Contact Store | Getting Started

A cross-platform .NET MAUI library for accessing device contacts on Android and iOS. Provides full CRUD operations, LINQ query support, MAUI permission classes, and dependency injection integration.

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Features

• Full CRUD — create, read, update, and delete device contacts
• LINQ queries — IQueryable<Contact> with native translation on both platforms
• MAUI permissions — ContactPermission class for requesting read/write access
• Permission extensions — RequestPermissionsAsync() and CheckPermissionStatusAsync() on IContactStore
• AOT compatible — trimmer and AOT safe
• Dependency injection — register with a single AddContactStore() call

Platforms

Platform	Minimum Version
Android	API 24
iOS	15.0

Setup

1. Install the NuGet package

   

   dotnet add package Shiny.Maui.ContactStore

2. Register in MauiProgram.cs

   using Shiny.Maui.ContactStore;
   
   public static class MauiProgram
   {
       public static MauiApp CreateMauiApp()
       {
           var builder = MauiApp.CreateBuilder();
           builder
               .UseMauiApp<App>()
               .ConfigureFonts(fonts =>
               {
                   fonts.AddFont("OpenSans-Regular.ttf", "OpenSansRegular");
               });
   
           builder.Services.AddContactStore();
   
           return builder.Build();
       }
   }

3. Add platform permissions

   Android — AndroidManifest.xml:

   <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS" />
   <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_CONTACTS" />

   iOS — Info.plist:

   <key>NSContactsUsageDescription</key>
   <string>This app needs access to your contacts.</string>

4. Inject IContactStore and request permissions

   using Shiny.Maui.ContactStore;
   
   public class MyViewModel(IContactStore contactStore)
   {
       public async Task LoadContacts()
       {
           var status = await contactStore.RequestPermissionsAsync();
           if (status != PermissionStatus.Granted)
               return;
   
           var contacts = await contactStore.GetAll();
       }
   }

Quick Example

// Request permissions
var status = await contactStore.RequestPermissionsAsync();

// Get all contacts
var contacts = await contactStore.GetAll();

// Query with LINQ
var results = contactStore.Query()
    .Where(c => c.GivenName.Contains("John"))
    .ToList();

// Create a contact
var contact = new Contact { GivenName = "John", FamilyName = "Doe" };
contact.Phones.Add(new ContactPhone("555-1234", PhoneType.Mobile));
string id = await contactStore.Create(contact);

// Update
contact.GivenName = "Jane";
await contactStore.Update(contact);

// Delete
await contactStore.Delete(id);

AI Coding Assistant

An AI skill is available for Shiny.Maui.ContactStore to help generate code for device contact access directly in your IDE.

Claude Code

claude plugin add github:shinyorg/skills

GitHub Copilot — Copy the shiny-contactstore skill file into your repository’s custom instructions.

Next Steps

• Permissions — MAUI permission classes and status handling
• Querying — LINQ queries with native translation
• Release Notes — Version history