We use WhatsApp to communicate with everyone: friends, family, co-workers, companies and even people we don’t know. Surely it has ever happened to you, or you know someone to whom it has happened, that suddenly the WhatsApp conversation history shows the numbers of your contacts, but not their names. It is one of the most typical problems of the instant messaging app, but it has an easy solution. We explain why it happens and how to solve it.
Normally, WhatsApp is capable of automatically locating all the contacts in your address book and displaying their name in the application. Sometimes it can fail and a contact does not always appear in WhatsApp, or their number appears, but not the name associated with said contact. There are two possible solutions so that this does not happen to you. If one way doesn’t work for you, surely the second option will solve this problem.
Restore WhatsApp synchronization with your contacts
If WhatsApp shows the numbers of your contacts instead of their names, it is more than likely that you need to restore the synchronization of WhatsApp with the contacts that you have saved on your mobile. It is usually a temporary problem, but if you see that the problem persists, do not worry because this has an easy solution by following these steps:
- On your mobile, go to Settings, click on “Users and accounts” and then WhatsApp.
- Tap Delete account.
Steps to follow to sync contacts on WhatsApp
- Now open WhatsApp and click on the “New Chat” icon.
- To finish, select “More options” and click Update.
Updating contacts on WhatsApp
If after following these steps you still see the numbers instead of the names of your contacts, it may be because the security settings of your smartphone are not allowing WhatsApp to work correctly. In this case, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings> Apps and Notifications> WhatsApp> Permissions and check that all permissions are activated.
Configuring security permissions in WhatsApp
Once you enable the permissions, the problem should be fixed and you should see your contact names in the WhatsApp chat list as usual. If despite following the steps of these two possible solutions the problem still persists, it is best to contact the manufacturer of your smartphone in order to have more information about the security permissions of your device, as as WhatsApp recommends in its user help center.
