Whatsapp not showing contact names: How to fix

Whatsapp not showing contact names; Why are WhatsApp numbers displayed without names? What should I do if phonebook numbers are not showing in WhatsApp?

If in the WhatsApp messenger contacts from the phone book began to be displayed incorrectly (just numbers without names) or stopped being displayed at all, there may be several generalized reasons to blame:

• Problems with synchronization.
• Temporary disruptions.
• Incorrect contact settings.
• Lack of update.

Let’s take a closer look at each of the reasons due to which there were problems with displaying contacts.

No access to contacts

WhatsApp may stop showing contacts correctly if it does not have access to the phone book. In this case, the owner could give permission when installing the application, but due to a malfunction, access may be accidentally reset. To allow WhatsApp access to contacts, you must:

1. Open phone settings.
2. Select the Applications section .
3. Find whatsapp.
4. In the Permissions subsection , check if the application has access to contacts. If not, you need to move the slider next to the Contacts line so that it becomes active.

The need to update the application

If a recent WhatsApp update is available on Google Play, you need to download it. It is possible that contact display failure is a problem that many users have encountered, and the developers of the messenger have already solved it with an update.

Sync Issues

Due to problems while syncing phone book contacts with WhatsApp, display problems may occur. You can fix it like this:

1. Go to phone settings.
2. Select section Accounts .
3. Find WhatsApp account.
4. Click on the two dots in the corner of the screen.
5. Select the Synchronize action.

If manual synchronization did not help, you need to click on the two dots in the corner of the screen again, but this time select the action Delete account . After that, you need to sign in to your WhatsApp account again.

No contacts update

If WhatsApp started showing contact numbers without names, you need to update your contact list manually. To do this, follow the instructions:

1. Open a chat window in WhatsApp.
2. Click on the green button to add a new chat.
3. Click on the three dots in the corner of the screen.
4. Select the Update action .

Refreshing the contact list should resolve this issue.

Wrong contact filter

The appearance of contact numbers without names may be caused by incorrect settings in the phone book. To fix them, you need:

1. Open the list of contacts in the phone book.
2. Select the Settings section (or Contact Manager ).
3. In the item Display contacts  (or Filter contacts ), you need to make sure that the slider next to the line Show only contacts with phone numbers is  turned off. If this is not the case, the slider must be activated next to the line All contacts .

This setting controls which contacts will be shown. The item All contacts means that all contacts with names and numbers are displayed.

Temporary failure

Any application can experience occasional crashes. They do not indicate any specific problems, and in most cases resolve themselves. If after a while contacts are still shown without names, you need to restart your phone or reinstall WhatsApp.