Why Can’t I See My Contacts on WhatsApp?

Some contacts do not appear in WhatsApp‘s friend list sometimes due to an error preventing you from conversing with them. This problem can be solved by allowing WhatsApp to access your contacts and following a few steps. Here’s how you can do that.

How to see my contacts in WhatsApp on my iPhone

First, you must allow WhatsApp to access your contacts on your iPhone. To do this, do the following:

1. Go to the “Settings” section and select the “Privacy” option;
2. Then tap on “Contacts” and make sure the WhatsApp option is enabled; if the app is disabled, tap the button to the right of the icon to enable it.

Make sure you haven’t set any restrictions on WhatsApp before. To do this, go to the iPhone Settings page, tap “Screen Time,” then “Content and Privacy,” and check if any restrictions have been set.

Resetting your phone may solve the problem if the above method doesn’t work.

And if it doesn’t work?

Verifying that the contacts are stored in an Exchange Server account is another way to solve the problem since it is likely that the person managing the account (in the case of a business device, for example) has blocked WhatsApp or other apps from accessing the numbers on it.

If you want to solve this problem, copy your Exchange contacts to your iPhone or iCloud contact list and contact your company’s IT department to get permission to manage WhatsApp on your iPhone since professionals usually manage Exchange accounts.

If the contact is from abroad, make sure you’ve added the phone number in its full international format.

How to see contacts in WhatsApp on Android

The first step is allowing WhatsApp to access your contacts on Android. For that, do like this:

1. Go to the Settings page, select “Apps & Notifications” (or “Applications”);
2. Access the WhatsApp option, tap “Permissions”;
3. Make sure the “Contacts” option is enabled.

It is also important to update the contacts in the app so that the newest ones can appear. So, do the following:

1. Tap the contacts icon in the lower right corner of WhatsApp to open the contacts menu;
2. Tap the three dots in the upper right corner;
3. Select the Update option to update contacts.

You should also check that the phone numbers are not hidden. To ensure this, go to Contacts, tap the menu button in the upper right corner, and then select the All Contacts option so that all numbers appear in the list.

If you cannot recover lost contacts on Android, you need to log back into WhatsApp or restart your phone even after following the steps above.

Another way to see your contacts again is by logging out of the app. To log out of WhatsApp, do this:

1. Go to Settings and then go to “Apps & Notifications” (or “Applications”);
2. Tap the “All Apps” option and search for WhatsApp;
3. Select the “Clear Storage” and “Clear Cache” options.

WhatsApp will ask for your phone number and send you a code via message when you open it again.

Force stop WhatsApp

If you still can’t recover your contacts after clearing the cache, you can try to force-stop WhatsApp. To do so, follow the instructions below:

1. Go to Settings, then “Apps & Notifications” (or “Applications”);
2. Tap the “All Apps” option and search for WhatsApp;
3. Select the “Force Stop” option and then “Clear Cache” on the same interface.

We hope we have helped you in some way to recover your contacts when they are not in your friend’s list.