Contact Management on Mobile Devices

The Teams mobile app is currently separate from the Teams desktop client and doesn’t integrate directly with the ‘People’ app in Microsoft 365 the way the desktop client does. Because of this, Teams mobile has no direct access to Outlook/Exchange contacts. The workaround is through the Outlook mobile app, enabling contact sync there pushes Outlook contacts into the phone’s native contacts list. Once they’re in the device contacts, Teams mobile can recognize and use them.

Here are the steps to complete on your mobile device:

1. Sync Outlook Contacts to your Mobile Phone
   • On iPhone:
     • Open the Outlook app
     • Tap your profile picture → Settings
     • Scroll to Mail Accounts → tap your account
     • Toggle Save Contacts (this pushes Outlook contacts into your iPhone’s native Contacts app)
   • On Android:
     • Open the Outlook app
     • Go to Settings (☰ → gear icon)
     • Tap your account under Mail Accounts
     • Toggle Sync Contacts (this syncs Outlook contacts into your phone’s Contacts app)

All Outlook contacts are now available in your phone’s native Contacts app.

1. Sync Those Contacts into Teams Mobile
   • Microsoft Teams does not pull contacts directly from Outlook on mobile
   • Instead, Teams mobile relies on your phone’s contacts (from the native Contacts app)
   • Once Outlook contacts are synced into your phone’s address book (step 1), Teams can access them:
     • Open Teams mobile app
     • Tap More (☰) → Settings → People
     • Enable Sync device contacts

Teams will now display and use contacts from your phone, which already includes Outlook contacts.