failed to find provider com.android.contacts for user 0, expected to find a valid contentprovider for this authority

Question

happened after I tried reinstalling com.android.contacts to my phone (through adb). I've tried installing a couple of versions through publicly available apk-s but none are recognized. On attempting to launch the app I receive the error in the title: failed to find provider com.android.contacts for user 0, expected to find a valid contentprovider for this authority .
What would you propose as a solution?

Answer 1

I formatted my phone (factory reset it) since had to fix it asap. Do feel free to post another solution though.

Answer 2

I had the same issue because I somehow removed the provider as well. Installing the com.android.providers.contacts apk solved the issue for me.