stored on an eSIM; it is not part of the standard deletion route.

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Last checked for accuracy on 2026-10-09.

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