That’s why I tinkered around Houseparty on my system and figured out a handful of working solutions that will let you get back to calling and playing games with your friends in no time. Let’s begin.
1. Relaunch App
May be it’s a bug specific to select systems or setups. So you should close the app and then relaunch it to check if you can view contacts after that. Create a new room and test if you can add the contacts to play games with your friends. If not, let’s carry on with other solutions.
2. Check Connection
These are basics to be considered. It shouldn’t take long. If contacts are synced but not working, or you are unable to connect and invite, check your Wi-Fi connection or try mobile internet. Video calls can consume a lot of bandwidth, so I wouldn’t recommend using mobile data. Check your mobile data status; maybe you are out of data and didn’t realize it. Finally, check Downdetector to make sure that the site is not down. It has happened before.
3. Permissions and Access
Houseparty needs a bunch of phone permissions to function correctly. Unless you permit it to access your contacts, you won’t see your friends on it, and can’t invite them to your party. Here are the steps for Android users to assign proper permissions. Open Settings and go to Apps > Manage apps and search for and open Houseparty app here. The location might be a little different for you depending on the make and model your smartphone. Tap on App permissions and make sure that Contacts is allowed here along with other options like a mic for audio and camera for video. Here are the steps for iPhone and iPad users. Open Settings and tap on Houseparty. Make sure that Contacts permission is enabled here. Can’t see the option yet? Open the Houseparty app and tap on the ‘+’ icon to select Connect Contacts and then Allow in the pop-up that follows. You can then tap on Add New Friends to begin adding friends that are in your phone book. They should sync now.
4. Phonebook and Facebook for Syncing Contacts
Your smartphone’s phonebook is not the only way to add and sync contacts on Houseparty. You can also add friends from your Facebook account. If you have created the Houseparty account using your Facebook account, then you should see your contacts already. If not, try your syncing your phonebook. And if you’ve used an email ID to sign in and can’t sync contacts or add them, add your social media (Facebook) account to sync contacts. One of the two options should work otherwise you need to recheck the access permissions again.
5. One Friend Left Out
What happens here is that you invite six friends to your room, and only five of them join. That one friend either can’t join the party or can’t play the game after joining the party. That is a bug and the coming app updates should take care of it, hopefully. For now, you can resend an invite. If that doesn’t work, create a new room and send a fresh invite to everyone. Well, that sounds tedious but the only option right now. If it is a contact sync problem, remove your friend and then add him/her back again. To unfriend someone on Houseparty, tap on My Friends and then on the three-dot menu next to the name of the person and select Unfriend. After that, you can add your friend again from the contacts, just like the way you did before, and that should fix the issue. None of my friends are on Houseparty because they are all busy playing PUBG and Call of Duty Mobile, so I have attached a video above for you.
House Warming Party
Get your party hat out and be ready to play with your friends and family members. The pandemic is in full swing, and judging by the looks of it, I don’t think it is going to die out soon. Use this time to work on new skill sets, work out at home, learn cooking or try that new dance move, and use Houseparty to play mundane but insanely fun games with everyone you know. I hope the contacts are now syncing on Houseparty, and friends can connect on the app. If you found another way to solve this error, share it with us in the comments below. And hey, don’t forget to follow us on our social media channels if you aren’t already. You will find links in the footer section. Next up: While Houseparty is a cool video calling app, you should also look at Duo which offers more participants and stability. Check out our in-depth comparison below.
