Short answer: remove empty contacts on Android by identifying records that have no meaningful name, number, or email before you start merging anything else. They are often leftover shells, not useful contacts.
This matters because blank contact cards make the address book harder to trust. They can also get mixed into duplicate cleanup, which slows down the more valuable job of merging real overlapping people.
Where empty contacts usually come from
Interrupted imports leave partially created records behind.
Account sync creates placeholder cards with missing fields.
Past merges keep one empty shell after a real contact was already saved elsewhere.
How to clean them up safely
Review blank or near-blank cards first instead of merging them into real records.
Keep anything that still has a real phone number, email, or note worth checking.
Handle obvious empty shells as a fast cleanup pass before duplicate merging.
What comes after empty-contact cleanup
Once the blank records are gone, the address book is easier to review for real duplicate people, source overlap, and recurring sync clutter. That makes the next merge pass much cleaner.
If you want the contact feature next, open duplicate contacts. If you want the broader account-organization route, continue to organize contacts and calendar.
Empty contacts should be removed as shells first, so real people are easier to merge and review afterward.