Linking your Android contacts to Facebook allows you to easily find your friends and family on Facebook without having to search for them manually. Once your contacts are linked, your Android device will automatically sync their profile photos and other information from Facebook.
Why Link Contacts?
There are a few key reasons why you may want to link your Android contacts to Facebook:
- Easily find friends – Your phone contacts will automatically be matched to their Facebook profiles, making it easy to find and connect with friends on Facebook.
- Sync profile photos – Your friends’ Facebook profile photos will be synced with their contact photo on your phone.
- View updates – You can view your contacts’ Facebook status updates, photos and more directly from your Android phone contacts.
- Simplify sharing – When sharing content like photos or videos to Facebook, linked contacts will be suggested at the top.
How to Link Contacts
Linking your Android contacts to Facebook only takes a few minutes. Here is the step-by-step process:
- Open the Contacts app on your Android device.
- Tap the menu icon in the top left corner.
- Select “Contacts to display” or a similar option.
- Make sure the option to display contacts from Facebook is enabled.
- Open the Facebook app and log in if you aren’t already signed in.
- Tap the menu icon in the bottom right corner.
- Select “Contacts” or “Sync Contacts.”
- Tap “Update Contacts” or “Sync Contacts” to match your Facebook friends to your phone contacts.
It may take a few minutes for the contacts to sync and match between your Android device and Facebook. Once complete, you’ll see your friends’ Facebook profile pictures and info in your phone’s contacts app!
Troubleshooting Tips
If your contacts aren’t linking properly, here are some troubleshooting tips:
- Make sure you have the latest versions of the Facebook app and Contacts app.
- Check that you are logged into the right Facebook account in the Facebook app.
- Open your Facebook account in a browser, go to Settings > Apps and Websites and make sure Contacts syncing is enabled.
- Clear the cache and data for the Facebook app and restart it.
- Unlink your Facebook account from your Android device’s Settings > Accounts menu, then re-link it.
- As a last resort, uninstall and reinstall the latest Facebook app.
Linking New Contacts
As you add new contacts to your Android device, there are a couple ways to ensure they also get linked to Facebook:
- When creating a new contact, enter their name and phone number, then tap “Add to existing contact.” Your device will try to match them to an existing Facebook friend.
- For existing contacts, edit their entry, tap “Join” and your device will try to find their Facebook profile.
- Regularly sync your Facebook contacts in the Facebook app to match new phone contacts.
Unlink Contacts
If you want to unlink your Facebook contacts from your Android phone for any reason, here are the steps:
- Open the Contacts app.
- Tap the menu icon and select “Contacts to display.”
- Turn off the option to display contacts from Facebook.
- Open the Facebook app.
- Go to Settings > Account Settings > Apps and Websites.
- Tap “De-authorize” next to Contacts.
This will remove the linking between your Facebook friends and your Android contacts. You can repeat the linking steps above to relink them in the future.
Linking Considerations
Here are a few important things to keep in mind when linking your Android contacts to Facebook:
- Only mutual friends that also have each other’s contact info will successfully link between Android and Facebook.
- It’s normal for some contacts to fail linking even if you are Facebook friends.
- Linking shares your phone number with Facebook to enable the syncing.
- You can still keep some contacts unlinked by not displaying Facebook contacts.
- Manually linking contacts provides more control than automatic syncing.
Link Android Contacts to Facebook on iPhone
If you switch from Android to iPhone, you’ll have to relink your contacts to Facebook using the iPhone Facebook app. Here’s how:
- Open the iPhone Contacts app and make sure all your contacts are synced.
- Open the Facebook app and go to Settings > Contacts > Update Contacts.
- Tap “Update” to match your iPhone contacts to Facebook friends.
- Open Contacts app and turn on “Accounts” to show linked Facebook contacts.
Link iPhone Contacts to Facebook
To link contacts from an iPhone to Facebook:
- Open the Contacts app and make sure all your contacts are up to date.
- Open the Facebook app and go to Settings > Contacts.
- Tap “Update Contacts” to match contacts between Facebook and your iPhone.
- Return to Contacts app and enable Contacts under Facebook account.
Your iPhone contacts should now show profile photos and details from matched Facebook friends after syncing.
Conclusion
Linking your Android contacts to Facebook makes it much easier to find and connect with friends and family across the two platforms. With a few quick steps to enable contact syncing in the Contacts app and Facebook app, you can enjoy seamless integration and always have access to your friends’ latest profile updates right from your phone. If you run into any issues getting contacts to link properly, try the troubleshooting tips outlined above to get a successful sync.