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I have noticed many contact cards in my Contacts that I didn't add. They are people I sent emails to using Apple Mail on my Mac. How do I stop this from happening? Running the new iOS17 on a new iPhone 15 plus.
iPhone 15 Plus, iOS 17
I had this happen and found out how to fix it, for me at least.
On your Apple device where they appear, go to Settings > Contacts > Accounts > Choose the account that is causing this issue. In my case, it was Gmail. Choose Gmail, then disable Contacts. It will show:
Turn off Contacts
Are you sure you want to continue? All Gmail contacts will be removed from your phone.
Delete from My iPhone
Cancel.
I chose Delete from My iPhone and it removed all of the new ones that were added.
I had this happen and found out how to fix it, for me at least.
On your Apple device where they appear, go to Settings > Contacts > Accounts > Choose the account that is causing this issue. In my case, it was Gmail. Choose Gmail, then disable Contacts. It will show:
Turn off Contacts
Are you sure you want to continue? All Gmail contacts will be removed from your phone.
Delete from My iPhone
Cancel.
I chose Delete from My iPhone and it removed all of the new ones that were added.
I figured out what's causing it. For some reason, the "Create contacts for auto-complete" setting in Gmail settings affects this. If you have "When I send a message to a new person, add them to Other Contacts so that I can auto-complete to them next time" selected, it will add any new email address used to your iPhone Gmail contacts. If you change the Gmail setting to "I'll add contacts myself," it doesn't happen.
The weird thing is that it does add it to the "Other contacts" in desktop Google Contacts, but not to the main "Contacts" group in desktop Google Contacts. Unfortunately, it seems that the iPhone Gmail contacts syncs both the "Contacts" group and any new email address added to the "Other contacts" group on desktop Google Contacts.
I don't want to have to use this work-around, because I like a previously used email address to auto-populate when I start typing in the To: field when composing an email in Gmail on desktop. I just don't want that email address added as a new contact in my iPhone Gmail contacts.
Maybe this is an iOS bug?
The instructions to change it if you want to do the work-around are from: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/7345608
That's because Gmail saves the sender's contact in your phone.
You can change that in the Gmail settings.
Go to General >
Part of my job is customer service. Every time I answer an email it is adding the customer to my contacts.
I need to turn this off ASAP
Ok. I fixed it, here’s how. Follow jongrahl direction then go back and turn the contacts back on. It will put back the contacts you had before the mother load dump. It added 3500 contacts to my list. Now it’s back to 300-ish.
I'm sorry to hear you're having this problem, too. I am glad, however, that it's not just my imagination. Early responders seemed to think it was some simple thing maybe I was doing or misunderstanding. But no, I have contacts I didn't add (but did send email to, some through gmail) or text one time. I deleted mine manually as well, hope someone figures this out soon so we don't have to keep doing this!
Yes me too. I would love to know how to make it stop.
I am having the exact same issue. I have an iPhone 15 and I just noticed recently that everyone I have sent an e-mail to using my Gmail account is now added as a contact. Unfortunately I can't say for certain when it started, but based on the e-mails sent and the contacts added I would say the last couple weeks. I reviewed my contacts directly on Gmail and they don't appear there as contacts. It's not all auto-complete entries either, only recent ones from the last couple weeks. I couldn't figure it out so I ended up just manually deleting all the contacts from the phone (roughly 200).
Perfect did this & they went Thanks for the info. Bloody phones are getting worse as they supposedly become smarter. Makes me wish for the older iPhone 4/5 when apple was so much simpler
Yes, this worked for me, too. Turns out it just a toggle off, let it clear, and toggle back on. Thanks for the crowdsourcing, folks!
Hi all,
I said I'd report back after trying jongrahl's suggestion, and unfortuately it didn't work for me. Doing so deleted other contacts I had added manually as well. Not sure why that happened, but I had to turn it back on and then the contacts I actually added myself were reinstalled. I've tried all other suggestions made and nothing is working. That said, I haven't had other contacts added mysteriously since I deleted the first batch a couple of weeks ago. Maybe it was a glitch of the new iOS or another change Google made? Fixed behind the scenes? Has anyone had it happen more than once?
I did this and it deleted every single contact off of my phone :(
Unfortunately, no. I tried the suggestion jongrahl made about turning it off in gmail but that deleted other contacts I had added manually as well. Not sure why that happened, but I had to turn it back on and then the contacts I actually wanted came back in. I've tried all other suggestions and nothing is working. That said, I haven't had other contacts added mysteriously since I deleted the first batch a couple of weeks ago.
Are you sure you are not looking at “Siri found in…” suggestions ?
Yes, I'm sure. I went into contacts directly using the Contacts app, and into the Lists and selected "All Contacts." There are numerous ones there that I did not add as a Contact but did receive an email from or in some cases sent an email to using Apple Mail.
Contacts being added automatically on iPhone
