Text message notifications on iOS 9 not recognising contacts

I tried almost everything mentioned above. Finally, I edited the contact for just one of the phone numbers affected within my iMessages by adding a +1 to the beginning of the number. Went back to my Messages app, and all names had reappeared.

Maybe this will work for someone else? Soooooo frustrating! And weird.

Just wanted to post a solution that worked for me today.

The whole text messages only showing phone numbers & not contact names randomly happened to me this morning - it affected all the texts / imessages on my iphone (7 plus) & some of the texts / imessages on my iPad.

I searching around a while & tried the "turn off messages", reboot, etc... with no success. Finally, as a shot in the dark, I went into one of the contacts on my iPad & deleted the mobile number & then immediately re-entered it. It immediately fixed the issue.

Grabbed my iPhone...did the same thing and it also immediately fixed the issue. No clue why but I figured I'd share in case it helps someone else.

Good luck.

I had this issue happen to me after a storm knocked out the AT&T tower near my house at the same time that my corporate Contacts list was accidentally removed from my phone. After a few days without cellular coverage (I was sick and didn't leave the house) I found that my messages had all become just phone numbers. They didn't come back after my contacts (and cell service) were restored.

I already had Short Names enabled so I just turned it off. Presto, I have all my names in Messages again! Turning Short Names back on had no effect.

elenter had the solution, turn off short names, go into messages the names will be restored. Turning short names back on again doesn't affect it. I've left short names off though, because I like it better. A quick note, I turned of prefer nicknames at the same time, I'm not sure if that had any effect.

I have been having the same problem on iPhone intermitingly. I turned bottoms to Off for Short Name and Prefer Nicknames in Settings>Contacts>Short Name> and all contact details in texts returned

Any other solutions? I'm having the same issue and just came across this thread. All of a sudden my contacts are not working on text messages, only the phone number shows.

I tried deleting and then re inputting my phone number in the contacts, nothing.

I tried going into settings, contacts, short names - then turned it off, nothing.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks Jeg, tried that and nothing.

Here is something that I noticed today, when someone texted me, the name now appears. But older text messages still only show the phone number, not the contact.

Any thoughts as to why that would happen and how to fix?

I FIUND THE SOULUTION all it will cost you is your wall paper and any ringtones you have set, but you could always go in and reset those. Go to settings > general > reset > reset all settings. CAUTION DO NOT PRESS RESET ALL CONTENT AND SETTINGS AS THIS WILL FACTORY RESET YOU IPHONE/IPOD/IPAD

I had the same - tried Apple support, they just said "reset all settings" which is obviously a pain. Anyway, I'm on Vodafone UK and forced a reset of the carrier settings (text web to 40127). You could also try settings>mobile data>mobile data network>reset settings.

Done a couple of tests, and it *may* be working. If I don't post back here, you know its now working for me!

Welcome back to me....Like you, thought it was fixed, but it's still broken for some numbers and not others. Can't see a pattern - eg. it doesn't seem to be network specific numbers. My wife and sister both on Vodafone - wife comes up with name, sister does not. Mate on O2, comes up with name, another also on O2 and comes up with number only. Really frustrating.... iOS 9.01 anyone? Or are we missing something "obvious"?

I'm on O2 and have the same issue. Some contacts are recognised others aren't! I have tried everything from resetting everything to deleting certain contacts! I have contacted Apple and they couldn't really help. Went into the Apple Store and spoke to someone who said it might be an upgrade glitch! Whatever it is it's very annoying and I can't seem to resolve it!

I've also got the same issue with texts. I'm on giffgaff, which uses the O2 network, so it seems like it's an O2 issue.

I upgraded to 9.0.1 last night, but the issue still persists.

It's not really a massive issue because the correct name shows when I open the text, but it's annoying and odd. If it's restricted to O2 what are the chances of it being fixed in the next year?

I have the same problem with text message banner notifications on iOS 9 not recognising contact names. Not fixed with the latest iOS 9.0.1

I don't think it's an O2 issue. I'm on EE with an iPhone 5S.