Is there any way to fix the direct share on Android 11?

[TheFirecat]

 Hello everyone,

I've been struggling with this issue for a while now, and I wanted to know if I was just doomed or if something screwy is going on with my phone. I like using direct share for a lot... WHEN IT WORKS! Lately, it won't refresh the contacts in the menu. There are people on here that I never share anything with that are just there seemingly permanently, which takes up spots for people I share things with regularly. They contacts never update and even the icons used for them don't  changed either. 

So I suppose my question is, how do I fix it!? How do I edit my contacts or even just update them to suit my needs?

Is this a bug or just something that isn't offered as a feature(if the latter, then what the hell, android!)

Any help would be appreciated, this has been driving me up a wall and I feel I've scoured the internet trying to find answers. I've tried tinkering with settings("Show contacts when sharing content" setting mostly) and doing a few forced restarts. I'm at a loss here.

Thanks for your time, folks 😊

[xSteveuk]

Hi,
Try below

Go Settings

Type direct share
in the search field
you'll see it pop up soon, it may take a moment

Tap on the "direct share" option as in the first image

There will be a toggle to disable it - tap on it to do so

Once disabled,
you will no longer
see direct share

[AndrewL]

@TheFirecat: This does appear to be random, and I haven't been able to find a way for you to edit the contacts that appear here. If you're with a friend and want to share something quickly, then the Quick Share and Nearby Share options are perfect for this. For sharing via apps such as Messages, you'll have to select the app itself and choose the preferred contact from there. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause you. 

[echopraxia]

@AndrewL if the contacts are random, have you ever seen people you don't even know show up as options? My husband had someone show up in the first spot that he adamantly denies knowing, and he got really freaked out by it. He posted about it, but hasn't gotten a response yet. The contact was a deleted Facebook account, so you can't even go to it -- but it still shows up as the first option on sharing. Any suggestions? He turned off the contact option so it won't show up anymore, but that means all contacts are hidden, so it's not actually a solution.

[AndrewL]

@echopraxia: The default options I encountered were random, with some generated from my email account, but it is likely that this will begin to populate your preferred/recent contacts after you manually select them from the list of app options below. I understand that this isn't ideal, and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you. 

[echopraxia]

Mine have always shown Facebook contacts that I never interact with, but I've used this sharing option for a long time now, and they haven't updated at all. His, on the other hand, has someone in there that he says didn't come from his email, didn't come from being a connection on Facebook, etc. He is super adamant that this is someone he has never spoken to in his life. I thought it might be from a group or something, but he is very very very adamant that he doesn't know this person at all who shows up in his share screen as the first option. It links to a Facebook account that has been deleted, so if for no other reason it shouldn't show up for sharing given that the account no longer exists.