Though Samsung Galaxy S3 is a feature-packed smartphone, it has a huge number of flaws and “Unfortunately contacts has stopped” error message on Samsung Galaxy S3 is one of them. Some users reported that their Galaxy S3 was running on Android 4.3 and after updating their phone, they are not able to add any new number to the group contacts. Whenever they try to add a new contact, it shows “Unfortunately contacts has stopped” error message on Samsung Galaxy S3. There are solutions for this issue and following them you can easily get rid of the problem soon. The fixes are explained below.
See also: How To Solve Error Message “Index Service Has Stopped” Problem On Galaxy Note 3
Potential fixes for “Unfortunately contacts has stopped” error message on Samsung Galaxy S3

Here are some possible fixes for the “Unfortunately contacts has stopped” error message on Samsung Galaxy S3, and you can follow them one after another.
1. Clear Cache and Data
Clearing the cache and data of Contact can easily fix up the issue for you. Here is how to do that.
- Open Settings.
- Tap Application Manager.
- Select All tab.
- Choose Contacts and then Clear Cache.
By selecting Clear Data, it will remove all the changes that you have made to some of the app’s settings. So selecting Clear Data is optional, but it may solve the “Unfortunately contacts has stopped” error message on Samsung Galaxy S3.
- Choose Phone after going back to the previous menu.
- Now tap Clear Cache and Clear Data.
2. Change date format
Since changing the date format will not create any further problem, you can try the following steps to change the date format to 24 hours and see if it makes any difference:
Go to Settings > More > Date and Time and then change the format to 24 hours.

3. Delete rough apps
Boot your phone into Safe mode and see if the problem occurs there. If not, then a third-party app is the culprit. Exit Safe mode and recall the app that you installed prior to this problem. Delete it and see if still the problem occurs.
To boot Galaxy S3 into safe mode,
- Power off the device completely
- Next, press and hold the Power button till Samsung Galaxy S3 logo appears on the screen
- As you see the logo, release the power button and immediately hold the volume down button
- Continue holding the volume down button till the phone complete rebooting
- Once completed, it will show safe mode on the bottom left corner of the screen.
4. Factory reset
If you are facing problem to locate the third-party app which is causing this problem, or if you have tried all the possible solutions but did not get any result, then perform a Factory reset. It will delete all the corrupted data, including your phone’s all data. So do not forget to backup the important files.
Once you have backup all the data, go to Settings >Backup & reset > Factory data reset and it will erase everything from the device.
Need your help I did following but still problem exists please guide if you solved this error permanently
– I moved all contacts to Phone Memory
– I deleted cache of Contact Manager
– I deleted app data of Contact Manager
– Did Factory Reset
– I deleted all contacts from SIM/Gmail/Phone etc. and then exported to Phone Memory (Total Contacts: ~500)
Still no luck! It is really really annoying, contact manager often stopped working (~10 times a day) and it takes 15 minutes to start working to normal.
Can you try disabling your Google+ from Settings > Apps > All > Google+ > uninstall updates > Disable
You are amazing… It worked!!
😀
Here’s what I did and it apparently worked on a ZTE from MetroPCS:
On my phone, contacts is under People.
1. Get app info for People
2. Clear cache – wasn’t able to do that
3. Clear data – I know it’s all backed up, so I did that
4. Force stop
5. Reboot – Contacts still stopped
5. Reboot in safe mode
6. Reboot
Problem went away!
How to reboot ????
Thank you. I was able to remove the responsible 3rd party app after running, without issue, in safe mode
What was the third party app you removed?
thanks