iMessages not showing photos but initials

Question

kairubry Author

Level 1

7 points

iMessages not showing photos but initials

Hi,

Forever, my iPhone 7 Plus shows peoples initials in iMessages and I cannot figure out how to get their photos up.

To start:

1. Yes, they have photos in contacts.

2. Yes, I have gone into Messages -> 'Show Contact Photos' and have even tried turning it off and back on.

Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance.

iPhone 7 Plus

Posted on Sep 9, 2017 11:41 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

kairubry Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 9, 2017 11:44 PM in response to kairubry

Ok, I figured part of it out. When I searched for a different photo and added it, the photo now comes up. Evidently, my photos from before were pre-populated photos from FaceBook. I am guessing that it will allow them to be contact photos but not for the purpose of iMessage.

Reply

Answer 2

Jonathan UK

Level 10

164,015 points

Sep 10, 2017 6:41 AM in response to kairubry

Hi

The following steps may help:

In the Contacts app, check that there is a single contact card for each of your contacts and that each card contains that contact's full name and phone number, along with their email address.

If you have not yet done so, enable iCloud Contacts:

Go to: Settings > [your name] > iCloud > enable Contacts.

If you have contacts from multiple sources and multiple entries for the same person have not been linked automatically (such that they are shown as a unified contact, with "Unified Info"), then manually link those contacts by following the instructions here: