How can I export contact groups?

Question

When I export my Android phone's contacts via a VCF file, it seems the contact groups are not indicated in the VCF (and are thus lost if I only import that file).

I see a lot of apps for exporting and importing contacts, but none whose name suggests it will export my contact groups as well.

My questions:

• Is there a way for me to export my contacts together with the contact groups?
• Is there a way for me to export just my contact groups (i.e. which contact belongs to which group)?
• Can I import just-contact-groups "onto" a set of contacts without contact groups (the result of a previous import-export without contact groups)?

Notes:

• I don't have a Google account (and won't get one).
• In case it matters - the phone from which I'm exporting is a Xiaomi RedMi 3S (Android 6.0.1, MIUI 10).
• This question is related, but I don't care about exporting to a VCF specifically; and Android has changed over the years; and the answer there regards a Google account.

Answer 1

1. Download & install the SA Contacts Lite application; it is available on places where you don't need an account, e.g. via APKPure.com.
2. Start the app.
3. In Settings: 3.1 enable Export All Fields. 3.2 Disable Export Photos. 3.3 Enable Merge Duplicates.
4. Click Export, then Start.
5. A format selection dialog will come up. Enable Backup and disable everything else; press Next.
6. An account selection dialog will come up (= the account whose contacts you want to export). Typically you'll want to enable just the default account. Press Next.
7. Select the range of contacts to export - probably all of them, so just press Next.
8. Wait for the app while it's "Preparing to export contacts". This may take upwards of a minute for over ~1000 contacts.
9. Wait for the app to merge duplicates. This takes even more than the previous phase (not quite sure why).
10. Select the destination for the export - typically just a file on the device's storage somewhere.
11. Patiently wait for the duplicate merge and actual export to occur. I have no idea why it takes so much time, given how there's so little data.
12. Choose a way to save the output file; "SD Card" is safe, but there are also options to send it to your Dropbox/Box/Google Drive account or to email you the file.
13. Ensure the output file is actually placed at/sent to your chosen location.

Then, you can import your group associations as described in discussed in this question.