Messages shows the email of the person I am sending to instead of their phone number on some contacts. Why is it picking the email up for some contacts and the number for others
IOS – Messages using email instead of phone number
iosiphonemessages
Related Solutions
Assuming you did not change any other settings after the upgrade (like Restrictions), your iMessage may need to be reactivated. When you look at Settings > Messages, you would also see that it displays the message "Waiting for activation...".
There are several ways to get it activated, and sometimes it may take a few tries since Apple's servers may not respond in a timely fashion.
- Turn off iMessage on Settings > Messages.
- Turn off your iPhone (hold the power button until the slide to power off prompt appears and slide to power it off).
- Turn on your iPhone after a minute or two.
- Make sure you're connected to WiFi (usually more reliable than Cellular).
- Go to Settings > Messages and turn it on. Accept the prompt for the warning that carrier fees may apply for the activation SMS.
If the above does not work, you can also follow the steps from iOS: Troubleshooting FaceTime and iMessage activation (edited steps below):
If you see "Waiting for Activation" when trying to activate your phone number with iMessage or FaceTime on iPhone
To resolve this issue:
- Ensure that you have an active Internet connection. You can complete activation using Wi-Fi or a cellular data connection.
- Ensure that your iPhone is set to the correct time zone: tap Settings > General > Date & Time. Note: If Set Automatically is on but the incorrect time zone appears, turn Set Automatically off and choose the correct time zone, date, and time.
- Verify that you can send SMS messages. You need a valid SMS messaging plan to activate FaceTime and iMessage.
If "Waiting for Activation" still appears after you perform these steps, turn FaceTime and iMessage off and on in Settings > Messages and Settings > FaceTime. You may need to wait up to 24 hours to complete activation. Most attempts will take less than an hour, but some attempts may take up to 24 hours. If your issue isn't resolved after 24 hours, please contact Apple for assistance. If you've recently performed a remote wipe on your iPhone, wait 24 hours from the time you performed the remote wipe, and then turn iMessage off then back on.
When Messages receives an iMessage, it matches the source with an entry in your Contacts. If you don't have a matching contact, you just see the phone number or email address of their iCloud account.
If your phone syncs its contacts to iCloud, Facebook or some other source, and you would like your contacts on your computer to also sync to this source, open System Preferences then choose Internet Accounts. If you use iCloud for syncing, choose iCloud from the list of accounts then tick the "Contacts" checkbox. If you use Facebook, add a new Facebook account and your friends list's contact information will download and stay up-to-date as they change it. Pretty much any other source of contacts you can think of can be added here, either through one of the main account types for the major providers or "Add Other Account" for standards-based things like LDAP & CardDAV.
Wait a few seconds after adding the new account and ensuring "Contacts" is checked off, and your iMessages should now match up names where there were phone numbers or email addresses before.
While you're in Internet Accounts, you can also add certain other message sources to Messages, if you desire. As an example, you can add a Google account and tick the "Messages" checkbox, and then your Google Talk messages will appear inside of Messages alongside your iMessages. AIM, Yahoo! and Jabber round out the other options; no Facebook yet.
There are a number of other routes to access your Messages and Contacts sources (namely via the iCloud preference pane or via the "Accounts" tabs present in each app's preferences) but Internet Accounts is the one-stop source for all of this. Each different route controls the same information, back here in the master source.
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Best Answer
A single contact entry in your iPhone may have one or more email address, phone number or both listed.
People using iPhone are logged in with their Apple ID which requires an email address to create. The phone number of the iPhone gets linked to the Apple ID. However, Apple ID can be used to login into Mac or an iPad as well. It's also possible that a person is using a Mac or iPad and not having an iPhone, in which case the phone number doesn't get linked with Apple ID.
Messages app on iPhone gives priority to iMessage over SMS (if the recipient's email/phone number is registered with Messages). The Messages app displays the email address of the recipient if it's an Apple ID. The message can be sent as an iMessage.
In your case, its possible that the contact has only email address available and it's an Apple ID registered with Messages. If the contact also has a phone number saved, it will be listed and SMS can be sent to it.