Facebook is frighteningly good at predicting who you know in real life and recommending those people to you as suggested friends. However, it can't suggest everyone you've ever met, so some people will naturally slip through the cracks.

To find out who else you might know on the social network, you should use your phone contacts.

In this article, we'll explain how to find phone contacts on Facebook, how to upload contacts on Facebook, and then how to remove them again when you're finished. Keep reading to find out more...

How to Upload Phone Contacts to Facebook

The process of uploading contacts on Facebook is the same on both Android and iOS. Just follow the instructions below.

  1. Tap on the Menu icon (three horizontal lines).
  2. Scroll down to Settings and Privacy > Settings.
  3. Tap on Media and Contacts.
  4. Locate the setting labeled Continuous Contacts Upload.
  5. Slide the toggle into the On position.

All your phone contacts will start automatically uploading. Friend recommendations based on your phone contacts will start appearing in the Find Friends section of the app (Menu > Find Friends).

How to Delete Phone Contacts From Facebook

manage contacts facebook

If you change your mind, you can reverse the process. First, you need to make sure Continuous Contact Uploading is turned off. You need to do this on every device on which you've turned it on. To turn it off, repeat the steps listed above.

To delete your existing uploaded contacts, you need to use a web browser to navigate to the Manage invites and imported contacts page. At the bottom of the screen, click on Remove all contacts.

Remember, managing phone contacts on Facebook (as detailed in this article) is a different process to the one required if you've uploaded your contacts via Facebook Messenger. In that case, you need to head to the dedicated Manage your uploaded contacts page for Messenger and click on Delete All Contacts.

manage contacts facebook messenger

Don't Forget Facebook's Privacy Checkup Tool

Finally, it's important to note that uploading contacts to Facebook will share those details with the social network. And some people may feel uncomfortable about that. If you'd like to learn more about privacy on Facebook, check out our article detailing the Facebook privacy checkup tool.