Unable to Remove Personal Synced Contacts from Microsoft Teams People List

In Microsoft Teams Free, those personal contacts persist because they were imported from a synced source (device, Outlook.com, Google, iCloud, or Skype). Deleting them directly in Teams is not supported; they must be removed by unsyncing or deleting them at the source.

Follow these steps end to end:

1. Unsync/remove all external contact sources in Teams (desktop/web)
   On Windows/Mac or web:
   1. Go to Settings and more > Settings > People.
   2. Under Sync contacts, select Manage.
   3. Under Already synced, select Remove next to each source that could contain your personal contacts:
      • From your mobile device
      • From Google
      • From Outlook.com
      • From Skype
2. Turn off device contact sync in Teams mobile
   On iOS or Android:
   1. Tap profile picture (or More).
   2. Tap Settings > People.
   3. Switch Sync my device contacts to Off.
   In Microsoft Teams Free for iOS/Android, turning Sync my device contacts off removes those device contacts from Outlook.com while leaving them in the phone’s address book.
3. Verify and clean up in Outlook.com People
   Because Teams contact sync stores contacts under the Microsoft account:
   1. Go to Outlook on the web and open People.
   2. Look under My contacts for folders named after your device or sources (for example, a folder with your phone’s name).
   3. Delete that folder if it contains the unwanted personal contacts. These contacts will be permanently deleted within 30 days.
4. Wait for propagation
   Teams Free contact updates can take up to 24 hours to reflect in the Teams contact experience. After unsyncing/removing sources and deleting the device folder in Outlook.com People, allow another 24 hours for the People list in Teams to refresh.
5. If contacts are still visible but not searchable
   When contacts no longer exist in Outlook/Address Book and all sync sources are removed, any remaining entries in the Teams People list are typically just stale views. Ensure:
   • All sync sources in Settings > People > Sync contacts > Manage show as removed.
   • Sync my device contacts is Off on mobile.
   • The device-specific folder in Outlook.com People is deleted.
   After that, the contacts will drop from the active contact set; they may briefly appear in cached views but will not be searchable or used going forward.

If a specific contact is a Teams-only contact (not imported), it can be deleted directly from the People app in Teams by selecting the contact and choosing Delete, but imported contacts must be removed via unsyncing or deleting at the source as described above.

References:

• Sync your contacts in Microsoft Teams Free
• Export or delete your data in Microsoft Teams Free
• Your Microsoft account, your data, your choices
• Microsoft contact sync and non-user data processing
• Manage your contacts with the People App in Teams