A communication terminal for communicating with a counterpart communication terminal includes: circuitry to control a display to display communication start information reflecting a communication function to be started by the communication terminal, and detect a connection of an external device to the communication terminal to generate a detection result. The external device is to input or output content data to or from the communication terminal to enable the communication terminal to communicate the content data with the counterpart communication terminal using the communication function. When the detection result indicates that the external device is connected to the communication terminal, the circuitry controls the display to display the communication start information in a first display format. When the detection result indicates that the external device is not connected to the communication terminal, the circuitry controls the display to display the communication start information in a second display format.