LinkedIn is a popular professional networking platform used by millions of people worldwide to connect with other professionals, search for jobs, showcase skills and experience, and more. With LinkedIn’s massive user base, many users wonder – does LinkedIn have access to my email contacts?
The Short Answer
The short answer is: yes, LinkedIn does have access to your email contacts if you allow it. When you first sign up for LinkedIn, you are prompted to upload your email contacts to connect with people you know. LinkedIn will match your imported contacts to existing users and send connection requests on your behalf. However, importing your contacts is optional. If you skip this step during sign up or remove imported contacts later, LinkedIn will not have access to your email contacts.
How LinkedIn Accesses Your Contacts
When you first join LinkedIn, one of the steps during account setup asks if you want to find friends and contacts already on LinkedIn. If you click “yes” and allow access to your email contacts, LinkedIn will import names and email addresses from your external email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc. LinkedIn never actually gets or stores your email account passwords.
LinkedIn uses the imported contact information to:
- Match contacts to existing LinkedIn profiles
- Suggest connections for you to add
- Allow you to message imported contacts who are not already connections
LinkedIn’s contact importer supports major email platforms like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and iCloud. Depending on your email provider, LinkedIn can import anywhere from dozens to thousands of contacts. LinkedIn will continue periodically syncing and updating your contacts as long as you give it access.
Removing LinkedIn’s Access to Your Contacts
If you decide later that you don’t want LinkedIn accessing your email contacts anymore, you can revoke access by following these steps:
- Go to your LinkedIn account settings
- Click on the “Contacts” tab
- Select the “Manage Contacts” option
- Click the “Remove All” button to delete imported contacts
Once you complete these steps, LinkedIn will no longer sync or have access to your email contacts going forward. However, LinkedIn will not delete contacts that you already individually connected with through the platform. It only removes the original bulk contact list.
LinkedIn Contact Permissions
When you first give LinkedIn access to your email contacts, LinkedIn will import all available names and email addresses. However, LinkedIn says they will only use your contacts to recommend connections and will not email or advertise to your imported contacts unless they already have an account. According to LinkedIn:
We will not email or advertise to any contacts that do not already have LinkedIn accounts, unless they already have relationships with other LinkedIn members, in which case we will suggest those existing members as connections.
So in summary, LinkedIn will only use your imported contacts for suggesting connections to you and others already on the platform. LinkedIn states they will not market or send unsolicited emails to your contacts if they do not already have LinkedIn accounts.
LinkedIn Account Security
While LinkedIn does get access to your email contacts if you permit it, they state that your actual email account credentials remain secure and private:
At no point does LinkedIn ever have access to your email account passwords. We use industry-standard encryption and security protocols like OAuth to ensure your information stays private.
This means LinkedIn never sees or stores your actual email passwords even though they may access and import your contacts. Your credentials remain with your email provider only.
Pros of Sharing Contacts
There are some potential benefits to letting LinkedIn access your contacts:
- Quickly connect with people you know who are already on LinkedIn
- Get suggested connections relevant to your contacts
- Find and message contacts not already connected to you
- Expand your LinkedIn network faster
By uploading your contacts, you can kickstart your LinkedIn connections based on people you already know and communicate with via email.
Cons of Sharing Contacts
There are also some downsides to consider regarding giving LinkedIn contact access:
- Privacy concerns around sharing contact data
- Imported contacts receiving connection requests from you
- Contact data being accessed by LinkedIn without consent
- Cannot selectively choose which contacts are imported
Depending on your comfort level, sharing your full contact list may feel invasive or like an overreach. You also can’t selectively pick and choose which individual contacts are imported if you enable access.
Alternatives to Sharing Contacts
If you don’t want LinkedIn syncing your contacts, there are a couple alternatives:
- Manually add connections one by one
- Use LinkedIn’s search to find contacts by name
- Connect contacts through imported files
- Invite contacts to join via email
While this may take more effort, you can grow your connections selectively without handing over your full contact list. You can also invite key contacts to join LinkedIn through email invitations.
Conclusion
In the end, the decision of whether or not to let LinkedIn access your email contacts is a personal one based on your privacy preferences. If you do provide access, just be aware it grants LinkedIn ongoing syncing of your contact data to suggest connections, but they state your information remains secure.