Contacts missing on a phone

An IT admin or an employee can find out why directory contacts are missing on a phone, then bring them back.

Each phone syncs on its own: one phone can be up to date while a colleague's is not. If the app writes no contact at all, see Sync shows zero contacts.

The sync has not run yet

What you see: the directory card shows Never, Error, Pending, or an old "last sync". A person who joined or changed in the directory does not show up yet.

Cause: the directory sends nothing to the phone by itself. Each phone syncs in turn, at the frequency set by the admin (Every hour, Every day, Every week or Every month). The frequency is a minimum interval: in the background, the system chooses the moment, and it can prevent it (battery saver, background refresh turned off). When the app opens, directories whose sync is due are synced.

Fix:

1. Open the RingSync app.
2. Tap Sync on the directory card.
3. Wait for Sync complete.
4. If the card stays in Error, see Sync on demand.

See Automatic sync.

The person is ignored by the rules

What you see: the directory contains the person, but no phone receives them.

Cause: RingSync never writes a person who:

• has no email address (with Entra, the mail attribute counts: an account that only has a sign-in name is ignored);
• is a Microsoft guest account (Google has no notion of guest);
• has neither a first name nor a last name, like rooms and technical accounts.

Fix (admin):

1. Open Logs and type the name or email in Search a person (name, email).
2. Choose the Skipped filter and the Last 30 days period.
3. Read the Reason column: no_email (no email) or guest_account (guest).
4. Fill in the email address in the directory. A guest is never synced.
5. On the phone, tap Sync.

A person with neither a first name nor a last name does not appear in the Logs. A person who did not change does not appear either in a Microsoft incremental sync. See Synced information.

The person is out of scope or excluded

What you see: some people are on the phone, others are not.

Cause: what reaches the phone depends on the Sync scope. With Specific groups, only the members of the chosen groups (including nested ones) are received. Members of the Groups to exclude are removed whatever the scope. The scope is reserved for the Pro plan and above.

Fix (admin):

1. Open Settings then Sync scope.
2. Check that the person belongs to a chosen group, or switch to The whole directory.
3. Check that they belong to no group in Groups to exclude.
4. Click Save.
5. On the phone, tap Sync.

With Microsoft and The whole directory, an exclusion added afterwards only removes people already present at the phone's next full sync: tap Force a full sync at the end of a sync. See Select and exclude groups.

The account is disabled or suspended

What you see: a contact that was present disappeared after a sync, or never arrived.

Cause: an account disabled in Entra or suspended in Google is removed from the phones. A person who no longer meets the rules (became a guest, no email, no first or last name) is removed as well, and the Logs show them as Removed with the reason.

Fix (admin): re-enable the account in the directory, or correct the record, then have Sync tapped on the phone.

The contact was deleted by hand

What you see: a person the phone had received is gone, although they are still in the directory.

Cause: sync goes from the directory to the phone: a contact deleted by hand is created again at the next sync that concerns that person. With Microsoft and The whole directory, a person who did not change is not read again, so they are not created again right away.

Fix:

1. Open the RingSync app and tap Sync on the directory card.
2. Wait for Sync complete.
3. If the contact is still missing, tap Force a full sync on the end-of-sync screen.

The photo is missing

What you see: the contact is there, but without a photo, or with the old one.

Cause: a photo missing in the directory is not an error: the contact is created without a photo. The phone remembers for 7 days each person's photo, or the fact that they have none. The Microsoft directory does not report photo changes: at the end of each sync, the app re-checks photos known for more than 7 days, oldest first, within a limit of 50 people and 10 seconds per pass. A new photo can therefore take several days to appear.

Fix: wait for the next syncs. An added or changed photo is replaced on the contact, and a photo removed in the directory is removed from the contact.

No directory shows up, or a shared directory is missing

What you see: the app shows "No directory has been shared with you. Contact your administrator." or does not show a subsidiary's directory.

Cause: the phone only receives a directory if its owner has access to it, recognized by the email address of the sign-in account. That address must be the one on their directory record. A shared directory is only received by people who have an active seat on a receiving directory, with the source directory's scope and exclusions.

Fix (admin):

1. Open Users and search the person's email in Search a name or an email.
2. If they do not appear, assign them in the directory: RingSync enterprise application in Entra ID (directly or through a group) for Microsoft, Authorized seats in Settings for Google.
3. Click Sync from directory, or wait up to 15 minutes.
4. If they appear with Not installed yet, they never signed in to the app.
5. If they appear with App installed but still see the message, their sign-in account does not have the same address as their directory record.
6. For a shared directory, open the source directory's Settings, Share this directory card, and check that the person's directory is ticked.

A person present in two synced directories appears twice on the phone, once per directory: this is not a fault. See Share a directory across subsidiaries.

The contacts limit is reached

What you see: the sync fails with plan_limit_reached, and the dashboard shows the Plan limit reached banner.

Cause: RingSync refuses to start a sync when the plan's Synced contacts limit is reached. Contacts already present stay, and no new one is added.

Fix: see Seats and limits.

The contacts are written but cannot be found

What you see: On this phone (the directory detail, by tapping its card) shows contacts, but the Contacts app does not display them.

Cause and fix:

• iPhone: RingSync files the contacts in a group named after the directory. If the Contacts app only shows some of the lists, open the list of groups and show that group.
• Android: RingSync writes to the phone's local account, with no dedicated folder. Each record carries a "RingSync" web address. If your Contacts app only shows some accounts, show the phone's local account.

See Install on iPhone and Install on Android.

Access was removed

What you see: a person had the contacts and lost them.

Cause: when a person's access is removed in the directory (unassigned from the RingSync enterprise application for Microsoft, taken out of the Authorized seats for Google), their phone deletes the contacts of that directory, and only those. The purge happens right away if the app is in the foreground, otherwise at the latest the next time the app is opened.

Fix (admin): open Users and search the person. If they are no longer listed, restore their access in the directory, then click Sync from directory. On their record (View), the Phones table shows Purge pending, Purge confirmed or Nothing to purge. See Seats and limits.

Diagnosis on the admin side

1. Open Users and search the person who has the problem.
2. Click View. The Phones table gives, for each phone, the Last sync of this directory.
3. In Sync history, click View the log for the latest sync.
4. In Logs, look for the missing contact: the possible actions are Added, Updated, Removed and Skipped. Details are kept for 30 days.

Still stuck?

Write to us through Contact us with the person's email address, the directory name and the time of the last sync.