Android: Add thousands of contacts in phonebook in bulk

Question

Want to add thousands of contacts in phonebook through a content provider in Android.

I have implemented of adding a contact in the following way:

ArrayList<ContentProviderOperation> ops = new ArrayList<>();
        int rawContactID = ops.size();

        // Adding insert operation to operations list
        // to insert a new raw contact in the table ContactsContract.RawContacts
        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(ContactsContract.RawContacts.CONTENT_URI)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_TYPE, null)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_NAME, null)
                .build());

        // Adding insert operation to operations list
        // to insert display name in the table ContactsContract.Data
        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI)
                .withValueBackReference(ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, rawContactID)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE, ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName.DISPLAY_NAME, contact.getContactName())
                .build());

        // Adding insert operation to operations list
        // to insert Mobile Number in the table ContactsContract.Data
        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI)
                .withValueBackReference(ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, rawContactID)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE, ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.NUMBER, contact.phone)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.TYPE, ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.TYPE_MOBILE)
                .build());

        // Adding insert operation to operations list
        // to insert Home Email in the table ContactsContract.Data
        ops.add(ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI)
                .withValueBackReference(ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, rawContactID)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE, ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email.ADDRESS, contact.email)
                .withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email.TYPE, ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Email.TYPE_HOME)
                .build());

        try {
            // Executing all the insert operations as a single database transaction
            contentResolver.applyBatch(ContactsContract.AUTHORITY, ops);
        } catch (RemoteException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (OperationApplicationException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

It takes ~175 seconds per 1000 contacts.

And when I use executor service with a thread pool 10, still it takes ~155 seconds per 1000 contacts. (Not much efficient)

Is there any other way to make contacts saving faster?

Answer 1

Ok, so the good thing about your code is that you apply your ops in batches. The not-optimal thing about your code is that your batches are very small, 4 ops each.

You can instead gather bigger batches (i would recommend around 500 a batch, but you can play with the number.

Here's some untested code:

private static final int BATCH_SIZE = 500;

private void addThousandContacts() {
    ArrayList<ContentProviderOperation> ops = new ArrayList<>();
    for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
        addSingleContact(ops);

        if (ops.size() >= BATCH_SIZE) {
            try {
                contentResolver.applyBatch(ContactsContract.AUTHORITY, ops);
                ops.clear(); // remove all applied operations and start a new batch
            } catch (RemoteException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (OperationApplicationException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }
}


private void addSingleContact(ArrayList<ContentProviderOperation> ops) {
    int rawInsertIndex = ops.size();

    // Adding insert operation to operations list
    // to insert a new raw contact in the table ContactsContract.RawContacts
    ops.add(ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(ContactsContract.RawContacts.CONTENT_URI)
            .withValue(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_TYPE, null)
            .withValue(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_NAME, null)
            .build());

    // Adding insert operation to operations list
    // to insert display name in the table ContactsContract.Data
    ops.add(ContentProviderOperation.newInsert(ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI)
            .withValueBackReference(ContactsContract.Data.RAW_CONTACT_ID, rawInsertIndex) // tells the system the index of the operation that contains the current RawContactId
            .withValue(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE, ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE)
            .withValue(ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.StructuredName.DISPLAY_NAME, contact.getContactName())
            .build());

    ... // add more operations email, phone, etc.
}