Totally agreed. I'm suddenly having this problem when I didn't have it before, which is not a great regression. Replying to this thread in hopes it'll catch Microsoft's attention and sending them Feedback via the app.
Phone Link "Messages" shows phone numbers, not names and photos
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Anonymous
I use Phone Link on my Windows 11 PC to text message through my Samsung S22+ phone. I use the desktop Outlook client on my PC and have my Outlook contacts synchronize with the Samsung Contacts app on my phone. A couple of months ago, I began to notice that the names and photos of some of the people with whom I text were no longer showing up in the Phone Link "Messages" list; just their phone numbers. Also, when I clicked "+ New message" in Phone Link, and typed their name, they never showed up in the list of matching contacts from which to choose. This was very frustrating, especially since those contacts were the ones with whom I text most often.
I tried just about everything I could think of - uninstall/reinstalling Phone Link on the S22+ and my PC, multiple syncing options, etc., all to no avail. Then I noticed that the format of the number that showed up in Phone Link was different than what I had in my Outlook contacts. The numbers in Phone Link all showed up with a leading "+1" and had a dash after the area code without parentheses, like this: "+1 123-555-1212" but the numbers in Outlook Contacts showed up like this "(123) 555-1212". I thought the issue might be a database lookup problem, so I tried to enter the same number format in Outlook that appears in Phone Link: "+1 123-555-1212". But Outlook would NOT let me enter this format! It automatically put parentheses around the area code and removed the first hyphen, like this: "+1 (123) 555-1212".
When the new contacts manager for Outlook.com (Outlook on the web) was launched a short while ago, I used the Contacts editor on those contacts and WAS SUCCESSFUL in entering the phone number in the exact format that appears in Phone Link: "+1 123-555-1212". When I sync'd my contacts to my phone, PRESTO! The names and photos of those contacts reappeared in Phone Link "Messages"! So, if you are having problems seeing a phone number instead of names and photos in the Phone Link "Messages" app, try this!
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Connect Phone and PC
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Anonymous
2023-01-03T15:59:33+00:00 -
Anonymous
2023-01-03T04:04:51+00:00 You have said much more elegantly what I wanted to say in posting the original message in this thread. Thank you for taking the time to do that. I had not thought about the two corollary issues you mentioned with driving and contacting people for business. Those are much more serious than my frustration with seeing a number instead of a name in an app!
And, yes, here's hoping that Microsoft recognizes the ill will this bug is causing their customers. It does seem like a ridiculously easy thing to fix!
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Anonymous
2023-01-03T03:50:40+00:00 👍👍👍
Perfectly reflects my feelings as well. Thanks for your well written response. I hope Microsoft listens. These issues and Microsoft's response, or lack thereof is what drives users to Apple.
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Anonymous
2023-01-03T03:39:36+00:00 I'm having the same issue, as of very recently.
Adding a second phone number in the correct format, as mentioned here earlier, did solve the problem for the avatar/contact photo and name.
So this seems to clearly be a bug in how they are matching phone numbers. It's surprising MS would miss this (and still not resolve it) because it's such a trivial thing in programming to match the numbers.
The work around confirms the cause of the problem, but isn't a real solution when you have many contacts, which is pretty much everyone.
Also, by adding the second number, it creates a problem when driving, because now instead of just using voice to call someone, my car now makes me specify which number to dial (even though they're the same).
More importantly, this bug completely negates the entire purpose of having Contacts in the first place. No one remembers everyone's phone number. So when a phone number is the only thing that displays, you assume it's not a known contact and/or have to go and manually look up phone numbers to identify the person you're talking to. This is a huge pain when dealing with business customers, where it's imperative to know exactly who you're talking to.
It looks really unprofessional to reply to a customer's message with, "Who are you again?".
I hope Microsoft seriously works on this, because except for this bug, the Phone Link app is pretty cool and useful.
P.S. @Microsoft, please add an option to never ask again for feedback. You keep asking me the same question over and over; please respect my choice to not participate.
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Anonymous
2023-01-02T15:35:09+00:00 More importantly - before changing why didn't they test it!!!