Contacts

To view your contacts, open the Contacts section in the app.

Contacts List

By default, the contacts list displays only those contacts whose phone numbers are saved in your mobile device's phone book and synchronized with the app. To synchronize contacts, install the app on your mobile device and grant access to contacts.

Since RTS, CTS, and ETS are by default combined into a common federation, any eXpress user who has your phone number saved in their phone book will be able to find you in the app by your phone number if it is specified in your profile. There are two exceptions: if your organization uses an isolated ETS or if you delete the phone number in your profile settings (login without a phone number must be allowed by your system administrator).

If you have multiple devices with different phone books, the phone book from the last mobile device you logged into the app will be synchronized in the web and desktop apps on your PC. Future updates plan to add the ability to select a phone book for synchronization in the PC app.

If a contact's phone number is not in your phone book, you will not see it in the contact card. Corporate contacts from your organization may contain a phone number, email, job title, and other data in special corporate fields.

You will not see a contact, even if you synchronize your phone book with the app, if that user registered in the app without a phone number via corporate email or corporate server address.

Contact Types

Contacts in the app are divided into types depending on the user's registration type:

• Non-corporate contacts, registered on a public server (RTS). They are marked with a green globe icon.
• Guests on a public server (RTS) or corporate server (CTS). They have a user icon and a “guest” label.
• Corporate contacts, registered on a corporate server (CTS or ECTS). Contacts from your or a trusted corporate server are marked with a briefcase icon, while other corporate contacts are marked with a blue globe icon.
• Unregistered contacts (only in the mobile app). At the end of the contacts list, unregistered contacts (grayed out) are displayed — you can send them an SMS inviting them to register in the app.

Using Names from Phone Book

You can configure the display of contacts as they are recorded in your phone book. To do this, enable the Use names from phone book setting. Note that this display will only be visible to you.

Links and QR Codes for User and Bot Cards

Starting from version 3.24 of the server software and mobile apps and version 3.25 of the web/desktop app, you can create links or QR codes for user and bot cards. To do this, open the user or bot card and select the corresponding option in the additional menu. The link displays the HUID of the profile.

Sending a Contact in Chat

You can send a contact from the Contacts section as an attachment in a chat.

Contact Tags

Contacts can be assigned tags. For more details, see the section Tags and Chat Tabs.

Displaying All Corporate Contacts in the List

The corporate server administrator can configure the display of all registered users of the server in the contacts list, eliminating the need to search in personal phone books. To do this, the administrator needs to change the settings on the corporate server.

For Administrators: How to Display All Corporate Contacts

In the admin panel, in the section Server > Server Features, uncheck the boxes Corporate search, Disable corporate phone book, and Trust Search. For organizations with more than 500 users, it is not recommended to uncheck these boxes, as it may lead to performance degradation on mobile devices due to loading the full list of server users. For smaller organizations (less than 500 users), these boxes can be unchecked to display the full list of employees in the contacts.

After applying the settings, re-login to the client app for the changes to take effect.

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❓Related Topics:
• The “Use names from phone book” feature is not working
• All contacts are duplicated in the iOS app
• All contacts are displayed as gray unregistered in the iOS app
• Instead of the full name, the contact's phone number is displayed
• Instead of the name, “Unknown contact” is displayed

Contacts Search Field

The contacts search field works the same in the Contacts, Chats sections, as well as when adding participants to a chat, channel, or conference. For additional contact filtering, use the tags button next to the search field.

Search for an External Contact

If you are a public user or the person you are looking for is not your corporate colleague, add their phone number to your mobile device's phone book and grant the app access to your phone book. If you have shared chats with the user you are looking for, you can also find them in the contacts list by the name they specified during registration or as they are recorded in your phone book (if the corresponding setting is enabled).

To add a contact:

1. Install the app on your mobile device.
2. Add the phone number of the user you are looking for to the device's phone book and restart the app.
3. Wait for the contacts synchronization to complete. After some time, the contact will appear in the Contacts section.

If you do not know the user's phone number, try the following methods:

• Join a group chat where this user is present, or send them an invitation link to a chat you are in.
• If the user is in someone else's contacts, ask them to mention this user using the @@ symbols, send their contact as an attachment, or share a link or QR code to their card.

Search for a Corporate Contact

If you are a corporate user (registered on CTS/ECTS), you can find your colleagues, even if they are not in your personal phone book, through the search field above the contacts list. Even if the user is not in your phone book but is registered on the same corporate server as you or on a trusted server, you can find them by their name (full name). The corporate server administrator can configure the display of all corporate users. In this case, the contacts list will display both contacts from your phone book and all your colleagues.

Corporate contact search starts when at least three characters are entered in the search bar and works on the principle of “fuzzy search” (trigram index). You can disable this feature by enabling exact search (requiring strict matching) in the app settings.

The first result in the search is the contact that fully matches the query, so it is more convenient to search for users by their full name. You can also search by additional profile fields: Active Directory login, domain, organization name, job title, office, department, work phone, email address (these fields must be configured on the corporate server).

Found contacts are displayed in a specific order:

1. Contacts that fully match the search query (regardless of the server, if a trusted connection is established with it).
2. Personal contacts from your device's phone book registered in the app.
3. Cached contacts that were already loaded into the profile before the corporate search began (when logging into the app, synchronizing chats, creating a chat, and other events).
4. Contacts from the same corporate server with names similar to the search query, if exact search is not enabled in the app settings.
5. Users from another server with names similar to the search query, if exact search is not enabled in the app settings.

