Contacts not showing in Whats-app?Why does it happen in the first place?


There are a number of reasons why contacts might suddenly disappear from Whats-app. In actuality, there are numerous ways that this issue manifests. For instance, it might happen on a phone that is operating normally without your having to'mess up things'.

Sometimes the problem arises when you switch devices while using Whats-app. In the first scenario, a flaw in the way Whats-app syncs contacts stored on your phone may be to blame for the issue.

Devices that recently updated to a new software version, which in turn changed the permissions being granted to Whats-app, are also susceptible to the issue. Whatever the underlying reason of the problem may be, let's attempt some remedies to see if they can help you resolve it.

How to fix Whats-app not showing contact names issue?

As previously said, the solutions to this problem differ based on the origin of the problem. Some of the most popular solutions to this problem are listed below.

Check permissions granted to Whats-app

Android has become extremely secure over the years. As a result of this, all apps now require explicit user rights to access the data saved on your phone. This information also contains your contacts.

If your phone suddenly stopped displaying Whats-app contact names, this is the first thing you should check. Here's how to accomplish it on an Android smartphone.
  • Launch the Settings app.
  • Tap on Apps or App management (this may differ slightly depending on the brand/OS of your phone).
  • Scroll down to Whats-app in the list of Apps.
  • Select Permissions
  • Choose the Contacts tab.
  • Check that you have granted contacts access in this option.
  • If permissions have already been granted, it is a good idea to select Don't allow once and then hit Allow again.
After completing these procedures, reopen Whats-app and see if the contact names reappear. If they don't, it's time to go on to step two.

Refresh Whats-app contacts

If your contact names still do not appear after you allow rights, you should use WhatsApp's Refresh contacts option. Here's how you can go about it.
  • Tap on the chat bubble in the lower right corner of WhatsApp.
  • Tap the three dots in the upper right corner.
  • Tap the Refresh button.
That's all! WhatsApp will scan your contact list and reappear the contact names after a few seconds.

If these two approaches do not work, it is time to consider more serious measures. We'll start with a pretty common generic repair for most app-related problems.
If this option didn't work for you, you can now force a WhatsApp sync with your contacts. Here's how to go about it.

Force Whats-app Sync

  • Open your phone's Settings app. 
  • Choose between Users and accounts and Passwords and accounts. 
  • Tap on Account sync after selecting WhatsApp from the list. 
  • To force the phone to sync contacts, press the toggle button next to contacts.
  • Check to see whether the contacts have reappeared on WhatsApp.

Remove WhatsApp account

If forcing a WhatsApp Sync does not work, the next option is to delete your WhatsApp account from your phone. Please create a backup of all your chats to Google Drive before proceeding. We have a special page that explains how to accomplish just that.

Once you have managed to back up your WhatsApp chat, open the same menu as before (passwords and accounts) - but this time - click the option that says Remove account.

You will receive a warning that indicates doing this will erase all messages, contacts, and other data. Since you have backed up your communications to Google Drive, you need not worry about this anymore and you can tap on Remove account.

Once this is done, the WhatsApp installation on your phone shall remain fresh as new and you can attempt setting up your account again. Wait for WhatsApp to sync your contacts and recover all messages from Google Drive after you've set it up before using it normally.

The last resort: Uninstall/Reinstall WhatsApp

If all of the previous approaches fail, the last alternative is to see if you are using the most recent version of WhatsApp. If this is the case, you should remove and reinstall WhatsApp on your device.

If you find a new version of WhatsApp available for download, make sure to install it and see if the problem has been resolved. If you are already on the most recent version, you should perform a complete re installation.

That brings us to the end of this article. 

We really hope that the actions outlined here truly assist you in resolving the problem.

 If it didn't, please let us know in the comments section below so we can look into it further.

 Do you know of any other techniques that we overlooked? If so, please let us know and we will gladly add it to our list with proper attribution.