Lost all my apps after removing sim card!

D

DenSweep

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I bought my wife a Blackberry and needed a sim card to activate the phone in store, so I just used my sim card. BB activated etc and all was well there. Switched my phone back on and poof. 90% of my apps were either gone or no longer work. When starting those that are still there I keep getting error messages and force closes. Also, ALL my contacts that were on the phone also gone. My few sim card contacts left are still there, but all the rest, poof.

Needless to say this is annoying beyond belief. Spoke to a chap a Vodacom yesterday and he says there is nothing I can do. Can anyone maybe help? I'm going to have to reset phone to factory default me thinks, just to be sure all faulty apps are gone Any other advice?

I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S running Android 2.2
 
Check to see if you SD card is seated properly, but dunno why your contacts would disappear. The external SD-card would only really affect apps that are stored on it.

Did you sync your contacts with your Google Account?
 
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What normally happens when you remove a sim and add it again it asks you to reenter the password.

Did you get this prompt?

Android does not delete apps/contacts when changing sim cards, it will prompt before it does something like this and your contacts should be in Gmail anyway so they are not lost. Some applications verify if you are the legal owner of them based on your gmail account and password. This is the reason why I asked if you reentered your Google account and password.
 
Anyways, your list of apps isn't really gone. If you go to the web android market and login with your credentials it will list all the apps you have ever downloaded making it easy to download the ones you liked without racking your brain.
 
Thanks guys, but they are no longer on the phone. And those that are don't work. Each time you open them, the phone vibrates and says error and force closes the app. As for contacts, gone. I don't have my data connection enabled and only use my wi-fi at home for syncing.
 
DenSweep said:
Thanks guys, but they are no longer on the phone. And those that are don't work. Each time you open them, the phone vibrates and says error and force closes the app. As for contacts, gone. I don't have my data connection enabled and only use my wi-fi at home for syncing.
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That is exactly the error you get when you try to run software that is not licensed for that Google account. Did you use the same username and password as you had before on that phone?
 
I used the same account. I only have one gmail account. The fact that I activated it without a data connection or wi-fi and it couldn't sync is probably where the issue came in.
 
RandomGRK said:
Anyways, your list of apps isn't really gone. If you go to the web android market and login with your credentials it will list all the apps you have ever downloaded making it easy to download the ones you liked without racking your brain.
Click to expand...

Just do not sync before you do this otherwise it will update your phone status and only the currently installed apps will be listed.
 
Elimentals said:
More like a PEBKAC error as I swap out sim cards on a regular basis on 3 different Android phones with 3 separate Google accounts.
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Swop it with a Blackberry?

But thanks for the valuable input.

If I go to Market via the phone, it still shows Angry Birds for instance as installed and I can open it from there, but nowhere is there the usual icon under applications.
 
DenSweep said:
Swop it with a Blackberry?

But thanks for the valuable input.

If I go to Market via the phone, it still shows Angry Birds for instance as installed and I can open it from there, but nowhere is there the usual icon under applications.
Click to expand...

What probably happened is when you replaced your SIM card it prompted for the logon details, and seeing that you might have been offline it took it as a clean installation. So instead of "the net" syncing to the phone you had a phone override and sync back to "the net" clearing your current settings.

You will find that App market still has the game installed but on your phone the License in Android Market app does not show this so you will have to install the app again.

The fact that you had your sim in a BB has nothing to do with it, as I sometimes use my data sim on my iPhone to test applications.
 
Okay, that makes sense. But what bugs me is why do I lose my contacts as well? I know they sync and link with Gmail and Facebook, but surely is should save them on the phone? And my facebook will also now not sync. It says session expired. Faarking annoying. Login details are correct, and each time i try login in, it says to try again later.
 
DenSweep said:
Okay, that makes sense. But what bugs me is why do I lose my contacts as well? I know they sync and link with Gmail and Facebook, but surely is should save them on the phone? And my facebook will also now not sync. It says session expired. Faarking annoying. Login details are correct, and each time i try login in, it says to try again later.
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Have you got 2 step authentication?
 
Nope.

The apps I couldn't care about too much, but losing my contacts is pis annoying. I would reset the phone, but then all my SMS convos and mails etc are gone, which is not really ideal.
 
I was thinking about this last night, but maybe there is an app that wipes the phone if the sim card is removed? Pulling at strings here but it's a thought
 
wabbit16 said:
I was thinking about this last night, but maybe there is an app that wipes the phone if the sim card is removed? Pulling at strings here but it's a thought
Click to expand...

Not to far fetched as I do have an App on my phone that if I send it a SMS will wipe everything off it. So this might also be a possibility. The problem is the apps that is still there and give the exact error that I get if I log onto my phone with the wrong Google name and Password.
 
DenSweep said:
Okay, that makes sense. But what bugs me is why do I lose my contacts as well? I know they sync and link with Gmail and Facebook, but surely is should save them on the phone? And my facebook will also now not sync. It says session expired. Faarking annoying. Login details are correct, and each time i try login in, it says to try again later.
Click to expand...

Have you tried turning it off and on again :D

Login to Gmail and check if you contacts are there!

If they are and you don't mind reinstalling you apps do a factory reset!

Login to your Google account and let it sync your contacts and apps.
Facebook sync should start working again, the syncing problem with Facebook is quite common, the apps disappearing not so much, but it could be that the internal SD card on your SGS is bust! Also what launcher are you using? Could just be a problem with the launcher
 
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