One of the more common issues that users experience following an update on their Apple Watch is around contact name and associated information. Several users found that contact names were missing after the latest Apple Watch update.

Messages App On Mac Not Showing Contact Names List
Iphone Not Showing Contact Name
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May 13, 2020 If you find iMessage showing numbers, not name OR some of your contacts (possibly all) are missing from your iDevice immediately after an iOS upgrade; one option is to restore them back from your iCloud backup. This fix assumes that you are using iCloud to backup your Contact information.
“My iPhone 6 is not displaying the name of the contact who sent me text messages.” “My iPhone 6s is showing only the phone number. I have not knowingly changed any settings.” “My contacts name disappeared from my iPhone 7 Plus. It is displaying numbers instead of contact names in text messages.
Jan 23, 2019 In order to use Messages, you need to have a unique and unregistered Mac serial number. If your Mac is genuine Apple hardware, this won’t be an issue at all. It’s when you start working with Hackintosh systems – ersatz Macs built from off-the-shelf parts and a modified version of macOS – that you start running into problems.

Apr 24, 2019 WhatsApp contacts not showing names can occur because of two main things: You do not have that phone number saved into your contacts list, so WhatsApp will not recognize it. In this case, we recommend re-saving the contact on your phone. Jul 03, 2019 Apple Watch Not Importing or syncing Contacts, How-To Fix; 15 Favorite Siri Tips for your Apple Watch; watchOS 5 Notifications Features, Here’s What you should Know; The New Siri Watch Face on watchOS 5; The main issue here is that your Apple Watch displays the phone numbers during calls and messages, but the contact name doesn’t show up on.

If you experienced this problem after upgrading your watchOS recently, here are a few tips that should be helpful.

Contents

2 Contact Names Missing After watchOS Update?
3 Summary

Quick Tips

Follow these quick tips to fix missing contact names and information on Apple Watch

Restart both the watch and the paired iPhone
Try a Reset Sync Data on your watch
Force restart the watch
Unpair and re-pair your Apple Watch
Remove third-party apps

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The main issue here is that your Apple Watch displays the phone numbers during calls and messages, but the contact name doesn’t show up on the device.

Contact Names Missing After watchOS Update?

Please follow each of the steps below until you fix the issue on your Apple Watch

Following an update, if you are having problems, it’s always good to restart the Apple Watch and see if that fixes the issue.
- In order to restart your Apple Watch, press and hold the side button until the sliders appear, then drag the Power Off slider to the right.
- To restart, hold down the side button until the Apple logo appears.
The next step in the process is to try ‘Reset Sync Data’.
- This process does not delete any of your data but resets it on the device.
- Start by tapping the Watch app on your iPhone. Tap on My Watch > General > Reset > Reset Sync Data.
- Once the data has synced, check if the issue has resolved.

You can fix most Apple Watch related issues with a simple unpair/re-pair process

Start the Unpairing process by opening the Watch app on your iPhone.
Go to the My Watch Tab and choose your watch by tapping on the screen.
Next, choose ‘i’ next to the watch and then tap ‘Unpair’ to start the process.
Once the unpairing is done, try and re-pair both the devices and check if you fixed the issue.
Between the reset/re-sync operations, this issue should resolve.
If you are still experiencing the problem, check and see if there is a more recent update that is available for your Apple Watch and apply the update

Force restart your Apple Watch

Press and hold both the side button and Digital Crown for at least 10 seconds
Release the buttons when you see the Apple logo on your watch screen

Messages App On Mac Not Showing Contact Names List

Check your third-party watch apps

There is one more caveat to this problem.

Sometimes ‘Reset Sync Data’ does not solve this issue.

This is particularly true when you are using third-party apps on the Apple Watch that may have access to your contacts.

Messages App On Mac Not Showing Contact Names

What we find is that once you remove all the third party apps from your watch and then do a forced restart of your Apple Watch, your contacts start showing up on your Apple Watch.

This process is a little painful as it is often hard to figure out which third-party app may cause the issue.

Once the issue resolves, we have tried re-installing one app at a time and checking to make sure if the contacts stay intact.

Summary

Iphone Not Showing Contact Name

We hope that you were able to fix this annoying issue with the help of the simple steps mentioned above.

If you are still having the issue, you can get in touch with Apple Support and check if they can help you with the problem.

Please let us know any questions that you have using the comments and feel free to share a tip if it has worked for you when it comes to missing contact names on the Apple Watch.

Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.

Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.

In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.