Search for Corporate Users with Exact Match

By default, this feature is disabled, and the search is performed with typo support, also considering not only the contact's full name but other attributes, including values of other contacts' attributes. For example, if you enter the manager's last name, in addition to their contact, all their subordinates will also be found.

When exact match search is enabled, only results that exactly match the contact's name, email, or chat name (if the search is performed in the Chats section) will be displayed in the search results. For example, when entering the manager's last name or email, only their contact will be found.

The Exact Match Search feature is available in the main app settings.

Trusted Search for Corporate Contacts

As mentioned above, if you are a corporate user, you can find a contact not only from the same corporate server as yours but also from a trusted server. A trusted server is one with which a direct trusted connection is established. You can check if there is a trusted connection between servers in the routing scheme in the chat properties. For trusted search to work, it must be allowed on the servers.

For Administrators: How to Check if Trusted Search is Allowed

Check that:

• In the admin panel on the server from which the search is performed, the Trust Search setting is enabled in the Server > Server Features section — this allows searching for users on trusted servers.
• In the admin panel on the server where the contacts should be found, in the Servers section on the Trusts tab, the Allow Trusted Search setting is enabled for the corresponding trusted servers.

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❓Related Topics:
• Forced Refresh of Contacts Synchronization
• What to Do If You Cannot Find a Contact
• Cannot Find a Contact Only in the Web / Desktop Version

Forced Contact Sync Refresh

This method will help if contacts are displayed as “unknown contact”, some contacts are gray (unregistered), or a registered contact is not displayed. Perform the steps in the mobile app, as contacts are synced through it:

• Fixing Contacts in the iOS App

1. Disable access to contacts in iOS settings for the mobile app.
2. Restart the app. A notification about denied access will appear in the Contacts section.
3. Enable access to contacts in iOS settings, restart the app, and wait for the sync to complete.

• Fixing Contacts in the Android App

1. Open the engineering menu in the mobile app: Settings (avatar above the chat list) > About > tap the logo several times until the engineering menu opens.
2. On the DATA tab, tap CLEAR DATABASE.
3. Return to the contact list and wait for the sync to complete.

The “Use Phone Book Names” Feature Is Not Working

Try disabling and re-enabling this setting. You can also perform a forced contact sync refresh (see above). If the issue concerns one contact, edit it in the device's phone book and reload the Contacts section in the app.

What to Do If a Contact Cannot Be Found

Possible reasons for a missing contact:

• To search for a contact, enter at least three characters in the search field.
• If you have a large phone book, wait for the contact sync to complete.
• The contact you are looking for may be unregistered. Check this with your organization's support or eXpress.
• A sync failure may have occurred. Contacts may appear as “unknown contact” or gray. Perform a forced sync refresh (see above). If the issue persists, find the contact in the web or desktop version of the app, collect logs, and contact eXpress support.
• If trust or corporate search is disabled in the server settings, you won't be able to find a contact from another server. Check this with your organization's support.
  Administrator: Checking Search Settings

  Check the settings on the corporate server via the admin panel:

  • Ensure that trust search is allowed in the trust server properties and that the Trust Search setting is enabled in the Server > Server Features section.
  • Check if corporate search is enabled in the Server > Server Features section.
• Search may not be performed on some fields, or their display is not configured on the server. Fields available for search: Active Directory login, domain, organization, position, office, department, work phone, email. Search by server or the “description” field is not possible. Ensure that exact match search is disabled.

Contact Cannot Be Found on Only One of Your Devices

If a contact appears on one device but is missing on another (or the name is displayed incorrectly), the wrong phone book may have been synced.

Recommendations:

• On the device with the correct phone book, open Settings (avatar above the chat list) > Active Sessions > End All and log into the app on your computer using a QR code.
• Message the contact from the device where it appears, so the chat appears on other devices.
• Sync phone books on all devices using one Google account or Apple ID. For iOS and Android devices, use a shared Google account.
• Contact your organization's support to have the administrator clear your contacts on the server for re-sync.
  Administrator: Assisting with Contact Search

  Assist the user:

  1. 1. Ask the user to end all sessions and close the app on the mobile device.
  2. 2. In the admin panel, find the user in the Users > Activations section and click Clear Contacts for the mobile activation.
  3. 3. Check the contacts on the mobile device.
  4. 4. Ask the user to disable contact access in the device settings, restart the app, enable access, and restart again.
  5. 5. Ensure the contact appears and log in on other devices using a QR code.

All Contacts Are Duplicated in the iOS App

Disable and re-enable contact access in iOS settings for the app, then restart the app.

Also, contact your organization's support team for assistance.

Administrator: Clearing Contacts in the User's Session

Find the user's profile in the admin panel, locate the iOS session in the Activations section, click Clear Contacts, and ask the user to end the session and log in again.

All Contacts Appear as Gray Unregistered in the iOS App

Disable VPN and restart the app. Reinstalling the app may also help.

A Phone Number Is Displayed Instead of the Contact's Name

Check if the contact is saved in the phone book with a number instead of a name.

Edit the contact in the phone book and restart the app, or disable the Use phone book names setting.

“Unknown Contact” Is Displayed Instead of a Name

If “Unknown user” is displayed instead of a name, a profile loading failure occurred due to a lost connection with the server. After the connection is restored, profiles will load automatically. You can also perform a forced contact sync.