The users you keep in touch with on LINE are called friends.
• When you add someone as a friend, you can have conversations with them in chats and invite them to chats and groups.
• When both of you add each other as friends, you can voice call each other.
• You can add up to 5,000 friends on LINE.
Useful info (for users in Japan)
To protect minors who are using the service, LINE has in cooperation with various mobile service providers partially restricted some features, such as setting a LINE ID, searching for IDs, and searching for friends using their phone numbers for users under 18. Refer to About age verification to verify your age and gain full functionality (only available in Japanese).
Topics covered
- Becoming/adding friends
- Changing friends' display names
- Changing how your friend list is sorted
Becoming/adding friends:
If the person has a LINE account
You can add friends with the following methods.
Automatically adding friends (only for LINE accounts created with LINE versions earlier than 13.11.0 if you're not using LINE in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, or Thailand)
The people who are registered in your device's contacts list will be added as friends on LINE automatically.
Note: You can also choose to exclude certain contacts.
Automatically adding friends from your contacts
iOS users
Configure the privacy settings on your device to allow LINE and turn on the Auto-add friends setting in LINE.
To configure the privacy settings on your device:
1. Go to your device's Settings > Privacy > Contacts.
2. Turn ON LINE.
To auto-add friends on LINE:
1. From the LINE app, tap the Home tab > Settings.
Note: Tap here to open the Settings menu from your smartphone.
2. Tap Friends.
3. Turn ON Auto-add friends.
Note: If Auto-add friends is already turned on, tap the refresh icon next to the last auto-add date to manually sync your contacts.
If the user wasn't added as a friend, refer to the following Help article.
I have Auto-add friends turned on, but my contact wasn't added
Android users
1. Tap the Home tab > Settings.
Note: Tap here to open the Settings menu from your smartphone.
2. Tap Friends.
3. Turn ON Auto-add friends.
Note: If Auto-add friends is already turned ON, tap the refresh icon next to the last auto-add date to manually sync your contacts.
If the user wasn't added as a friend, refer to the following Help article.
I have Auto-add friends turned on, but my contact wasn't added
To turn off the feature for automatically adding your friends:
1. Tap the
Home tab >
Settings >
Friends.
Note: Tap here to go to Settings from your smartphone.
2. Turn OFF
Auto-add friends.
Specifying contacts you don't want to be added
Before auto-adding friends, add a half-width hashtag in front of the names registered in your contacts that you don't want to add (e.g. "#John Doe").
Note:
- Adding "#" before the name of someone who you've already added on LINE will not delete them from your friend list.
- If you add "#" before the name of someone who you've already added, their name will appear as they set it on LINE.
If you only want to add a few friends from your contacts, you can add them by searching for their phone numbers. For the steps to do so, tap Manually adding friends > Adding friends by searching their phone numbers below.
Manually adding friends
Adding friends by searching for their phone numbers (only for LINE accounts created with LINE versions earlier than 13.11.0 if you're not using LINE in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, or Thailand)
You can add friends by searching for their phone numbers by following the steps below. Try searching for their phone numbers after reading the important point below.
Important:
- They need to turn on Allow others to add me.
- For users in Japan, this method is only available to those who are 18 or older and have completed age verification.
To add someone by searching for their phone number:
1. Tap the Home tab > the Add friends icon.
Note: Tap here to open the Add friends screen from your smartphone.
2. Tap Search.
3. Choose Phone number.
4. Select a country and enter your friend's phone number, then tap the search icon.
Adding friends via QR code
You can add friends (or they can add you) by scanning a QR code.
To have someone add you as a friend using your QR code:
1. Tap the QR code icon on the right side of the search bar > My QR code, or tap here to go to the My QR code screen from your smartphone.
2. Have them scan your QR code with their QR code reader.
To add a friend using their QR code:
1. Tap the QR code icon on the right side of the search bar, or tap here to go to the QR code scan screen from your smartphone.
Note: The search bar appears at the top of the Home and Chats tabs.
2. Scan their QR code.
3. Tap Add.
Important: If your QR code is leaked, anyone using LINE will be able to add you as a friend. Take care not to share your QR code with people you don't know.
If you want to prevent people you don't know from being able to add you as a friend, you can deactivate your current QR code by tapping Regenerate on the My QR code screen.
Adding friends using ID search
1. Tap the Home tab > the Add friends icon.
Note: Tap here to open the Add friends screen from your smartphone.
2. Tap Search.
3. Choose ID.
4. Enter your friend's ID and tap the search icon.
If you can't search IDs, refer to the following Help article.
I can't add friends using ID Search
Adding friends via a link
You can add friends by having them access your link or by accessing theirs.
To add someone by sending them a link:
1. Tap the Home tab > the Add friends icon > QR code > My QR code.
2. Tap Copy link.
3. Send the link to the person you want to have add you as a friend.
Important: If your link is leaked, anyone using LINE will be able to add you as a friend. Take care not to share your link with people you don't know.
If you want to prevent people you don't know from being able to add you as a friend, you can deactivate your current link by tapping Regenerate on the My QR code screen.
To add a friend using their link:
1. Tap the link you received.
2. Tap Add.
Adding friends from Friend recommendations
1. Tab the Home tab > Friends > Friend recommendations.
Note: Tap here to access your Friend recommendations from your smartphone.
2. Tap "+" to the right of the accounts you want to add.
Adding friends from groups
1. Open a group chat.
2. Tap the icon of the member you want to add.
3. Tap Add.
If the user doesn't have a LINE account or you don't know if they use LINE
Invite them to use LINE. To invite someone to use LINE, see the steps below for each method.
Useful info
The text of the invitation email will display your name as it is set in LINE.
1. Tap the
Home tab > the
Add friends icon >
Invite.
2. Tap
Text message or
Email.
3. Choose someone and tap
Invite.
The invitation will be sent using the text message or email features on your device. If an issue such as the invitee not receiving your text message occurs, contact your carrier or mobile service provider.
Note: The text message option is only available to users in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Changing friends' display names:
To change an account's display name, follow the steps below.
Note: You cannot change an account's profile icon.
1. Tap the
Home tab >
Friends.
2. Tap the account whose name you want to change.
3. Tap the pencil icon next to their display name.
4. Enter a name and tap
Save.
Changing how your friend list is sorted:
You can change how your friend list is sorted by either of the following options.
• Name (default): Your friends will be ordered by name.
• Recently added: You'll see your friends in the order that you added them.
• Profile updated: Your friends will appear in order of who updated their profile most recently.
• Recently messaged: The friends you've exchanged messages with most recently will appear first.
1. Tap the
Home tab >
See all next to Friend lists.
2. Tap the
Friends tab and choose one of the options above from the drop-down menu at the top right.
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