Contact Name Changed - Help Please

[PaulSB]

This one has got me completely foxed. My son has SLD but is very capable of many things, there are though some actions he does without realising the potential results.

He capably uses a Motola smartphone and Samsung tablet. Nothing complicated, phone calls, video chat, watching football etc. He also likes to create new contacts, sometimes remove contacts, alter settings etc. I've yet to find a way of preventing this but keep an eye on the phone when I see him and then correct the changes he's made.

This time however...........??????

He has edited my wife's contact name to a random series of letters. Initially I thought he had deleted her and this was a new contact he had created. I deleted this apparently new contact and then added back the family contacts which were also missing.

My son does not have WhatsApp on either his phone or tablet.

When I got home my wife forwarded me a WhatsApp. The sender name appeared as the same random series of letters which I had deleted from my son's Contacts. I then checked a WhatsApp group my wife and I both belong to - same thing. I deleted my wife from this group and added her back from my own Contacts but she appears as the random letters. I know it's her as the phone number is correct.

Does anyone understand how this could happen, how I can fix it and prevent it repeating? This is way beyond my understanding. 🤔

I suspect this could be connected to Google. We all have Google accounts and I have my son's set to auto back up as this helps me right changes he unwittingly makes.

 

[Mo1959]

This one has got me completely foxed. My son has SLD but is very capable of many things, there are though some actions he does without realising the potential results.

He capably uses a Motola smartphone and Samsung tablet. Nothing complicated, phone calls, video chat, watching football etc. He also likes to create new contacts, sometimes remove contacts, alter settings etc. I've yet to find a way of preventing this but keep an eye on the phone when I see him and then correct the changes he's made.

This time however...........??????

He has edited my wife's contact name to a random series of letters. Initially I thought he had deleted her and this was a new contact he had created. I deleted this apparently new contact and then added back the family contacts which were also missing.

My son does not have WhatsApp on either his phone or tablet.

When I got home my wife forwarded me a WhatsApp. The sender name appeared as the same random series of letters which I had deleted from my son's Contacts. I then checked a WhatsApp group my wife and I both belong to - same thing. I deleted my wife from this group and added her back from my own Contacts but she appears as the random letters. I know it's her as the phone number is correct.

Does anyone understand how this could happen, how I can fix it and prevent it repeating? This is way beyond my understanding. 🤔

I suspect this could be connected to Google. We all have Google accounts and I have my son's set to auto back up as this helps me right changes he unwittingly makes.

I'm not very tech savvy either but it sounds like all your contacts are shared and saved in a cloud type thingy so it affects all your devices?? Wonder if there's any way you can have it so that only you or your wife can make alterations to it. Let's hope someone more clued up comes along soon!

 

[netman]

Try going to https://contacts.google.com on the web and signing in both as yourself and your son - Mo is probably right, the corrections you've made haven't synced out to Google's servers yet, or they have and the phones just aren't reflecting that yet. Have a look on the link above and correct there if still wrong. After a short time, they should match up again. You may have to restart the phones involved to make sure they pick up the changes.

 

[Archie_tect]

I hate Google... and passwords and Apple IDs!

Sorry, I appreciate this doesn't help... just needed to say it.

 

[PaulSB]

@Mo1959 @netman - thank you. This gives me a good start though I haven't attempted anything yet as I need peace and quiet to concentrate on it.

I've checked with several friends and they all see my wife's name correctly.

One question. I run my son's Google account on my phone and laptop, I'm permanently logged in. He doesn't understand web dangers and I need to keep an eye on email and browsing history.

Is it possible running his account on my devices is creating the issue? I guess logging out is the first thing to do.

 

[PaulSB]

@Mo1959 @netman - thanks, your input helped me solve this. I went to my son's Contacts in Google account and found all the family names had been altered to gobbledygook. I edited them, logged out, logged in and everything is now correct. I wouldn't have thought of this without your input.

I am at a loss as to why this would impact my phone but hey ho..........