Why does TikTok say random people are from my contacts?

When TikTok says, “From your contacts,” but you don’t know them (foreign people), this glitch should seem strange to you as you may have never contacted or met them before.

In this article, we’ll explain why the app is showing unknown people from your contacts and in what ways you can resolve this annoying glitch.

Contents In This Article

Why does TikTok say from my contacts when they aren’t?

TikTok is randomly linking other accounts to your phone contacts.
The contacts list is synced on your TikTik account.
You have granted TikTok access to your contacts list, and it is synced on your TikTok account.
The “Suggest Your Account to Others” feature is enabled on the suggested user’s account.
Misconfigured or corrupted TikTok cache data and installation files.
Bugs in TikTok.

How do I fix the TikTok from your contacts glitch?

1. Delete Unknown Contacts

Your phone often saves contacts from your associated email account whom you don’t know. So when you log into TikTok and grant it permission to access your phone’s Contacts app, unknown people show up on the platform from your contact list. The best solution is to delete their phone number from your phonebook this way:

Android:

Open the “Contacts” app.
Search for the contacts, especially email contacts, that look foreign to you.
Touch & hold this contact.
Choose “Delete.”
Tap “Move to Trash.”

iPhone:

Open the “Phone” app.
Choose “Contacts.”
Search for email or other form of contact info other than phone numbers.
Select “Edit.”
Tap “Delete Contact.”
Tap “Delete Contact” again.

After you delete the phone number of the person from your contact list, refresh TikToks, and hopefully, the issue will be gone for good!

2. Disable Sync Contacts Settings

If the problem persists, disable the Sync Contacts on your TikTok account this way:

Open “TikTok.”
Choose “Me” or “Profile.”
Go to “Settings and Privacy” > “Privacy.”
Select “Sync Contacts and Facebook Friends.”
Toggle off “Sync Contacts.”
Choose “Remove Previously Synced Contacts.”
Tap “Remove.”

Once you do that, go to your TikTok profile, swipe down the screen to refresh the page, and check if it suggests anyone from your contacts.

3. Deny Access to Contacts For TikTok

Another way to prevent TikTok from showing unknown people from your contacts is to deny its access to the “Contacts” app on your phone. Here’s how:

Android:

Open Android “Settings.”
Go to “Apps” > “All Apps.”
Choose “TikTok.”
Tap “Permissions.”
Choose “Contacts.”
Tap “Deny.”

iPhone:

Open iPhone “Settings.”
Tap “Privacy & Security” or “Privacy.”
Select “Contacts.”
Toggle off “TikTok.”

Next up, refresh your profile page on the TikTok app and verify the fix.

NOTE: If other users have enabled the “Suggest Your Account to Others” option on their profile, there is not much you can do about it to stop TikTok from suggesting them from your contacts. However, you can request them to turn off this feature on their account.

4. Unlink Your Phone and Add an Email to Log In to TikTok

The next fix to resolve the problem is to unlink your phone number on TikTok and use your email as an alternative way to log into your account. Here’s how:

Open the TikTok app.
Tap “Menu” (At the top).
Tap “Settings and privacy.”
Select “Manage account.”
Tap “Email.”
Type in your email.
Tap “Send code.”
Type in the verification code sent to your email to add it to TikTok, and then head back to the “Manage account” option.
Tap “Phone number.”
Select “Unlink phone.”
Tap “Continue to unlink.”
Type in the verification code sent to your Android phone or iPhone, and you’re done!

Now force stop the TikTok app on your phone in the following way:

Android:

Open Android “Settings.”
Tap “Apps.”
Tap “All Apps.”
Choose “TikTok.”
Choose “Force Stop.”

iPhone:

Swipe up on any of your iPhone’s home screens to access the Recent Apps.
Scroll to the right.
Find TikTok.
Swipe up on the TikTok app card to force quit it on your phone.

Afterward, relaunch the TikTok app, log in with your email address, and see if this fixes your problem.

5. Make TikTok Account Private

A few TikTok users also managed to resolve this glitch by making their accounts private. To do this:

Open “TikTok.”
Choose the three lines.
Tap “Settings and Privacy.”
Choose “Privacy.”

Now, toggle on “Private Account,” and hopefully, your issue will be resolved!

6. Clear TikTok Cache Data

When the TikTok temporary data on your phone gets corrupt or outdated, it often results in unexpected glitches, including the one you are experiencing.

To fix this issue, clear the TikTok cache data with the instructions provided below:

TikTok App:

Open “TikTok.”
Tap “Me/Profile.”
Tap the three lines.
Select “Settings and Privacy.”
Tap “Free Up Space.”
Tap “Clear” next to “Cache.”

Android:

Open Android “Settings.”
Head to “Apps.”
Tap “All Apps.”
Select “TikTok.”
Select “Storage.”
Tap “Clear Cache.”
Tap “Clear Data.”

iPhone:

Open iPhone “Settings.”
Go to “General” > “iPhone Storage.”
Choose “TikTok.”
Tap “Offload App.”
Tap “Offload App” again.

Then, open TikTok, go to your profile and check whether the glitch persists.

If this doesn’t help, update the TikTok app on your phone in the following way:

Open “App Store” or “Play Store.”
Search for TikTok.
Tap “Update.”

Let the update process complete; open the TikTok app, and your problem should be gone!

7. Reinstall TikTok App

Have you tried all the above solutions, but TikTok is still glitching by showing unknown persons from your contacts? Reinstall TikTok on your phone to remove all the corrupt installation files. Here’s how:

Android:

Go to the Home screen and touch & hold the “TikTok” app.
Choose “Uninstall.”
Tap “OK.”
Open “Play Store.”
Find “TikTok.”
Tap “Install.”

iPhone:

Open iPhone “Settings.”
Head to “General” > “iPhone Storage.”
Select “TikTok.”
Tap “Delete App.”
Tap “Delete App” again.
Open “App Store.”
Search for “TikTok.”
Select “GET.”

Next, launch the app and sign in to your account to verify everything is working fine now!

In case the issue still persists, report it to the TikTok Support team and wait for their reply.

Takeaway

In this article, we’ve explained why TikTok says From your contacts, but you don’t know them, and how you can fix this glitch quickly.

Hopefully, you can now regain control over your TikTok account and won’t get unwanted people showing up on your account.