iphone 18.2 how remove recent phone caller “grey circle initials” ?

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[Tex265]

Since updating to ios 18.2 each of my Recents phone caller’s names are preceded  by a grey circle with their one or two initials in it.  This is distracting and forces the caller listings to take up more space.

Anyone know how to get rid of those initial circles (note: not talking about contact pictures. Its the same default circle/initial  that appears on their contact list if there is a contact).

I’m now also getting icons and circle initials in front of my email in my “All inboxes” email app which I prefer not to have.

Thanks

Windows 11 Pro v24H2 and Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2

• This topic was modified 4 months ago by Tex265.

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What you are seeing should be common to Contacts, Messages, phone caller
In Messages, at the top circle wit 3 dots, set up “Name and Photo”
In Contacts, at the top, “<Your Name> My Card”, Contact Photo and Poster” > Name and Photo sharing – slider to enable/disable

Phone callers are picking up your Contacts list and showing theirs across the system.
This may turn it off for you
Mine is disabled, but some others show up if it’s shared by them.

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PKCano wrote:

In Messages, at the top circle wit 3 dots, set up “Name and Photo”

I don’t see a top circle with 3 dots on my Messages listing, but I do not have my described problem within Messages.

PKCano wrote:

In Contacts, at the top, “ My Card”, Contact Photo and Poster” > Name and Photo sharing – slider to enable/disable

I didn’t enter anything in “My Card”. The circles are not displaying on/in my actual Contacts listings.  There is a big version of that grey circle with initials on each of the actual Contact list page(s) created by Apple. I can edit a photo if there is one, but can find no way to remove the circle/initials from this page.

So this circle thing is not on my Message(s) listings and not on my Contacts listing and per info below is no longer on my All Inboxes Mail listing, but is still showing before each of my Recents phone listings since update to 18.2.

Windows 11 Pro v24H2 and Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2

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Go to your “Settings”, “Apps”, “Mail” – scroll down until you see “Show Contact Photos”, toggle it off. Same with “Messages” under the Apps section, scroll down to “Show Contact Photos”, toggle it off.

MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS

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Tex265

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Tex265 wrote:

I’m now also getting icons and circle initials in front of my email in my “All inboxes” email app which I prefer not to have.

Thanks Myst, that eliminated the icons/initials from in front of my emails.

Windows 11 Pro v24H2 and Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2

1 user thanked author for this post.

Myst

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It should also work through Messages app as I noted in my first reply.

MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS

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Myst wrote:

t should also work through Messages app

No, I was able turned it off in Messages settings, but it has no effect on Recents phone listing (but see comments by Rick below – looks like an Apple issue).

Windows 11 Pro v24H2 and Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2

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Tex265 wrote:

still showing before each of my Recents phone listings since update to 18.2.

You mean like this ?

Initials are replacing callers photos when there are none.

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Alex5723 wrote:

You mean like this ? Initials are replacing callers photos when there are none.

Yes, exactly.  They or photos never showed up on my phone Recents list until the 18.2 update.

I have been able to suppress these in Messages list, Contacts list, and Mail lists but not the Recents phone listing.  Any idea how?

Windows 11 Pro v24H2 and Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2

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Tex265 wrote:

I have been able to suppress these in Messages list, Contacts list, and Mail lists but not the Recents phone listing. Any idea how?

No, but I’ve seen a suggestion in the Apple Support Community to use feedback to suggest that ‘Recents’ in the Phone app is provided with the same toggle as Mail and Messages.

Have a look at Remove Contact Photos in Recents call history of Phone app after iOS 18 upgrade.

Hope this helps…

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Tex265

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What a crap design “feature”.
Those inital dots make zero sense but takes away limited horizontal space especially when using larger fonts.

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There is little enough space in a iPhone SE  for the Recents telephone call listing as presently displayed.  I recommend to remove the grey circle completely, to make space, and improve the layout.

Also the words “yesterday” “Wednesday” “02/02/2025”etc uses up a huge amount of horizontal space squashing the caller details, so they have to display over many lines of text, so only enabling only a few of the list to be displayed at one time on the screen.

currently displayed using 9 lines:

Army

&

Air
Force

Club

AF    Re-       02/05/2026

cep-

tion

Desk

pho…

I can find no way of editing this layout.  Much better would be using 2 lines:

02/05/2026         pho…

Army & Air Force Rec Desk

 

… is there a way to remove the grey circle pending the next software update.

 

 

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Howard wrote:

is there a way to remove the grey circle

None.

Maybe in iOS 19.

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In iOS 18.5 you can disable Contact Photos in Mail.

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