So I got really tired of my contacts refusing to sync properly on TikTok. Every damn time I’d tap that “Find Contacts” button, either nothing happened or I’d get some vague error message. Super frustrating when you’re trying to follow your buddies.
My First Stupid Mistake
Thought it might be a simple phone setting. Went digging through settings like an idiot for half an hour – turned off and on contact permissions, force-closed TikTok, restarted my phone. Nada. Still got that stupid spinning circle that goes nowhere.
The Weird App Logs Clue
Decided to check TikTok’s app logs (on Android you can do this in developer options). Saw these weird “permission denied” errors even though I’d definitely allowed contact access. That’s when I realized – it wasn’t TikTok or my phone being dumb, it was Google Contacts messing things up!
Here’s exactly what I did to fix it:
- Opened my actual Google Contacts app
- Clicked my profile pic in top right
- Went into Contacts Settings
- Scrolled down to the “Sync” section
- Turned OFF sync completely for 10 seconds
- Turned that sucker back ON again
The Magical Moment
Went back into TikTok, tapped sync contacts and boom – it worked instantly! Shows you how sometimes the problem isn’t where you’re looking. All those sync errors were because Google’s own contact service was half-asleep.
Moron moment though – should’ve tried rebooting Google’s sync years ago instead of assuming it was TikTok’s fault. Saved me having to delete/reinstall the app like some people suggest. Now I’m finally seeing all my mates’ accounts pop up.
