Deleted phone numbers still appear in Messages drop down menu

Question

Level 1

9 points

Deleted phone numbers still appear in Messages drop down menu

I have an iPhone 5, iOS 6. When I enter a name to send a message, the old DELETED phone numbers still appear for that person. See attached.

So far I have deleted the old phone numbers EVERYwhere including: iPhone contacts, iCloud contacts, phone contacts, google contacts, facebook contacts, email addresses, favorites, iPad, everything.

I have restarted the iPhone, turned off and on the Messages app. Everything short of completely restoring the phone.

Here's the thing. This happens for every contact where I have already sent them a message from this phone, and they have since changed their phone number. Example: Look at the two entries for "judith w"

I sent Judith a message on 11/21/12 to her old phone number (the 868 number). Then, she got a new phone number on 11/25 (the 98.... number, 4th on the list). Now, when I go to enter her name to send a message, her old number still appears (at the top of the drop down list) and her new number appears further down.

Also, her old number uses the previous all lower case entry that was in Contacts. When I added her new number I changed the spelling to be Upper/then lower case.

She is not the only contact where this happens. This happens with ANYone who has chaged their number since I sent them a message using this app.

It seems clear that there is some kind of cache for Messages that is doing this.

So, has anyone else experienced this and if so, have you fixed it?

Thanks

Posted on Sep 30, 2012 9:18 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 12, 2017 7:42 AM in response to Community User

Yes, that's brilliant, thank you. However, while it works in Messages on the iPhone, it doesn't work in Messages on my Mac because there is no blue info circle when the offending phone number shows up - perhaps they haven't cured that one yet. Interestingly Windows cured this problem years ago - there's a small delete x next to each line in the drop down box and clicking it removes the phone number or email address from the cache.

But - one step at a time...

Jon.

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Answer 2

May 26, 2017 9:25 AM in response to gossamerjohn

Hi! I figured out how to do it. Praise Jesus! Open Messenger and start to type in the persons name The old name and number comes up along with the new one. When you choose the old one that's been deleted there is a little tap that says delete recent contact. If you hit that it will be removed from your messages.

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Answer 3

texncali

Level 1

16 points

Jun 5, 2017 12:57 PM in response to Orrinette

I don't see what you're referring to as "little tap". Can you take a screen shot? I've seen on some post where you click on the i and the contact card comes up where at the bottom of the card it says "delete recent" but I don't see that on mine and I'm updated.

These old phone #'s (or emails in mail) keep popping up as suggestions and I'm wasting time on figuring out the right one! Now wasting time time trying to figure out how to save me time by fixing it! Haha!

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Answer 4

Sep 6, 2017 7:55 AM in response to subsailor2115

You have to delete the previous thread and when you go to type in the same name there will be a red "I" by the old contact. Tap that and it'll say "remove from recent" and tap yes. I literally just figured it out LOL

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Answer 5

Oct 1, 2012 1:59 AM in response to gossamerjohn

I do have the same problem..i already deleted a contact but i still see it when i type the name on messages..

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Answer 6

gossamerjohn Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 1, 2012 6:26 PM in response to Jcmdimaano

Installed new iOS update today and it DID NOT resolve the issue. This is a huge miss, Apple.

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Answer 7

gdgmacguy

Level 7

21,885 points

Nov 1, 2012 7:53 PM in response to gossamerjohn

goasamer,

you DO know that Apple's not here, right? So statements like "This is a huge miss, Apple" not only are completely wasted and misdirected, but it makes you look foolish.

Had you bothered to search this forum before posting, you would have learned that the only way to remove the previous numbers from the phone's "memory" is by restoring as a new device.

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Answer 8

gossamerjohn Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 1, 2012 8:10 PM in response to gdgmacguy

Yes, after I created this topic I did search the forum and foundthis thread weeks ago where several people point out that the only resolution they've found is restoring the phone as a new device. Maybe you can spend some of your ample Level 6 time in that thread admonishing people for mentioning "Apple."

If a complete restore was a viable resolution for me I'd have done that but I - like others - thought and hoped that an update would resolve the issue.

I'm comfortable with letting a few seconds of my time look "wasted and misdirected" to you even if it means - GASP - I look foolish too. It's clear you're comfortable acting like a pretentious **** on a message board. Hope it works for you.

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Answer 9

gdgmacguy

Level 7

21,885 points

Nov 1, 2012 8:18 PM in response to gossamerjohn

It does. Thanks for asking.

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Answer 10

Nov 28, 2012 10:37 AM in response to gossamerjohn

I too experience the same issue. Seems as if Messages is keeping a history of the person contacted.

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Answer 11

Chris CA

Level 10

82,440 points

Nov 28, 2012 10:42 AM in response to Gerardv514

Have you deleted the Messages thread with that person?

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Answer 12

Nov 28, 2012 11:38 AM in response to Chris CA

Yes, I have also turned off sync with contacts. No contacts are in my contact book, but when going into messages there were contacts listed. Their number was also listed as "other" as opposed to "mobile."

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Answer 13

Dec 30, 2012 11:24 PM in response to gossamerjohn

I'm noticing the same issue, this with a person who changed her number (her old number still shows up when I start a message to her, even though that number is no longer in her contact entry).

In Mail, there is an easy way to remove these "orphan" autofill entries. In Messages, there is no way that I've found.

I posted a new question after searching on the forums (and then, of course, found this one). However, I can find no answer. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4653123 is the post I made.

At any rate, if anyone has an answer, please share. If I find one, I'll post back here, too.

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Answer 14

tareva1

Level 1

4 points

Mar 22, 2013 6:50 AM in response to gossamerjohn

Here we are in 2013 and this still has not been fixed. I feel your pain, gossamerjohn. Hopefully gdmacguy doesn't use one of his 13,000+ posts to insult the fact that I am still unable to remove deleted entries.

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Answer 15

Dec 9, 2016 3:59 PM in response to gossamerjohn

The fix for this issue is so easy, however I didn't figure it out easily..

First go to type the message to the person you don't want in there anymore, then click the blue info circle next to the name, then when in the information there should be a remove from recents, once you remove them it shouldn't show up anymore.

Hope this helped! 😀

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