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My Galaxy S6 had my Facebook contacts synchronized within the Contacts application since I acquired the phone in September 2015. I didn't exactly notice when it happened, but now this feature does not seem to work anymore. I have the latest update of the Facebook application.

When going in the Android settings under "Accounts", I can see the Facebook item but it is shown as "disabled". There does not seem to be any way to enable this synchronization. I think I remember there used to be some options on that screen to enable contacts synchronization.

Another detail is that all the contacts that came from Facebook are still listed in the Android Contacts application, however, the contact information is empty and it is shown as a contact stored locally on the device only.

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For what it's worth, Facebook has removed the contacts sync functionality.


Supplementary info

Under the Facebook's Community questions, I found these two:

  • Sync Contacts with phone? - by Justin Reinwand

    My Facebook app for Android no longer has the option to sync contacts with my phone. This was a really nice feature. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the app multiple time and it still does not appear. I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 and the latest Facebook app.

  • Android 5.0.1 just stopped syncing contacts - did all the usual steps - by Michele Debois Ray

    [Android] 5.01.1 just stopped syncing contacts - reinstalled all - turn off and on - steps to sync - states syncing but nothing when you go to display FB contacts. weird thing. when you go to contacts and you can choose where contact came from like device or gmail etc. FB is not there to choose from.

At the time of writing this answer, both questions were asked about two months ago and about a month ago, both of them received a same reply from Sofia V. of Facebook Help Team

Unfortunately, this feature is no longer available.

In addition to that, whilst I did not verify the authenticity of the Facebook page Facebook Android Beta, in response to a comment by Devon Jackson

Facebook contacts are no longer syncing to my s6

the said page replied

Thanks for checking in, Devon. We have to remove some things and add others in order to test certain features and make sure we address specific bugs. We appreciate your patience during this process. -Kevin

Although the reply was applicable to beta build of Facebook during the month of October, further comments from users and accounting the timing of Sofia's reply, I opine that the changes were swiftly copied in the consumer version of Facebook in the same month.

In short, settle with the fact that the feature has been removed from the app. That's it.

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  • Note: I do not use any build of Facebook app at all.
    – Firelord
    Nov 20, 2015 at 18:03
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    Thanks for the detailed answer. I don't see why FB would want to remove such a feature though.
    – jmbouffard
    Nov 20, 2015 at 21:14
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    That's what a lot of the users are saying all over the internet. You can check some of their replies behind the links I posted. At the moment, I couldn't find an official explanation behind this move.
    – Firelord
    Nov 20, 2015 at 21:15

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