Outlook App for Android does not sync contacts

Had the same problem: Contacts from Outlook.com (Hotmail account) did not sync from the Outlook for Android app to the native Contacts app. Tried all suggested solutions to no avail. 

Finally switched OFF the "Sync contacts" option for the account in the Outlook app, hoping to be able to manually copy each contact to the Contacts app. I then searched (in the Outlook app on my phone) for a single contact. This displayed without errors. Then chose "Edit" and the app gave me a message saying I needed to enable synchonisation of contacts first. I pressed "enable" (can't replicate the exact message as it was not in English) and ... when opening the native Contacts app, it started syncing. 

Weird.... But hope it helps someone...

Dear Michaelslive ,

I have noticed that you removed the app, readded the account and other. However I did not find that you have enabled the syncing contacts. So do you have it enabled ? If yes go to emails and swipe it from up till down, to sync with the server manually and go to your contacts on the phone and check if you can see them or not.

The biggest question here is why the sync is not complete. You say that calendar syncs but contact do not. Please check one more thing. When you open Outlook app and you select magnifying glass ( at the bottom, between mail and calendar ) can you actually see your contacts there ? Also log here https://outlook.live.com/people/ in browser with the account that you are trying to sync the contacts, and check if you can see the contacts online.

Also please provide the domain of your account, domain comes after @, for example @outlook.com

I think this is a recent issue. I've had a similar problem myself, but it only started happening in the last month or so.

I have a Moto G5, and my wife a Huawei Y7. We both had Outlook for Android installed, and both had our contacts syncing fine for about a year. A month or so ago, the contacts just stopped syncing for both of us. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Outlook, and reset my account a few times, and sometimes that fixes the issue temporarily. My wife has got around it by adding her Outlook account to the Huawei mail app and removing Outlook, which does seem to have fixed the problem for her. I'm still using Outlook though and the problem remains.

Duncan

Dear Michaelslive ,

I am an independent advisor, and I am trying to help other users in Community with my experience in Microsoft products.

This sometimes happens with the mobile application. In order to resolve this please try to do the following:

1. Check for System updates for your phone
2. Remove the account from Outlook app
3. Delete Outlook app
4. Go to store and check for updates
5. Download and install Outlook app and set up your account using this support article https://support.office.com/en-us/article/set-up...

After you will add the account, go to Settings > select your account > make sure that sync contacts is enabled

Also this Self Help for mobile apps is really useful https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Outloo...

Please share the results.

Same or similar issue. Basically it is an Outlook security issue with Android. I went through this in the London Microsoft store (Sept 19) who were going to raise a ticket into Microsoft. 

The Outlook App on your Android will only sync contact changes made on your PC. You can make changes on your android phone and they will not sync back to the PC due to 'security issues'. It all looks OK on the phone but all those numbers you added are lost if you need to restore your phone to factory or change it. 

Interestingly the sync process works perfectly if you use the native email/contacts like Gmail. In store with the tech expert we set up a new contact on my phone using my exchange account on the Gmail app and it appeared on my PC. Then did it using the Outlook App and nothing, its on the phone but not on the PC. Delete the app and you delete the contact changes.

It took me ages to work this out and find a thread on it. 

So come on Microsoft sort out your app/exchange/outlook working and at least tell people of the issue instead of letting them spend hours trying to work it out.