Unknown "whatsapp" contacts in my main contact list

[rubiohiguey]

I see about a hundred UNKNOWN contacts in my Android (Galaxy s4) MAIN PHONE CONTACT LIST (not the Whatsapp contact list).
These unknown contacts only have WhatsApp green icon next to them, and no phone number, etc. I do not know these people and I have not them registered in my phone (after clicking through the contact and seeing the contact in Whatsapp, I test-dialed couple of those phone numbers to see if they come up with a name when dialed, but they are not registered in my phone). There is even a neighboring city deputy mayor in the contacts list, and I have never in my life even met him!

First of all, I am concerned about how did all these contacts appear in my phone contacts list and how do I get rid of them besides deleting them from my main phone contact list?
They are ONLY listed in the main contact list of the phone (not whatsapp contacts list, they do not show in whatsapp contacts list if I search for them).

 

[fantom305]

Let me ask you something, being that you say that they don't show in the whatsapp list, what makes you think the it is whastapp the one causing the problem ? I have been using whatsapp for a couple of years in different phone and I never had or heard about this time of problem. The reason you see the green icon is because these people have whatsapp installed in their phone. If you remember any time you add someone's phone number and this person has whatsapp, automatically the green icon will appear in your list of contacts. I am inclined to believe it is more your phone than whatsapp, in any case if you want.... uninstall whatsapp ...reboot and reinstall it again ..........

 

[Diego Fekilis]

Same problem here. In my Galaxy Note, all my accounts (emails, dropbox...) were erased and multiple Unknown "whatsapp" contacts appear in my contact list. However, all of them has my phone number. I can not delete since its only "read-only" accounts.

 

[Cbmichael]

Hi, did you ever get this sorted out??

My contacts list shows the names of my contacts but no telephone numbers, only the "whatsapp" or facebook logo. Then on "whatsapp" I have numbers with no names, the same exists on my text messaging - numbers no names. When I tried adding the numbers to contacts that have the facebook logo, I cannot edit as it is a "read only account"?? I am able to add the numbers back to the "whatsapp" logo contacts. I cant delete any contact either - message "cannot delete read only accounts but can hide from contact list".... I have tried everything.

Only advise I have gotten so far is to back-up my phone and restore to factory settings, as the service consultants tell me they have never dealt with something like this before and they think it is a software problem....

Can anyone help??

 

[Kevink30]

i have the same problem so some of my contacts are gone and there are no numbers by the contacts. and no names in whatsapp. one contacts just dissapeared no name no number nothing.

 

[gmartinp]

I had the same problem. This is how I solved it: Go to Contacts, pop the menu up and pick Delete, select the "unknown contacts" you want to delete, by checking them one by one, press delete, and voila!

 

[Yotam Abramson]

That worked for me. The moment I deleted the accounts, the device started to synchronize these numbers again with their "named" contacts.
However when doing that, one thing you have to verify is that each unknown contact you delete, has a respective named contact to sync with. Otherwise this contact will not appear anywhere and you will have lost it forever (which in turn should not be very crucial because you most probably didn't even know who it was...)

 

[Raunak Haldipur]

Just install this app and run it. Works like a charm. Then you can uninstall the app if you want.
There is an app called Delete Empty Contacts on the Play Store. I can't post the link here for some reason.

 

[mulo_g]

I also have many contacts disappear from my main Contacts in samsung note 3. They appear as (unknown) and have no number or other data. They just have whats app icon appearing against them. Enabling disabling show hidden in whats app had no effect. Manually syncing in accounts has no effect. Uninstaling whatsapp, clearing data, reinstalling whats app has no effect. Any success stories?

 

[pjc001]

Same problem this week. Whatsapp took over my contact list with at least 50 unknown contacts but the same Whatsapp number. Have uninstalled the app. Hope to find a fix somewhere.

 

[bwettler]

I have a related problem with whatsapp. I have the galaxy s6. I keep contact information for myself. I keep a record of my phone number and address there because I move a lot and won't remember otherwise. Well, Whatsapp includes a line I can tap to make a what's app call. Below that I can "view more." If I click that, OMG. Surprise, surprise, this what's app line repeats an infinite number of times. I discovered this when I was troubleshooting the fact that I couldn't edit this contact--my own contact information. The phone freezes and a pop up asks whether I want to close or wait. I suspect that my trouble will solved when I get Whatsapp off my phone. But this is sad, I kind of enjoyed the application until now and I'll have to move my friends over to another chat app.

 

[Lucy Davies]

I have a different problem. I get people from all over the world saying hi or is so & so there. Don't even no these people. I normally text them back saying wrong number & that's normally it but one person kept asking & annoying me & even tried phoning me so I blocked them. How can I get only my friends on WhatsApp not the whole world?

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Jacob Armon]

I am using Samsung Galaxy Alpha, running Android version 5.0.2
My phone contacts list was showing multiple entries for most of my contacts. Originally I had 80 contacts. They got to 420 with no new names at all.
I noticed that the entries had many symbols: "stored on SD-card"; "stored on Device"; "Google"; "Waze"; and "Whatsapp".
To get everything to normal, I choose to leave only the "stored on Device" since this is backed up by my phone company.
1. I deleted my Google account. I need google on my phone only for Calendar. Then I created a google account for phone use only and moved the calendar on my desktop to that account. Since one desktop browser cannot open two google accounts at the same time, I use another browser for the phone account.
2. I deleted my Waze account. Waze is still operating. I don't need to see anyone else on waze while driving.
3. I deleted my whatsapp acount but this was not enough. So I uninstalled whatsapp.
4. I am back to 80 contacts. I am searching for a way to re-install whatsapp without affecting my phone's contacts list.
On a desktop this is easy. I download an application, then disconnect from the internet and install. Then I set the application to avoid syncing with the computer, and reconnect to the internet. With a smartphone this is not possible. Or is it?