Contact in Teams wont delete on Iphone or Mac Computer.

Suzanne 0 Reputation points
2026-05-12T04:36:06.54+00:00

An old Skype contact is showing in Teams that wont delete on either the iphone or Mac computer. No sync selected. Apple tried to help and we deleted this contact from my phone and also in email contacts on the computer but its still showing on both devices in Teams. How can I delete? Thanks

Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams Free | Contacts | Manage contacts
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  1. Chloe-L 13,685 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-05-12T16:04:25.24+00:00

    Hi Suzanne,

    Thank you for reaching out, and I'm sorry for the hassle this lingering Skype contact is giving you. The reason it keeps reappearing on both your iPhone and Mac, even after deleting it from your phone and Outlook contacts, is that when Skype was retired, contacts were migrated into Teams and are now stored at the Microsoft account level, not on your local devices. So removing them from Apple Contacts or your phone book won't clear them from Teams; the entry has to be removed from the synced source (Outlook.com People / Teams contact list itself).

    Here are the steps that should remove it:

    • Sign in to https://outlook.com and open the People tab.
    • Look for the old Skype contact and delete it there.
    • If it's an entire device-synced folder you no longer need, you can delete the whole folder (contacts are permanently removed within 30 days).

    A couple of notes

    • Sync changes can take up to 24 hours to fully reflect across devices, so don't worry if it doesn't disappear instantly.
    • Deleting your Skype data via the Skype data-export portal will not remove contacts that have already migrated to Teams, so the steps above are the correct path.

    Please give these a try and let me know how it goes, I'm happy to help further if it still won't budge after the sync sources are cleared.

    Best regards,

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  2. AI answer

    2026-05-12T04:36:24.0966667+00:00

    The contact is coming from a synced source (Skype/Outlook/device/Google/iCloud) that is still associated with the Microsoft account, not from the local iPhone or Mac address books.

    To remove it, use these steps in Microsoft Teams Free and Outlook rather than Apple Contacts:

    1. Check and stop contact sync in Teams (Mac):
      1. In Teams on Mac, select Settings and more > Settings > People.
      2. Under Sync contacts, select Manage.
      3. Under Already synced, select Remove next to any sources that might contain this contact (From your mobile device, From Google, From Outlook.com, or From Skype).
      4. This stops Teams from pulling that contact from those sources.
    2. Check and stop contact sync in Teams (iPhone):
      1. In Teams on iOS, tap the profile picture or More.
      2. Select Settings > People.
      3. Turn Sync my device contacts Off. This removes device contacts from Outlook.com but leaves them in the phone’s address book.
    3. Delete the contact at the source (Outlook/Skype/online):
      1. Contacts synced from mobile, Google, iCloud, and Skype are stored under My contacts in the People section of Outlook.com.
      2. Sign in to Outlook.com, go to People, locate the contact in the appropriate folder (for example, a folder named after the device or a Skype/Google/iCloud folder), and delete it there.
      3. If the contact was a device-sync folder (for example, an iPhone folder), that entire folder can be deleted; the contacts will be permanently deleted within 30 days.
    4. If it is a Teams contact entry:
      1. In the Teams People app, select the contact.
      2. Choose Delete in the drop-down menu and confirm. This removes the local Teams contact (for directory-based contacts, only the local copy is removed).
    5. For old Skype contacts specifically:
      • Teams Free does not support deleting imported Skype contacts directly if they are still coming from a synced source. Ensure Skype/Outlook contact sync is removed as in steps 1–3; Teams will then stop showing that contact once the source entry is gone.

    Note: Changes to contact sync can take up to 24 hours to fully reflect in Teams.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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