Siri is Making unwanted Additions to Contacts list

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Level 2

228 points

Siri is Making unwanted Additions to Contacts list

I'm noticed spurious inputs to my Contacts list which seem to have been put there by Siri, but not sure of that. All my devices are connected through iCloud.

I just updated my late 2015 iMac to macOS 12.4. At the same time I installed the 15.5 update in my iPad and iPhone. Can this have caused the annoying problem, which actually provided some incorrect, obsolete info to my wife's iMac? Or has this problem existed before these updates and I didn't notice?

I spent some time trying to get a handle on this, and finally went to "Siri Suggestions and Privacy" app and turned off all the buttons which tell where Siri should make suggestions. I've never seen this in "Settings" before, or never been aware of it. This seems like it may solve the problem, but time will tell.

Has anyone else seen this? And what, if anything, did you do about it?

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on May 23, 2022 6:24 AM

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Answer 1

May 23, 2022 9:13 AM in response to jimpal

jimpal wrote:

I'm noticed spurious inputs to my Contacts list which seem to have been put there by Siri, but not sure of that. All my devices are connected through iCloud.

On what device and in what app are you seeing these unexpected extra contacts? What about them makes you think that they are related to Siri? Are you seeing these contacts on https://www.icloud.com? Can you provide screen shots?

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Answer 2

jimpal Author

Level 2

228 points

May 23, 2022 1:29 PM in response to fusiondriver

fusiondriver wrote:

On what device and in what app are you seeing these unexpected extra contacts? What about them makes you think that they are related to Siri? Are you seeing these contacts on https://www.icloud.com? Can you provide screen shots?

I'm seeing them on the Contacts app in my iMac and MacBook Pro. The additions have incomplete info and faded text. When removing them a little box comes up to quote part of an old email that mentions the addresses. Also, words that say they come from Siri. I didn't think to take screen shots because I thought this was a new known phenomenon. If the fix I mentioned doesn't work, I will use your good suggestion and take screen shots to show the additions.

Why do I think they are related to Siri? If you look at System Preferences>Siri>Siri Suggestions>Contacts you will find two checked boxes which "Allow Siri to make Contact suggestions and learn from you how you use this app to make suggestions across apps." I unchecked those boxes in my effort to cause this problem to cease. This is an area that I haven't used before, and may be new (macOS 12.4?) or not. But could explain the issue. The boxes are checked as default.

I will provide further info if my fix doesn't work. Possibly Apple has explained all of this someplace, but I haven't seen it.

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Answer 3

jimpal Author

Level 2

228 points

May 23, 2022 2:11 PM in response to Barney-15E

Barney-15E wrote:

In Siri System Preferences, click Siri Suggestions & Privacy.

Disable the settings for all of the apps you don't want Siri suggestions.

Thanks for your very clear presentation. That's exactly what I did. And now you have confirmed that it was the right thing to do. For me it was an annoying corruption of my Contacts file, and I don't find it useful at all. Perhaps others feel differently.

Is this new? Or have I jus missed it during the previous updates?

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