How to find contacts on Twitter (iOS and Android)

Twitter has a setting item called “Easy to find and contacts”. This setting is closely related to the “Find Friends” feature. With this, we can find the contacts on Twitter. In this article, today we will use the same procedure. So, now let’s start how to find contacts on Twitter.

◆ How to find contacts on twitter using Android?

Twitter has a function called “find friends” that searches for an account based on the information of the phone number and email address registered in the “contacts” of the smartphone. When you execute “Find a Friend”, “Twitter users who may be acquainted” will be extracted as “Recommended Accounts”.

While the searcher can look up the Twitter accounts of friends and acquaintances, if the searcher does not pay attention to the privacy settings, there is a risk that his Twitter account will be revealed to real people.

Now, we will show you how to use the “Find Friends” function of Twitter to find contacts on twitter from the phone number or email address registered in the “Contacts” of your smartphone. On iPhone, we strongly recommend that you allow the Twitter app to access “Contacts” in advance.

• Open the Twitter app and click on profile.

• Open the menu from the icon at the top left of the screen.

• Click on Setting and Privacy option.

• Now click on Privacy and Safety.

• Here you can see Discoverability and contacts,click on it.

• Under Contact you can see “Sync address book cantacts”, make sure it was marked as a tick.

◆ How to find contacts on twitter using iPhone?

Below, the iPhone version of the Twitter official app is used for the explanation, but the procedure is the same for Android smartphones.

[1] Tap your profile icon at the top left of the screen to open the menu.

[2] Click on Following.

[3] Click the Add Contact icon  at the top right of the screen.

[4] Click on Get started.

[5] As a last step click on Sync Contacts. Then allow or ok to connect contacts to twitter.

[6] “Recommended accounts” are extracted based on the contact information.

• If you check “Twitter users who may be acquainted”,
• You can follow all the candidates at once.

◆ Precautions for the “Find Friends” function

There are a few things to keep in mind when using the “Find Friends” feature.

1. The accuracy of “Twitter users who may know” is not perfect

As the wording says, “Twitter users who may be acquainted” has a level of extraction accuracy that is “may be acquaintance”. Unlike LINE and Facebook, Twitter is an anonymous SNS, so contact names, phone numbers, and email addresses are not displayed in the account list. It is not specified who is using which Twitter account, and you will have to guess for yourself.

Also, “Twitter users who may be acquainted” are not necessarily the accounts that match the contacts. It may be an account that the person registered in the contact is following. In my verification, I saw a lot of third party accounts that I didn’t know at all.

2. Some accounts have privacy settings to prevent them from being discovered

In order for the “Find Friends” feature to find your account, they must have “Easy to Find and Contacts” turned on in their Twitter settings. No one is detected if you turn it off.

3. iPhone requires permission to access “Contacts” from Twitter

On iPhone, if you do not allow access to contacts from Twitter in advance, the confirmation dialog shown below will be displayed when uploading contacts.

If you tap “Settings” in this confirmation dialog, the same screen as when you go to “Twitter” from “Settings” on your iPhone will be displayed, and you can allow access to “Contacts”.

At first glance, it seems that it will work if you follow this instruction, but even if you allow it from here and return to the Twitter application, the work is reset and “Twitter users who may be acquainted” are displayed in “Recommended account” not.

Over time, your Recommended Accounts list may improve, but it’s a good idea to change your Twitter contact settings before running Find Friends.

◆ Summary:

We have explained how to use Twitter’s “Find Friends” feature to search for an account by phone number or email address, and conversely, how to prevent it from being searched by “Find Friends”. It’s up to you to see “finding friends” as a useful feature that expands your Twitter circle, or as an annoying feature that hinders your privacy.

When you use “find friends” as a searcher, you may not always find the account you want to find. We recommend that you take a breather and consider whether the account you picked up is really something you know.

Also, I don’t know when I will be the one to be sought. If you want to prevent the existence of your account from being revealed to real acquaintances, you can do not register a phone number in the first place, or use an email address unknown to anyone to register Twitter, but first of all, “Settings and privacy” Check “Easy to find and contact information”.