Connected accounts

Unlink an account

Q: What's the difference between pausing an account, unlinking it, and setting it to read-only?

Read-only means we read that address book and never change it. Open the account in Settings › Accounts and choose Read-only under Sync direction. Pause stops us from reading and writing that account for now. We keep the connection and its history, and Resume this account picks up where it stopped. We disconnect an account that stays paused for 30 days, and we email you 3 days before. Changes waiting for it are dropped at that point. Unlink disconnects the account. Nothing is deleted in the account itself. You can link it again later. Contacts that also exist in your other accounts stay in ContactZapp. Contacts that came only from that account are hidden. If you link the account again within 30 days they come back. After that, ContactZapp erases its own copy of them. If you link the account again after that, ContactZapp rebuilds those contacts from the account itself.

Q: What does a factory reset delete, and what does it keep?

Factory reset (Settings › Advanced) deletes everything ContactZapp holds for you: your contacts, the Deleted list, History, your merge choices, your backups and your settings, which go back to their defaults. It also disconnects all your accounts, and it signs you out. It doesn't delete anything in your Google, Microsoft, Apple or CardDAV accounts. Those keep their contacts as they are now. You keep your billing sign-in and your plan. If you pay for a plan, your subscription keeps running until you cancel it in the billing portal. Your other sign-ins are disconnected from ContactZapp. This can't be undone, so use Export everything first if you want a copy. After you reconnect, contacts you told us not to merge can be suggested again, and duplicates in read-only accounts can come back. We can't do a factory reset while a sync is running. Wait for it to finish, then try again.

Q: Why can't I unlink this account?

You can unlink any account. On Settings › Accounts, a row shows Unlink only when the account is paused or can't be read. For other accounts, open the account with the gear button and press Unlink this account at the bottom of the panel, then confirm. If you unlink the account you sign in with for billing, you can still sign in with it, because it's your billing identity. Contacts that came only from the unlinked account are hidden, and ContactZapp erases its own copy 30 days after you unlink it. Linking the account again within that time brings them back. If you link the account again after that, ContactZapp rebuilds those contacts from the account itself. If it fails with "We couldn't save this change", try again in a moment.

Disconnect an account from ContactZapp, and what happens to its contacts, your sign-in and the account itself.

Unlinking disconnects an account from ContactZapp. Nothing is deleted in the account itself. Your contacts stay in ContactZapp, except the ones that came only from this account. Those are hidden, and ContactZapp removes them after 30 days unless you link the account again.

Unlinking isn't the same as deleting your data. To delete everything in ContactZapp, use Factory reset in Settings › Advanced. To stop syncing for a while and keep the connection, pause the account instead.

Steps

Open your account menu and tap Settings. Then tap Accounts.
Tap the settings icon of the account.
In the Unlink this account card, read what unlinking does. Then tap Unlink this account.
A second box repeats the same card. Tap Unlink this account again to confirm.

A paused account also shows Unlink on its row. It opens the same confirmation.

What happens next

Your contacts. "Contacts that are also in another connected account stay. Contacts that came only from this account are hidden until you link it again." The details of the contacts that stay don't change, and History isn't rewritten.

Hidden contacts. They don't appear in Contacts, and not under Deleted either. After 30 days ContactZapp removes them from its own records. Nothing is deleted in the account itself. They can't be restored from Deleted.

Changes that were waiting. Changes that were still waiting to be sent to the account are dropped, not sent.

The account itself. Nothing is deleted there. ContactZapp stops reading it and writing to it.

Linking it again. Within the 30 days, hidden contacts come back when you link the same account again. After that, ContactZapp has removed them, and linking the account reads its contacts from the account again. Linking again also starts the account as Two-way, whatever it was before. ContactZapp no longer keeps the account's password or access, so you connect it again as you did the first time. See Connect your first account.

Signing in. For a Google or Microsoft account, the card says "You won't be able to sign in to ContactZapp with this account any more." If it's your billing identity, it says "You can still sign in with this account after you unlink it, because it's your billing identity." An iCloud or CardDAV account was never a way to sign in.

Access at Google. When you unlink a Google account, ContactZapp removes its own access at Google. If that fails, a message says so and links to Google account permissions, where you can remove it yourself.

Access at Microsoft. ContactZapp can't remove its own access at Microsoft. After you unlink, it stays on your list of connected apps there until you remove it yourself. The card links to Personal Microsoft account: connected apps and Work or school account: My Apps.

What you can't undo

The connection. The account's saved password or access is cleared. You have to connect it again.
Sign-in with a Google or Microsoft account. It stops working, unless the account is your billing identity.
Access at Microsoft. Only you can remove it, on Microsoft's page.
Copies in the account. Deleting a contact permanently later doesn't reach an unlinked account: "is disconnected, so its copy was not deleted. Remove it there yourself."

If something goes wrong

"We couldn't save this change. Try again in a moment." The account is still linked. Try again.
You can't find Unlink on the account's row. The row shows it only for a paused account. Open the account with its settings icon and use Unlink this account.
"ContactZapp can't read this account. Unlink it, then link it again." Unlink it as above, then add it again.
Contacts are missing after you unlinked. They may have come only from that account. Link the same account again to bring them back. If it has been more than 30 days, ContactZapp has removed them, and linking the account reads its contacts again.

What's the difference between pausing an account, unlinking it, and setting it to read-only?

Read-only means we read that address book and never change it. Open the account in Settings › Accounts and choose Read-only under Sync direction.

Pause stops us from reading and writing that account for now. We keep the connection and its history, and Resume this account picks up where it stopped. We disconnect an account that stays paused for 30 days, and we email you 3 days before. Changes waiting for it are dropped at that point.

Unlink disconnects the account. Nothing is deleted in the account itself. You can link it again later. Contacts that also exist in your other accounts stay in ContactZapp. Contacts that came only from that account are hidden. If you link the account again within 30 days they come back. After that, ContactZapp erases its own copy of them. If you link the account again after that, ContactZapp rebuilds those contacts from the account itself.

What does a factory reset delete, and what does it keep?

Factory reset (Settings › Advanced) deletes everything ContactZapp holds for you: your contacts, the Deleted list, History, your merge choices, your backups and your settings, which go back to their defaults. It also disconnects all your accounts, and it signs you out.

It doesn't delete anything in your Google, Microsoft, Apple or CardDAV accounts. Those keep their contacts as they are now. You keep your billing sign-in and your plan. If you pay for a plan, your subscription keeps running until you cancel it in the billing portal. Your other sign-ins are disconnected from ContactZapp.

This can't be undone, so use Export everything first if you want a copy. After you reconnect, contacts you told us not to merge can be suggested again, and duplicates in read-only accounts can come back. We can't do a factory reset while a sync is running. Wait for it to finish, then try again.

Why can't I unlink this account?

You can unlink any account. On Settings › Accounts, a row shows Unlink only when the account is paused or can't be read. For other accounts, open the account with the gear button and press Unlink this account at the bottom of the panel, then confirm. If you unlink the account you sign in with for billing, you can still sign in with it, because it's your billing identity. Contacts that came only from the unlinked account are hidden, and ContactZapp erases its own copy 30 days after you unlink it. Linking the account again within that time brings them back. If you link the account again after that, ContactZapp rebuilds those contacts from the account itself. If it fails with "We couldn't save this change", try again in a moment.