If you regularly use WhatsApp on your Android phone, you may have noticed the annoying issue where some of your friends remain in your phone’s address book but do not appear in your WhatsApp contact list.
You won’t be able to contact or message those people using WhatsApp at that point. We’ll discover the most common causes of a contact not appearing in WhatsApp on your Android device in this tutorial, along with solutions.
Reasons Why a Contact is Not Showing in WhatsApp on Android
Your Android device’s contacts may not be syncing with WhatsApp for a number of reasons. Among the most typical causes are:
- WhatsApp doesn’t have permission to access your contact list.
- The proper format is not being used to save contacts.
- syncing problems with WhatsApp and your phone.
- There isn’t a WhatsApp account for the contact.
- Your version of the WhatsApp app is out of date.
How to Fix WhatsApp Not Seeing Contacts
Now that the core causes are known, let’s use the solutions listed below to resolve the problem of contacts not showing up in WhatsApp on your Android phone.
Method 1: Grant WhatsApp Permission to Access Contacts
First, make sure WhatsApp has the right authorisations to view the contacts on your phone. Here’s how to give WhatsApp access to your contacts:
- Your Android device’s Settings app should open.
- Click or tap Notification & Apps.
- Select App Management by tapping.
- Find and click WhatsApp from the list of apps.
- Click the Permissions button.
- Press on Contacts now.
- Choose Permission.
WhatsApp will be able to sync your phone’s contact list and show you the contacts that are missing if you permit them access.
Method 2: Refresh WhatsApp Contacts
You are able to force a resync by refreshing your WhatsApp contact list if the missing contacts are already stored in your phone’s address book.
- Go to the Chats tab after opening WhatsApp.
- Press the New Chat symbol, which is usually a message icon found in the lower right corner.
- Select the three dots found in the upper right corner.
- Click the menu and choose Refresh.
Scanning your phone’s contacts will cause WhatsApp to update the list within the app. Verify whether the missing contacts have now showed up.
Method 3: Save Contacts in International Format
Contacts have been identified by WhatsApp using their entire phone number, including the country code. Make sure that the missing contacts are stored in the address book of your phone using the right international format.
For example, keep 123-456-7890, your US contact number, as +1 123-456-7890 in your contacts (where +1 is the country code for the US).
WhatsApp can identify and sync those contacts more precisely if those numbers are saved with the correct country code.
Method 4: Check Contact Formatting
Make sure the contact names and numbers are recorded correctly in your phone’s address book in addition to using the international format.
- Run the Contacts app.
- Find the missing contact and give it a tap.
- After that, tap the pencil icon to change their information.
- Check to make sure the contact name is entered correctly in the name boxes.
- Verify that the phone number is free of any extra characters, spaces, or symbols.
- Save changes.
Method 5: Clear WhatsApp Cache
Cache storage of information in WhatsApp may at times result in problems like contacts going missing.
- Go via your device’s Settings.
- Click on Notifications & Apps.
- In the app list, locate and tap WhatsApp by tapping on App Management.
- Select Storage Usage by tapping.
- Press the Clear Cache button.
Method 6: Update WhatsApp
Using an out-of-date version of WhatsApp can lead to sync and compatibility problems. Make sure that WhatsApp is installed on the most recent version of your Android device:
- Launch the app from Google Play Store.
- Open the search box and type in WhatsApp.
- Click Update if a new version is available..
Method 7: Uninstall and Reinstall WhatsApp
- Launch the WhatsApp app.
- Tap on the three lines in the right-hand area.
- Press the Settings button.
- After this, tap Chats.
- Press the “Chat backup” button.
- To manually backup your media and WhatsApp conversations to Google Drive, tap Back up.
- Go to the app drawer or home screen on your phone after the backup is finished.
- Find the WhatsApp symbol, then press and hold it to bring up a menu.
- To uninstall WhatsApp from your phone, select Uninstall.
- Search for WhatsApp by doing a search on the Google Play Store.
- To reinstall the most recent version of WhatsApp, select Install.
- Open WhatsApp and enter the number you want to use.
- When asked to restore your conversation history from the Google Drive backup, select Restore on the next screen.
