Apple iPhone users may encounter a problem where contact names are missing from text message notifications. The problem is commonly solved with these fixes.
Fix 1 – Edit One Name
This is the most common fix. Open the Contacts app and edit any of the names. Make any small change and save the contact. This will “refresh” the contacts database and often fix the problem with missing names.
Fix 2 – Restart iMessages
- Open “Settings” > “Messages” and turn “iMessages” to “Off“.
- Restart the iPhone.
- Open “Settings” > “Messages” and turn “iMessages” to “On“.
Fix 3 – Reset Syncing
- Open “Settings” > “Contacts” > “Accounts“.
- For any accounts you have, (like iCloud, Exchange, Yahoo, etc.), select the account, then set “Contacts” syncing to “Off“.
- Restart the iPhone.
- Return back under “Settings” > “Contacts” > “Accounts” > account name, and toggle the setting back to “On”.
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AMIT MISHRA says
THANKS IT JUST WORKED
Alison says
After trying a number of other complicated “solutions “ to the problem of missing names in IMessage with NO results, I followed instructions for Fix 1 and….success!!! Thanks so much!
Pamela says
Worked like a charm! Thanks so much…this happens every now and then and it’s very much a first world problem, but still, super annoying 😕
Doreen Choquette says
My message contacts are suddenly missing, My email contacts are still there.
Morven Seib says
This post did not help at all. I have just updated to OS 11.0 on my iPhone and the contact names on ‘Messages’ have been cleared ~ I just have the phone numbers. Your article says to go to ‘Settings>Contacts>Accounts’ but in my ‘Contacts>Settings’ there is no ‘Accounts. All I have is the following: Siri & Search, Sort Order, Display order, Short Name, My Info and at the bottom in blue ‘Import SIM Contacts’ so your suggestions are no help to me.