iPhone Contacts Still Shows Old Contacts That Should Not Be There Anymore

Question

I initially posted this elsewhere, but I was directed to post this here since it is apparently more relevant for our hybrid environment.

Something I have noticed when it comes to getting contacts synced to an iPhone with my work account. It doesn't seem like those who have left my organization (whose accounts have been disabled and unlicensed in AD) ever get removed from my work iPhone's contacts even if I am logged into Exchange through settings on my device and if I have updated all of my Outlook contacts with the current ones on the Global Address List (GAL).

Let me give an example:

Let us say that John Smith was a member of my organization for some time by the time I got hired and received my phone with all of the current contacts of everyone who worked at my organization. But for one reason or another, he left, got fired or was laid off or replaced with someone else who got his phone and the same number along with it. Let us say that the replacement for John Smith is Jane Doe.

So, let's say I would like to update my contacts so that I have his replacement in my phone as a contact, as well as anyone else who was fired/laid off and replaced. Normally, the way I would go about this would be to remove all of the current contacts that I have in my Outlook Address Book and then to grab all of the new ones from the GAL. This is also assuming that my work account is never logged out from the Settings app on my iPhone, so I will be getting any changes as I am updating them in my Address Book in Outlook.

However, I soon notice that both contacts, new and old, are still in my phone. Whenever I get a call from John Smith's replacement, I see the caller ID show up as: John Smith or Jane Doe. What gives? I already updated my contacts in Outlook and I no longer see John Smith in there, but he is still in my phone? I would imagine that all of the entries in my Outlook's Address Book Contacts would sync with my phone, including the ones that I have deleted. I got to be missing something here or doing something wrong.

Answer 1

Hi @Nathan Gelderbloom ,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A platform!

Based on your description, it could relate to sync issue in your Outlook for iOS. Please kindly understand that the tag “Microsoft Exchange Online” is for general questions related to Exchange Online. For that, I suggest you could post in the dedicated forum for Outlook for Mobile for more help with this issue.

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.