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dkkerr Author

Level 1

82 points

updated to macOs Sequoia now contacts gone

I updated to macOs Sequoia 2 days ago and none of my 1000+ contacts are visible in the Contacts App. I have an iMac 5K 2020, and my contacts are fortunately on my other devices and in iCloud. After searching Apple Support and the web, the most up-to-date (Aug 28, 2024 or last month) help was on iDownloadBlog (thanks Ankur Thakur) and I tried everything suggested (eg restart, force quit, sign out of contacts on my iCloud settings & re-sign in, rename the Addressbook folder in Library and even to copy the .vcf from iCloud and paste locally.)

Nothing helped. The closest I came was when I tried pasting the copied cumulative .vcf file from iCloud, there was a greyed out or ghost of my contacts visible for a moment behind the dialogue box, but it then became a repeating "No Name" 1000+ times after clicking the blue Import button. (confusing description but the best I could do)

Any ideas? Thx

Posted on Sep 21, 2024 11:44 AM

Top-ranking reply

Ron Klein

Level 1

57 points

Posted on Sep 25, 2024 10:20 PM

Same here.

Contacts app on MacOs is non-functional after upgrading to Sequoia 15.0 on MacBook Pro M1 Max:

Zero contacts remaining on MacOs Contacts app
MacOS Contacts app crashes every time I try to add a new contact to On My Mac (via app)
MacOS Contacts app crashes every time I try to add a new contact to iCloud (via app)

Other devices all Ok (no issues).

All contacts are still on iCloud, and still syncing
All contacts are still on iPhone, and still syncing

Standard fixes failed:

Confirmed all devices signed into same iCloud account
Turned Contacts syncing on and off in System preferences (didn't work)
- Note: both with and without restarting in between turning back on
Signed out of iCloud, restarted and resigned into iCloud account (didn't work)
Removed (temporarily) AddressBook folder in Library/Application Support, restarted, had it auto-recreate (didn't work)
- NOTE: In the Sources folder within that AddressBook folder, I can still see ALL my old contact card files (the app just doesn't want to load them).
Removed all com.apple.AddressBook files various Library folders (didn't work)
Even experimented with TimeMachine to recover all the above mentioned Library files from before MacOs 15.0 Sequoia install (no effect)

I have not yet tried to reinstall 15.0.

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52 replies

Sep 24, 2024 8:05 AM in response to dkkerr

I have the same issue (Macbook Pro M1 Max). Luckily they still exist on my iPad + iPhone – and also on iCloud.com.

But not on my Mac. Not sure what to do....

dkkerr Author

Level 1

82 points

Sep 24, 2024 3:32 PM in response to DhaveYorke

Thank you. Yes, I spent 1+ hours with a polite Apple Support person as well; we tried the creation of another admin user but unfortunate for me that didn't work. Good for you, though.

The step following that was to dismantle the System Library support files for Contacts (as though there was a corrupted file in there). Again no luck

My next step is to re-install Sequoia. I am taking a week away from home, so we'll see what that brings after a while.

snf123

Level 1

8 points

Sep 25, 2024 11:38 PM in response to Ron Klein

Interesting Ron,

I tried all that you mention with the same results. However, then added another user I named "Test", signed into my iCloud account and hey presto contacts were there. So looks like the issue is somewhere in the user configurations.

Then wiped the hard drive completely and re-installed Sonoma. Again updated to Sequoia and Contacts not showing.

Currently gone back to Sonoma until Apple supplies a patch.

Stephen

OCMG

Level 1

58 points

Sep 27, 2024 8:58 AM in response to dkkerr

dkkerr,

Any luck with re-installation? I have two "Address" books; one that contains merely my card, that is synced to my main Apple Account, and the other that my wife and I each use as secondary accounts for the purpose of keeping a joint book of contacts. This holds the 3k+ contacts we both use. I was able to create another account on my 2023 M2 Pro mini and sign into the adjunct account like snf123 did and see the contacts in that Contacts.app. Still trying to avoid the pain of going back then re-installing Sequoia unless it looks like it solved the problem for some folks.

In closing, I tip my hat to all those "weather ships" doing the re-install, and await your amazing results!

Cheers

dkkerr Author

Level 1

82 points

Oct 5, 2024 11:28 AM in response to OCMG

OCMG, Ron Klein thanks for the continued updates. I appreciate the input.

I also wish that the 15.0.1 update would have included a fix for this bug. I do appreciate the rapid security fixes.

I discovered another bug that has a similar (frustrated group) thread; macOs Sequoia took some of my Documents out of their like-named folder and put them in the iCloud Archive. Quite an unpleasant surprise to find more important files "gone".

jp_leif

Level 1

74 points

Oct 16, 2024 10:06 AM in response to plsemail

Synching works, all your contacts are sync'ed to your Mac, but the contact app didn't show them. That's the problem Apple has to fix. Still hope this will happens with 15.1. As I wrote before you can also use apps like Alfred or Raycast to access your contacts on the Mac until Apple fixed the problem. I just installed and check Raycast, it works pretty good. You have only to enable the extension "Search Contacts".

jp_leif

Level 1

74 points

Oct 29, 2024 2:45 PM in response to Axel Foley

I suspect that this involves corrupt data/files that are associated with the Contacts app in macOS Sequoia for some folks. Still in search of a solution….

Axel F.

I agree, this was also my assumption, but it seems that at least my support contact has no clue which files could be involved. Hope somebody from development will at the end get some time to find and fix it. I have still some hope. Meanwhile Raycast is my friend ;-)

jp_leif

Level 1

74 points

Oct 29, 2024 2:52 PM in response to bikinijack

bikinijack wrote:

Agreed. I can tell you that if you create an additional user on your Mac, the contacts do show up. But that still doesn't fix the problem...

I know, I checked it out already in September. One of the first things I did to check if the app might be corrupted ;-)

dkkerr Author

Level 1

82 points

Oct 29, 2024 5:15 PM in response to jp_leif

jp_leif good perspective, judging by your posts you have put a lot of time and work into this problem. Agree 100% that this is not synching but something in Core System.

One of the other posters has already been into the next bug fix eval, and I believe they said Apple hadn’t found a solution. Sometimes I wonder if there are only so many engineers and they have a “numbers” algorithm. In other words if we had >100 in this thread, they would work on this before other complaints.

I used to have a friend in the company but he was in shipping, which was fun but not very helpful. You are right, keep pushing Apple Support.