High CPU Usage from peopled After Updating to macOS Tahoe 26.4

The problem for me was that the peopled process was trying to access a file (console logs show repeated errors accessing $HOME/Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB) that was quarantined. Removing the quarantine flag and restarting the daemons fixed it.

# Are the CallHistoryDB files quarantined? (shows com.apple.quarantine)
ls -lan@ "$HOME/Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB"

If so then you can remove the quarantine flag and kill the process to restart them.

Note, the xattr -dr command needs your terminal app to have Full Disk Access (System Settings / Privacy & Security / Full Disk Access). Without it, you'll get permission-denied on the xattr write. Grant it, restart the terminal, retry.

# Strip the quarantine attribute from the CallHistoryDB tree
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "$HOME/Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB" 

# Verify it's gone (should show no com.apple.quarantine lines now)
ls -lan@ "$HOME/Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB"

# Restart the daemons; launchd will respawn
sudo killall -9 peopled CallHistorySyncHelper

Here is some info from my investigation. I can't resolve it because I am unable to fix the sandbox violation.

• OS build: macOS 26.4.1 (25E253)
• Symptom: peopled ~70% CPU, CallHistorySyncHelper ~28% CPU
• Root cause: Kernel sandbox violation — deny(1) file-read-data ~/Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB — because com.apple.peopled.sb only allows (home-subpath "/Library/CallHistoryDB/"), not the actual runtime path
• Evidence: kernel log showing 22,000+ duplicate deny reports per few seconds

I hope Apple fixes this soon. I am going to try turning off contacts sync.

abimanyu_nk wrote:

Hello,

I recently updated my MacBook Air (M4) to macOS Tahoe 26.4. Since the update, my system has been experiencing unusually high CPU usage from the process peopled, which consistently stays around 70–80% CPU• .

Because of this, the MacBook becomes noticeably warm and the battery drains much faster than normal, even when the system is mostly idle.

I have already tried the following troubleshooting steps:

Force quitting the peopled process using Terminal (killall -9 peopled)

• Restarting the Mac

• Resetting Spotlight indexing

• Restarting related services such as contactsd

However, the issue persists and peopled remains the top CPU-consuming process in Activity Monitor.

This problem started immediately after updating to macOS Tahoe 26.4 and has continued for the past two days.

Could you please help diagnose and resolve this issue?

re: < /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/People.framework/peopled >

Tahoe 26.4 ex. for comparison only

If you shut down and restarted more than once since your update

>Shut Down

Than try A SafeBoot Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

Does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled temporarily.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

My understanding peopled—manages information related to contacts, specifically analyzing or indexing people-related data.

Are you sync Contacts via iCloud(?) You can try signing out od AppleID/Account and sign back in...

if no resolve—

Sign out of your Apple ID/Account /iCloud on the Mac and back in again and compare your results

Sign in to or out of your Apple Account on Mac - Apple Support

This peopled CPU spike issue seems to be a widespread bug in Tahoe 26.4 that Apple is still working on. Based on what's been shared in this thread, here's a quick summary of what's worked for people so far:

If you haven't tried it yet, the most common fix is turning off iCloud Contacts sync:

- Go to System Settings > Apple Account > iCloud > Saved to iCloud

- Turn off the Contacts toggle

- Reboot your Mac

Asmodael above had success with this, though as Ivan-NTS mentioned, it doesn't work for everyone. Another user found that removing the Contacts widget from Control Center solved the problem for them.

If those don't help, you could try signing out of your Apple ID/iCloud account completely and signing back in. That sometimes clears up stuck sync processes.

Since this started right after the 26.4 update, it might also be worth checking if there's a 26.4.1 or later patch available. The peopled process handles contacts and people data, so it's likely tied to the iCloud Contacts sync feature having issues in this version.

In the meantime, force quitting peopled from Activity Monitor should at least give you some temporary relief until the process spikes again.

I've had the same issue since updating to Tahoe 26.4. One fix I found that worked for me.

In notifications center I had a contact widget.

1. Turn off contacts sync in iCloud settings
2. Reset the computer
3. Remove the contacts widget from notifications center
4. Enable contacts sync in iCloud settings.

Finally peopled is working normally:

Otherwise it would get crazy CPU usage about 70% all the time causing my laptop to be unusually warm when doing basically nothing not to mention the battery drain.

Looks like this might be a bug in the widgets introduced in Tahoe 24.1. Frankly surprising how this slid past regression testing, but I guess this is Apple's software quality for you in this day and age.

