How to delete a contact from LinkedIn, and when you need to remove a connection instead

Short answer: to delete imported contacts from LinkedIn, go to Settings & Privacy, then Syncing options, Sync contacts, and click Remove all next to Contacts. The catch: LinkedIn only documents removing all imported contacts at once, and an imported contact isn't a connection. To drop a person from your network, remove the connection instead.

Below: the steps on desktop and in the app, what happens next, and how to tell which of the two you actually need.

A LinkedIn contact is not the same as a connection

Most people who search for how to delete a contact from LinkedIn mean one of two different things. LinkedIn treats them separately.

Imported contacts are entries from an address book or phone that were uploaded to LinkedIn, usually years ago. They're used for things like connection suggestions. The people in that list may not even be on LinkedIn.

Connections are people you've linked with on LinkedIn: you sent an invitation, or they did, and it was accepted. They're your 1st-degree network.

There's a smaller third meaning: the contact info on a connection's profile, such as their email or phone number. You can't delete that, because it belongs to them.

LinkedIn shows it only to 1st-degree connections, and only if the member chooses to share it, so removing the connection takes it out of your view.

Deleting imported contacts doesn't remove anyone from your connections. Removing a connection doesn't touch your imported contacts.

Pick the one that matches your problem, and the rest of this page covers both.

How to delete imported contacts from LinkedIn on desktop

LinkedIn's page on deleting imported contacts gives the path. The setting sits under Account preferences, not Data privacy, which is where many older guides send you.

1. Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
2. Select Settings & Privacy. The page opens on Account preferences.
3. Under Syncing options, click Sync contacts.
4. Click Remove all next to Contacts.
5. Click Continue in the Remove all sources? pop-up.

That's the whole process. There's no password step documented and no waiting period for the deletion itself.

How to delete imported contacts in the LinkedIn app

On iPhone or Android:

1. Tap your profile photo.
2. Tap Settings, then Account preferences.
3. Under Syncing options, tap Sync contacts.
4. Tap Remove all next to Contacts.

The deletion applies to your account, not only to the device you used. You don't need to repeat it on your computer.

What happens after you remove all imported contacts

LinkedIn says: "Your contacts will be deleted immediately."

The imported list is gone the moment you confirm. You won't see those entries in your syncing settings again.

One thing takes longer. LinkedIn adds that "updates to suggestions may take up to 72 hours." Connection suggestions built partly on your old address book can keep appearing for up to three days.

Give it 72 hours before deciding it didn't work. After that, suggestions reflect your account without the imported list.

Why you can't delete just one imported contact

LinkedIn's help page documents one action for imported contacts: Remove all. It doesn't describe a way to pick out and delete a single entry.

For most people, that's fine. The imported list is usually an old address book upload, and clearing all of it is the goal.

If you were hoping to delete one specific person, check whether they're actually a connection. If they are, you can remove that one connection individually, as the next sections explain.

If they're only in your imported contacts, the documented option is to clear the whole list.

LinkedIn no longer syncs your contacts

There's a change most older guides miss. LinkedIn's page on syncing phone contacts is marked as no longer available, and it says: "we no longer support syncing contacts. All sources synced previously will stop syncing."

So the LinkedIn app isn't continually pulling in new entries from your phone any more. Whatever sits in your imported contacts came from past uploads.

That makes a one-time clean-up enough. Once you remove all imported contacts, LinkedIn won't quietly refill the list from your address book.

Where your imported contacts came from

If you don't remember importing anything, you're not alone. Many people allowed contact access years ago, often while setting up the app, and forgot.

The usual source is the LinkedIn mobile app's old feature for importing your phone's address book and keeping it synced. LinkedIn has since retired it, but the entries it uploaded can still sit in your account.

Whatever the source, the documented way to clear them is the same Remove all button. The pop-up asks "Remove all sources?", which tells you it clears every imported source at once, not one address book at a time.

If you've used LinkedIn for many years, assume there's something there. Checking takes a few seconds.

How to remove a connection on LinkedIn instead

If the person you want gone is a connection, use Remove connection. LinkedIn's page on removing a connection gives the steps.

On a computer:

1. Open the person's profile.
2. Click More in their introduction section.
3. Select Remove Connection.

In the app, open their profile, tap More, tap Remove connection, and confirm.

You can also work from your connections list: go to My Network, then Connections, click the More icon next to the person, and choose Remove connection.

What removing a connection changes

Removing a connection is the per-person option that imported contacts don't have. It has its own effects.

LinkedIn says the person will no longer be a 1st-degree connection and won't appear in your Contacts section. They also won't be notified.

There's one consequence to weigh first. LinkedIn says any recommendations or endorsements between you are withdrawn, and they won't be restored if you reconnect later.

Messaging changes as well. With a free account, you can only message members you're connected to, so writing to them again would take a new invitation or InMail.

If that person wrote you a recommendation you value, save a copy of its text before you remove them.

Which one do you need?

Use the reason you're here to decide:

• Old phone or email contacts showing up in suggestions: delete imported contacts.
• Privacy worry about an address book you uploaded years ago: delete imported contacts.
• A specific person you no longer want in your network: remove the connection.
• Someone who keeps contacting you: consider blocking, since removal only ends the connection.

Many people end up doing both. Clearing imported contacts tidies suggestions, and removing a few connections tidies the network itself.

When blocking is the better tool

Removing a connection is quiet and light. It isn't a barrier.

If someone keeps messaging you, viewing your profile or sending new invitations, a block does what removal doesn't. LinkedIn's page on blocking a member explains that you can't view each other's profiles or message each other once a block is in place, and you're disconnected as part of it.

Like removal, the other person isn't notified in the usual case. Unlike removal, the block also stops LinkedIn suggesting you to each other.

Use removal for people you've simply drifted away from. Use a block for anyone whose contact you actively want to stop.

Privacy reasons to clear imported contacts

An imported address book can hold details for people who never chose to share them with LinkedIn: family, doctors, old landlords, people you met once.

Clearing that list is a reasonable step if you care about their privacy as well as yours. It removes data you probably don't need LinkedIn to hold.

There's a professional angle too. An old personal address book mixes friends, family and service providers with work contacts, and LinkedIn is a work network.

Keeping your phone contacts out of LinkedIn

Since LinkedIn no longer supports contact syncing, you don't need to switch it off. Previously synced sources have stopped syncing.

It's still sensible to review what your phone allows. Your phone's settings show which apps have access to your contacts, and you can turn that access off for any app you don't want reading them.

That's a device setting, not a LinkedIn one, so the exact path depends on your phone. It's a good habit for every app, not only LinkedIn.

Your contact clean-up checklist

Work through it in this order:

• Decide what you're removing: imported contacts, a connection, or both.
• For imported contacts, go to Settings & Privacy, Syncing options, Sync contacts, and click Remove all.
• For a connection, open their profile, click More, and choose Remove Connection.
• Save any recommendation from a connection you're about to remove.
• Wait up to 72 hours for suggestions to catch up.

Open your settings now and start with the imported contacts. It takes less than a minute.

Synced contact questions

Will removing imported contacts remove my LinkedIn connections?

No. Imported contacts and connections are separate. Remove all clears your imported address book entries, and your connections stay as they are.

Can I turn contact syncing back on later?

No. LinkedIn says it no longer supports syncing contacts, and previously synced sources have stopped syncing.

Why do I still see people from my phone in my suggestions?

LinkedIn says updates to suggestions may take up to 72 hours after you remove imported contacts. Check again after three days.