Why does my phone already know my neighbor's number?

SaintWacko@midwest.social to Android@lemmy.world – 44 points –

I just met my new neighbor for the first time, and when we exchanged numbers (by me texting her number) my phone (Pixel 8) showed her full name with a tilde in front of it below the phone number. She's not in my contacts. Where did it get that name from?

17

It's a service her phone company provides. I have it too my carrier calls it "share name ID"

I can turn it on and off on my Samsung, it is called Hiya. Not sure how other phones have it.

i had just looked that up on verizon here. you can configure it to be whatever you want (with some limits), and it's what gets sent with your phone number for caller id to compatible mobile devices/plans and to landlines with name & number caller id capability.

Huh, interesting! First time I've seen that. Then again, I guess it's the first time I've texted someone new in a while...

My phone started doing this not to long ago, showered a picture and full name and everything. I'm assuming it has to do with Google and Gmail and Google fi which I have. Fuck Google. I never consented to this.

Mine did that too recently! It really freaked me out as I normally share my contact card and tell them to send me theirs after, but I immediately got all of their information as soon as I texted them. I have a Pixel 6 Pro.

Uuuuuuh have you heard of GDPR ?

The EU privacy thing? What's that got to do with it?

GDPR is about/against unsolicited sharing of personal information. If OP's story were in the European Union, that would be a blatant breach of privacy, and the (phone company?) who provided that name would be facing a gargantuan fine.

That is assuming that she's not sharing the name voluntarily. It's not a GDPR violation to offer such a service if it's opt-in.