WhatsApp continues to dethrone the competition with a huge user base. The Facebook-owned company has introduced new features over the years like voice calls, video calls, WhatsApp Pay, and more. But at the same time, WhatsApp continued to fail with basics such as lack of multi-device support, video limit, and sometimes contacts not showing up on iPhone and Android.
It can be frustrating when WhatsApp cannot show newly added contacts or a list of contacts already added on the device. You may be in the middle of introducing yourself to someone on WhatsApp, but the mistake can turn the whole experience upside down.
Let’s fix the problem and put the thighs back as they were meant to be in the first place.
1. Grant Contacts Permission
WhatsApp needs corresponding permissions to work properly. If you denied access to Contacts during setup, you must enable it in the Settings menu.
A recent WhatsApp bug may have disabled the Contacts permission. Let WhatsApp scan your phonebook and import all the contacts from the app. Here’s how to do it.
The corresponding permissions ability differs on both iPhone and Android. We will consider both platforms. Let’s start with the iPhone.
iPhone
Stage 1: Open the Settings app on iPhone.
Step 2: Proceed to the WhatsApp menu.
Stage 3: Tap on WhatsApp and enable Contacts from the menu below.
Open WhatsApp on iPhone; you should see newly added contacts in the app.
Android
Stage 1: Find WhatsApp from the Android home screen or the App drawer menu.
Step 2: Long press the WhatsApp app icon and tap the info button at the top.
Stage 3: It will take you directly to the WhatsApp info menu. Find Permissions under the Privacy menu. Tap on it.
Step 4: Enable the Contact permission from the menu below.
2. Manually Refresh Contacts List (Android)
On Android, WhatsApp provides an option to refresh the contact list in the app.
You can try this trick if the newly added contacts are not showing up in the Android app.
Stage 1: Open WhatsApp on your Android phone.
Step 2: Tap the compose message button at the bottom.
Stage 3: Tap the three-dot menu in the upper right corner.
Step 4: Select Refresh and WhatsApp will try to import new contacts from the Contacts app on the phone.
In a few seconds you will notice that new contacts appear on WhatsApp. Manually scroll through the list or use the search option at the top to find a new contact.
3. Enable Background App Refresh (iPhone)
You don’t have a Refresh option like this on iPhone. Instead, on Android, WhatsApp offers a Background App Refresh toggle that automatically refreshes data in the background and keeps things in sync.
Stage 1: Open the Settings app on iPhone.
Step 2: Scroll down to WhatsApp.
Stage 3: Enable Background App Refresh from the WhatsApp menu.
4. Add New Contacts from WhatsApp
You don’t need to import new contacts from Contacts to WhatsApp every time. You can create a new contact from WhatsApp. By doing this, you can make sure that you activate this particular contact on iPhone and Android. Here’s how to do it.
iPhone
Stage 1: Open WhatsApp and tap the create button in the upper right corner.
Step 2: Tap New Contact, add First Name, Last Name, mobile number with country code.
Android
Stage 1: Open WhatsApp on Android and tap the create button at the bottom.
Step 2: Select New Contact from the menu below and add First Name, Last Name, mobile number and you are ready.
5. Ask Other Person to Send You WhatsApp Message
This is just a temporary solution to fix contacts not showing on iPhone and Android. If you’re still having trouble with newly added contacts not appearing in their WhatsApp contact list, you can ask the other person to send you the message first.
When you receive the message from an unknown number, you can open the conversation and save that contact on iPhone.
6. Update WhatsApp
The inability of WhatsApp to show new contacts on iPhone or Android may be due to a recent bug in the current app version. Fortunately, WhatsApp squashes such critical bugs quickly.
You can visit the App Store or Google Play Store and update the app to the latest version.
If you are part of the beta program, you may want to consider reverting to the stable version for a smooth experience.
Fix WhatsApp Contacts Error
It’s annoying not being able to see newly added contacts on WhatsApp. The above troubleshooting steps should fix the problem for you. If you’re still experiencing glitches and issues with WhatsApp, we recommend switching to competitors like Telegram or Signal.
Next: Having issues with WhatsApp video calls on iPhone and Android? Read the post below to learn how to fix the problem.
