We’ve all been there: you just pulled off a last-second circle win with a random squad, and that Bangalore player who called every enemy position and hit all their smoke throws is exactly the type of teammate you want to queue with long-term. Or your childhood friend just picked up the game on Xbox, and you’re on PC trying to link up to grind ranked together. If you’re stuck wondering how do you add people on Apex Legends without running into weird crossplay errors or missing your shot to connect with a great random teammate, this guide has you covered. We’ll walk you through every method for every platform, fix the most common issues that block friend requests, and share small tips to make managing your friends list way less of a headache.
How Do You Add People on Apex Legends: Step-by-Step for All Platforms
Before you dive into sending requests, there are a few basic pre-requisites to check first to avoid wasted effort:
- Your EA account is fully linked to your platform of choice, with crossplay enabled in your in-game settings
- You have the correct EA display name, platform gamertag, or in-game Apex ID of the person you want to add
- Both you and the user you’re adding have not blocked each other on EA or your native platform network
Enable crossplay first if you’re adding someone on a different platform, because it’s turned off by default for some newer accounts. You can find the crossplay toggle in the settings menu, under the “Gameplay” tab. Once that’s on, the process varies slightly by platform, but the core steps are the same: open your friends menu, select “Add Friend”, and enter their ID. For Steam users, you can also link your Steam account to your EA profile to add friends directly from your Steam friends list without entering their EA ID. For console players on PlayStation or Xbox, you can choose to add someone via their platform gamertag or their EA ID, depending on what you have access to. EA display names are case-sensitive, so if you’re typing an ID manually, make sure you match capitalization and any special characters exactly, or the request won’t send. If you’re adding someone on mobile, the process is identical to PC: just enter their EA ID in the add friend field, as long as both accounts are linked properly.
How to Add Recent Teammates or Opponents in Apex Legends
Typing in a full ID manually is a hassle, especially if the person you want to add has a complicated name with tons of special characters. The good news is you don’t have to do that if you just played with or against them in a match. Right after a game ends, you’ll see the post-match squad screen that shows all players in your lobby, both teammates and opponents. You can hover over or select any player’s name to pull up a menu that lets you send a friend request directly, no typing required. If you already left the post-match screen, you can still find these players in the “Recent Players” tab of your friends menu. The recent players tab only stores data from your last 20 matches, so if you meet someone you want to play with again, send the request right after the game if you can, before they get pushed off the list by newer lobbies. I’ve made this mistake way too many times: I’ll have a great random squad, forget to send requests immediately, and lose track of them entirely by the time I finish my next game. That means I always open the friends menu right after a good win to add anyone I want to queue with later, before I hit “Play Again”. You can also send a quick in-game message with your request to let them know who you are, so they don’t ignore it as random spam.
Common Errors When Adding Friends on Apex Legends (And Quick Fixes)
Even if you follow all the steps correctly, you might run into errors that stop your friend requests from sending or showing up. These issues are way more common with crossplay requests, but they can happen even if you’re on the same platform as the person you’re adding. One of the most frequent errors is the “Friend Request Failed” pop-up that gives no extra context. Most of the time, this happens because you entered the ID wrong, or the person you’re adding has their privacy settings set to block friend requests from non-friends. If you’re sure the ID is correct, ask them to adjust their privacy settings to allow requests from everyone, or ask them to send you a request instead. Another common issue is requests that never show up in the recipient’s inbox. This usually happens because the request is sitting in their “Hidden Requests” folder, which most people don’t even know exists. They can find this folder at the bottom of their friends list, under the friend request tab. EA account restrictions or temporary bans will block all friend request functionality, so if you’ve had a recent ban for toxic behavior or cheating, you won’t be able to send or receive requests until the ban is lifted. If you’re still having trouble, check the EA server status page to make sure the friends system isn’t down for maintenance, which happens every few months during big season updates.
Best Practices for Managing Your Apex Legends Friends List
Once you start adding a bunch of teammates and friends, your friends list can get messy really fast, leading to missed invites and spam notifications. A few small habits will make managing it way easier, so you never miss an invite from your main ranked squad. First, sort your friends into custom groups if you play with different people for different modes. You can make a group for ranked grinders, a group for casual no-fill squad players, and a group for real-life friends, so you can send mass invites to the right group depending on what you want to play that day. You can mute invite notifications from casual acquaintances if you don’t want to get spammed with invites when you’re trying to grind ranked solo. You don’t have to remove them entirely, just turn off notifications so you can focus. Apex Legends caps your friends list at 200 active users, so every few months, go through and remove people you haven’t played with in six months or more, to free up space for new teammates you meet. If you add someone who turns out to be toxic or throws games on purpose, you can block them directly from the friends list, and they won’t be able to send you requests or join your lobbies ever again. It’s a small feature, but it makes playing public lobbies way less stressful, since you don’t have to worry about running into the same toxic player multiple times.
At the end of the day, figuring out how do you add people on Apex Legends doesn’t have to be a complicated process, whether you’re adding a long-time friend on a different platform or a random teammate who carried your last match. As long as you double check your crossplay settings, enter IDs correctly, and use the recent players tab to add people right after matches, you’ll avoid 90% of the common issues that stop people from linking up. If you run into a rare error we didn’t cover here, the official EA help site has platform-specific troubleshooting steps that change as new updates roll out. I’ve met some of my favorite gaming friends through random Apex squads, so don’t be scared to send that request to a player who played well — chances are, they’re also looking for more consistent teammates to queue with.