At this time I'm blaming Marshmallow for the problems with copying contacts to Home Screen. The old way was two very quick moves, now it's a total PITA if you don't download an app.
I'm going to stick up for Android here. The simplest way to run Contacts is with Gmail. Then it doesn't matter how often you change phones or wipe them; your contacts will auto-download immediately you sync after a reset. I acknowledge that Losse Rivets might have an issue with contacts in the cloud but saving them onto "the phone" or sim card is not the way to do things these days.