I usually do not pick up any phone calls that come from an unknown caller. In fact, with cellphones as most people’s main point of contact, the need to pick up unknown calls is greatly diminished thanks to Contacts and caller ID. But you know what’s more annoying than having to pick up an unknown call? Picking up a phone call and realizing that the caller is not who is actually on the other end of the line. This can happen due to having an incorrect contact name, and sometimes your phone is doing that automatically.
iOS 9 can actually parse through all your messages in the Mail app in order to find relevant or not so relevant contact information to be added to the Contacts app. While I have mostly found this feature useful in grabbing work phone numbers or email addresses for some of my contacts, errors can occur.
So what kind of mistakes am I talking about? Let’s say you have a saved contact named Mike Boom. You have Mike Boom’s email address and Facebook contact, but no mobile number. Later, Mike Boom sends you an email containing the phone number to a Craigslist posting he wants you to check out. Your iOS device later parses that email and adds the number contained inside of that to Mike Booms contact profile. Later that day, the Craigslist poster calls you back, you pick up thinking its Mike Boom, and then you end up buying a fish tank that you don’t need. Point is, having your phone intelligently guess which contact information belongs to whom, can get a little dicey. So here’s how to disable it.
How to disable contact suggestions found in Mail on your iPhone and iPad
Please note that when you disable contact suggestions, this will remove ALL unconfirmed suggestions found in Mail and/or Search.
Head over to Settings -> “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” -> Contacts Found in Mail. Read the note about disabling the feature and toggle that option OFF if you would like to proceed.
Once the feature has been disabled you should see an immediate reflection in your contacts. Any contacts that had the “found in Mail” tag will no longer be present.
So, there you have it folks. If you want to avoid getting jockeyed by an accidental Craigslist caller, then this might be the solution for you. I will say, I have found this feature to be more helpful than harmful, but it is helpful to know how to disable it just in case it gets a little wonky on me.
Let us know if you have run into any issues with the Contacts Found in Mail feature in the comment section.
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