I had encountered the same issue. Peopled was causing excessive CPU usage and rapidly depleting the battery on my M5 Macbook Pro 32GB/1TB. I think that I might have found a temporary workaround:

1. 1. Open Activity Monitor
   2. Navigate to the CPU tab.
   3. Select the peopled process and the 'x' button and "Force Quit" the process.
   4. Open "System Settings"
   5. Click on the "Apple Account" item at the top of the list.
   6. Select iCloud.
   7. Look for the "See All" button under the "Saved to iCloud" heading and click it.
   8. Turn off the "Contacts" option within the "Saved to iCloud" form. (Please note that your contacts will no longer sync from your Mac to iCloud.)
   9. Reboot.

I've found that this process has kept the peopled process from coming back. My Macbook Pro now runs cooler and the battery life jumped considerably.

Well noticed about quarantine. Did all the steps, but for me it didn't help. It removes quarantine flag for sure and kill command restarts hanged peopled process for sure. But after 'contacts tab' in 'edit widgets' dialogue opened peopled process starts it all over again. With the same logs in console:

default	13:34:56.813363+0300	CallHistorySyncHelper	CallDBManagerServer: fetching permDBURL
default	13:34:56.813389+0300	CallHistorySyncHelper	CallDBManagerServer: permDBURL: <private>
default	13:34:56.813394+0300	CallHistorySyncHelper	BootUp result: kBootUpResultUsePerm
default	13:34:56.813422+0300	peopled	Boot up result: kBootUpResultUsePerm
default	13:34:56.813436+0300	peopled	CallDBManagerClient: fetching permDBURL
error	13:34:56.813498+0300	peopled	failed to open /Users/pchigrin/Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB: 1 (Operation not permitted)
default	13:34:56.813510+0300	peopled	CallDBManagerClient: permDBURL: (null)
default	13:34:56.813518+0300	peopled	CallDBManagerClient: fetching permDBURL
error	13:34:56.813558+0300	peopled	failed to open /Users/pchigrin/Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB: 1 (Operation not permitted)
default	13:34:56.813570+0300	peopled	CallDBManagerClient: permDBURL: (null)
error	13:34:56.813577+0300	peopled	Permanent database file doesn't exist; poking sync helper. Error code: kDBLNoSuchFileError
default	13:34:56.813585+0300	peopled	Poking sync helper to initialize data store

It took me a long time to figure this out, too.

After a lot of trial and error, however, I discovered that the problem was caused by the Contacts widget in my Control Center.

After I deleted the widget from the desktop/Control Center, everything was fine again.

really strange problem!

For me it happens when I even open side bar widget management and go to contacts tab.

Immediately after peopled starts circular CPU load.

That's what console logs have.

I tried to remove databases for recreate (it was done successfully) CallHistoryDB `rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/CallHistoryDB` and Knowledge `rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Knowledge`.

After reset all permissions `tccutil reset All`.

So far no luck.

dineth290 wrote:

For me it is not letting me toggle off the contact sync in iCloud settings , so does anyone have any solutions for this. BTW i have an M4 macbook air 15 inch

No issues Turning off Contacts System Setting > User account > iCloud > See All >> Saved to iCloud >>> Contacts

Using 1 M2 Desktop, 1 M4 Desktop and 1 M5 Laptop

All 3 machines using Tahoe 26.4.1 ( current version as of this writing )

Not an issue here Tahoe 26.4.1 on 3 different M-Class computers

If we may inquire regarding the Contacts application and sync to iCloud which my 3 machines also use.

Contacts do work well with iCloud and not so well when a Second Source is associated with Contacts , like Google or some other Cloud Based syncing source

Sub1n wrote:

The issue still exists in Tahoe 26.5.

Apple needs to fix this asap.

Using 1 M5 MBA 16 GB RAM and 500 GB SSD, 1 M4 Desktop, 1 M4 MBA and 1 M2 Desktop

Each machine is running Tahoe 26.5

CPU usage 0.0 %

Memory usage 4.9 MB

So, not sure what exactly Apple is supposed to fix

Prashant4093 wrote:

i found the reason why both process restart and the root cause here

and this could not be solved

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/3c9aa493-beca-4743-a436-f5d8215c0469

The use of Console Logs for troubleshooting was last effective during the time of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Since then, Console Logs have evolved into a language exclusively understood by Software Engineers.

It is recommended to explore alternative methods when attempting to troubleshoot the “peopled” issue.  

Exactly the same. Out of nowhere. I tried all the steps to no avail, except for the contacts which I will try tomorrow as I am tired. This is a brand new M4 MacBook Air, 15 inch and now I’m worried that this excessive CPU usage with the heat and the rapid battery drain (about 1% drain every 1 to 2 minutes) is going to create premature wear on my machine. I’ve had this miracle machine for two months, and with 24 GB ram this thing has not gotten even slightly warm to the touch or felt taxed in any way this entire time. The battery literally would last all day with heavy usage. Now it drains 20% within an hour.

[Edited by Moderator]

I have same problem. Tried to disable iCloud for Contacts but it does not help. I have also disabled Photo sync to iCloud.