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My friend's account appears, but a different person is using it

If you added the friend by syncing your contacts, their name will appear the same as in your phone's contacts list.

Note: Their LINE display name will appear under their name in your contacts in a smaller font on the profile pop-up.

For this reason, if your friend cancels the phone number you have in your contacts, or if the number in your contacts is wrong, a different person (the current owner of that phone number) will be displayed on your LINE friends list under your friend’s name.

If any of the following cases apply, please check your friend’s phone number by contacting them using a means other than LINE.

Issues happening on your device

• If an account with your name is appearing on your friends list, please check if you have yourself saved in your contacts with an old phone number.

• If a friend who does not use LINE is appearing on your friends list, please check if your friend’s phone number in your contacts is correct, and if you still have their old phone number.

• If the name of a friend on your friends list suddenly changed, please check if you have changed their name in your contacts.

• If you tried chatting with a friend, but they turned out to be a different friend, please check if you have added multiple phone numbers for that friend in your contacts.

Issues happening on your friend's device

• If you are told by a friend that they see your account even though you don’t have one, please check if your friend has an old phone number of yours in their contacts.

• If you signed up for a new phone number and were displayed as a friend on a stranger's LINE account, the stranger may have the previous owner of your phone number in their contacts.

• If another account with your name is displayed on your friend’s friends list, please check if your friend has an old phone number of yours in their contacts.

If someone you don't know is appearing in your friends list, please remove them after hiding or blocking them. For more information, please see the following Help article:

Removing Friends

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My friends don't appear

I can't add friends using ID Search

I can't add friends via QR code

Contacts on my device don't appear in my friend list

Why does a blocked or removed friend still appear in my game rankings?

I have Auto-add friends turned ON, but my contact wasn't added

I receive the message “The account you are trying to add cannot accept any more friends.”

I verified a Japanese phone number and can't search for IDs/phone numbers because age verification is required

If your LINE account is verified with a Japanese phone number, the ID/phone number search feature will be restricted until you verify that you are 18 or over. This is in order to protect minors who are using the service.

LINE uses the age verification services provided by Japanese mobile service providers. You can verify your age if you have a contract with au (KDDI), NTT Docomo, SoftBank, Y!mobile, or LINE Mobile.

In any of the following cases, you will not be able to verify your age and search for friends using their phone number or ID.

• Your contract is with a mobile service provider that cannot be used for age verification.

• Your mobile service contract is under the name of someone under 18 years of age.

• Your mobile service contract is under a company's name.

• You have not registered your user information. (For mobile service providers other than LINE Mobile)

• You have not applied for sp-mode. (For NTT Docomo)

• You cannot configure your mobile service provider's setting for sharing your age. (For mobile service providers other than LINE Mobile)

In any of the situations mentioned above, try adding friends with a different method (e.g. QR code scan or auto-adding friends from your device contacts).

If you haven't finished registering your user information or configuring the setting for sharing your age, please contact your mobile service provider for assistance.

In the case that you cannot verify your age even though you are 18 or older, have registered your user information, and configured the setting to share your age, contact us via this Inquiry Form.