What does the ignore contact feature do?

I had this issue. So I contacted apple who were unfamiliar of this therefore contacted the engineers. He confirmed..

"One of the features that came with iOS 10 is "Contacts Found in Apps" and when this option is enabled in "Settings > Contacts" you would receive unconfirmed contact suggestion that were found (e.g.) in emails and messages stored on the device. So the Ignore contact option just means that it will no longer suggest that specific contact to be added to your contacts. You can still receive all of their messages. If you want to add them to your contacts at a later time you can always create a new contact at that time and add them."

Hope this helps !

I accidentally discovered it when I deleted a contact by accident. When I went to go re-add them, I saw the Ignore Contact option right underneath the Add to Existing Contact.

Not sure why this option doesn't appear for every contact though.

As to what it does vs blocking, I'd like to know too!

I have just encountered the exact same thing. It doesn't offer the Ignire contact for all contacts just this one I have just now noticed. This contacts information has all been somehow removed from my phone. This is a individual I speak with numerous times daily. I can honestly say that I have never ignored a incoming call from this individual either. He had a android device and like many other contacts that are saved this is the only one that has the ignore contact option. Also when I was calling him his contact information was in my contacts but as the phone started ringing I noticed his name was gone and now this.

I'm not certain...but from what I can tell, it does the same thing as blocking a contact...the only difference I can see is that "Ignore contact" appears for numbers that aren't saved in your phone, whereas "Block contact" appears for those that are.

Where do you see the option or setting to "ignore" a contact?

Actually, that's inaccurate. I don't have a clue what it does. Sorry!

Maybe...just maybe. It "blocks" numbers that are not saved on your contact list.