When I type a contact‘s name in the ”To:” line in Messages, it only pulls up their email address. It does not allow me to send the message to their phone unless I search the name in Contacts and start the message from there. I’ve tried following instructions from a previous post but it doesn’t appear to solve my problem. The only other thing I might add is that I also have it syncing to outlook as well.
iPhone 12
Hi! I have had this issue forever and finally sat down to figure it out. I also tried the fixes support suggested.
What I found I needed to change was in the contacts themselves. On any of the contacts that do not show a cell number when trying to add to a message, make your way to their individual contact. If you scroll down I saw Linked accounts, which brings you to some other seemingly erroneous contact listings. I went directly to the linked Gmail contact and deleted it. This contact listing did not contain a phone number, only an email address. Once this was deleted I went back to start a new message and when searching for this contact their number appeared.
I sincerely hope this helps anyone else having this issue.
Hi! I have had this issue forever and finally sat down to figure it out. I also tried the fixes support suggested.
What I found I needed to change was in the contacts themselves. On any of the contacts that do not show a cell number when trying to add to a message, make your way to their individual contact. If you scroll down I saw Linked accounts, which brings you to some other seemingly erroneous contact listings. I went directly to the linked Gmail contact and deleted it. This contact listing did not contain a phone number, only an email address. Once this was deleted I went back to start a new message and when searching for this contact their number appeared.
I sincerely hope this helps anyone else having this issue.
Hello AppleRookie20,
Thank you for reaching out in Apple Support Communities. We understand that the phone numbers for your contacts do not appear in the Messages app, when a message is composed. We'll be happy to help.
If the contacts are synced to iCloud, we suggest to temporarily turn off "Contacts" in Settings > your name at the top > iCloud > Contacts. Then, let's restart your iPhone and toggle "Contacts" back on. From there, let's see if you're able to select the phone number for your contacts in the Messages app.
Also, let's make sure that the account in which your contacts are synced is enabled. To do that, please open the Contacts app on your iPhone > tap on "Groups" in the upper left corner and make sure there's a checkmark next to the account in which your contacts are synced to on your device.
Please let us know if that helps.
Best regards.
AppleRookie20,
Thanks for getting back to us and for providing us that information. Have you had a chance to see if there's an available software update on your iPhone? Having the latest software update helps to provide software improvements that can help. If needed, here's how to update the software on your iPhone: Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
If that doesn't help, we recommend to contact Apple Support to review this further. You can contact them through this link here: Get Support
Kind regards.
Hello. I've tried what was suggested above and I'm still having the same issue.
I might add that the issue is inconsistent, in that some contacts have worked (i get a phone number) while others have not (i get only an e-mail choice). There have also been times where I would get a phone number for one contact and at a later date it goes to the e-mail instead.
Hope this helps in giving me a solution to fix this problem.
iMessage only showing contacts’ email addresses not phone numbers
