Accountsd process using huge amounts of CPU and memory

I don't think that the problem is very specific.

All solutions are temporary and users are doing work arounds. Also the macrumors topic you're pointing to is the same, but no solution.

In my case, I only have self hosted Exchange mailadressen, imap, iCloud and gmail. So no Office365. Accountsd is consuming so much CPU that it even drains my battery with powernap setting off when I close the lit. When I close mail.app, everything works fine. So my workaround is killing AccountsD or restarting mail (depends on what I'm doing).

Maybe related to the problem, I have migrated to the new MBP 16 model with Time Machine backup from 10.14 to 10.15. I've migrated another MBP 16 with USB-C target disk from 10.14 to 10.15 and has the same mail configuration without problems.

Also I've removed all mailaccounts and keychains and other suggestions like disabling and enabling accounts, but no effect after all.

10.15.3 solves partly the problem. In 10.15.2, I experienced that the problem only solved when mail is closed or when accountsd is killed. Currently, I still have high CPU when using mail, but the issue solves without closing mail or killing accountsd.

Also, mail consumes (when spiking CPU) less power.

Another thing I've noticed, my battery lasts longer with 10.15.3

I have the same problem even with the new 10.15.4. A couple of Gmail and Exchange accounts in Mail. As soon as the internet connections goes away accountsd and Mail start hogging RAM and CPU to a max. This can easily be provoked by switching off the Wifi connection. Apple, please fix this soon.

I recommend you to read more or less the whole thread since there is a link to macrumors forum thread where someone posted a solution that works.

Hi all, could it be that the problem is resolved with the 10.15.6 update??

It seems like it's gone...

After upgrading to macOS 10.15.3, I've reconfigured my Gmail-based accounts from IMAP/SMTP back to the official Gmail account type. After some initial CPU spikes as thousands of messages were downloaded from the existing mailboxes. After doing that, performance has remained similar to what it was when the applications were configured to use IMAP/SMTP.

I'm talking about this https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/accountsd-mail-process-and-cpu-usage.2212236/post-28102246.

At least for me it has provided a totally permanent solution unless you mess with the accounts again.

You should check https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/accountsd-mail-process-and-cpu-usage.2212236/?post=28119300

You are my hero. LOL I got the same response. In fact I got someone that didn't know what they were doing when I called Support. It was so disheartening. They made me do all of the same above and I got nowhere. My computer I felt was melting on almost every day.

I'm still incurring the problem to this day. I'm on months of this happening and it's March 2nd, 2020 today. Ugh

I look at it this way. Support is free now. Whereas back in the day they required you be under warranty and all this other info.

Having said that though, I wish they had an answer. At one point in my discussion with the person I was speaking with I felt like they may have been a prisoner. Like Apple is contracting out support calls to a local prison.

I also assume it's linked to signing of messages.

I've moved from a 2018 MacBook Pro to a 2019 16" MacBook Pro and within the first days after migrating I did not experience the problem. I think it just came back as soon as I installed a certificate to make some e-mails readable.

I'm also on Office 365.

Off-course I've checked solutions like this. I've tried everything except reinstalling MacOS. The MacRumors solution didn't solved it for me. Also currently killing accountsd isn't a solution for a whole day. The only way is to quit mail if I'm tired of sitting in an airplane because the fans are spinning to the maximum.

I've tried the MacRumors solution on 10.15.2 for the last time. For now no solution yet.

I’m still seeing high cpu usage. accountsd and email always ramp up.

It’ll go for a good while, but as soon as I close mail everything goes back to normal and the fan slows.

I have done everything on this forum. Nothing works. And I can't not use the mail handler.

I wonder what it could be.

I am not sure how Apple uses the feedback in this forum to determine how to address items and this entry will probably get removed by a moderator, but the Feedback Assistant I'm using with 10.15.5 shows "Recent Similar Reports:" for this issue as being "Less than 10". Perhaps if that were higher, it would elevate visibility of the issue.

No clue. Just know that after updating to Catalina this started. It was fine before that.

I've removed keychains

I've removed plists

I've removed Exchange emails

I've removed Mail folders LaunchAgents

Nothing fixed this issue.

I look at console I see a few errors but nothing that jumps out at me. Some yellow, one red. And when you Google them you get nothing. Well, not nothing, but not any info I can use.