FaceTime and iMessages slow to load

Hi,

I would do a NVRAM reset How to reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

Followed by a Safe Boot Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support

I would also use http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Having said that there is no specific Link for Contacts as an App on either iOS of Mac OS X or even as an iCloud item.

I have seen posts where high numbers of Contacts also seem to come with a number of "faulty" cards which seem to cause an issue.

I would tend to login to the web page for iCloud and check the Contacts in the list via that site rather than rely on the Mac or the iOS device to display them properly.

As has been remarked on earlier does using a different Mac User account make a difference ?

That can suggest it is something about the regular Mac User account which can be difficult to pin down.

It can also be complicated as the Read and Write route to some files is ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.(appName)/Data/Library/(mirrorStoragePlaces) compared to the older ~/Library/Preferences (or caches or or locations).

8:22 pm Thursday; March 2, 2017

Just wondering if anyone has come up with any new workarounds or insights for this problem. Since upgrading to SierraOS months ago, this problem has been pretty bad for me. I disabled all Contacts accounts (Google, MSExchange) except for one, which is iCloud. Messages and FaceTime still take an unacceptably long time to launch and become usable. (I just measured 55 seconds for Messages, from launch.) For all practical purposes, I can never receive an incoming FaceTime call on my Mac, unless FaceTime is already running, because by the time FT is fully running the call has been missed. (leaving FT running all the time means the camera is on, which bothers me)

I would hope this is a problem Apple takes seriously. Actually shocking they have not fixed such a serious problem. Or is this a problem that only a few of us are having? (Which leads me to make this post... Is there something I'm doing wrong, or some workaround I should be aware of???)

The problem came back with a vengeance. Found that it impacts calendar sync across all my devices and contacts sync across all devices ... seems anything using the address book subsystem to pull up contacts is impacted to some degree.

I tried creating a new AppleID and transferring all my contacts from one AppleID to the other. Many failed to copy. (Some 230+). All started working ok after I then erased the contacts from the primary and copied the secondary (first copy) back into the primary account.

Now whatever problem is back. It took about a week to reappear but is worse. My contacts app crashes regularly, FaceTime fails to dial and craps out (crash, quit, can't tell), calendar crashes constantly, and any export to Messages results in a "can't talk to helper". The last problem is why I did the copy of contacts and then copy back which fixed the export to iMessage initially.

I don't think it is only us... the premise of reporting is that for each reporter you easily have 100 with the same issue who lurk or give up.

Hi,

Some people are reporting that using McAfee seems to be blocking Messages at the OS X 10.10.3 update.

9:56 pm Thursday; April 16, 2015

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Step 1

The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.

Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”

While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your documents or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this behavior; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.

Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?

After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.

*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.

Step 2

The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.

Please take this step regardless of the results of Step 1.

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.

Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

Test Messages while in safe mode (FaceTime won't work.) Same problem?

After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of Steps 1 and 2.

Back up all data.

Quit FaceTime and Messages if they're running. Force quit if necessary. After each of the following steps, restart the computer, then test. If the problem isn't resolved, quit again and go on to the next step.

Step 1

Make sure you know the ID and password you use with FaceTime and iMessage.

Launch the Keychain Access application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

Select the login keychain from the list on the left side of the Keychain Access window. If your default keychain has a different name, select that.

If the lock icon in the top left corner of the window shows that the keychain is locked, click to unlock it. You'll be prompted for the keychain password, which is the same as your login password, unless you've changed it.

From the menu bar, select

Keychain Access ▹ Keychain First Aid

from the menu bar and repair the keychain.

From the Category list in the lower left corner of the window, select

My Certificates

Look carefully at the list of certificates in the right side of the window. If any of them is marked with a red "X" as expired or invalid, delete it.

Now select

Keychain Access ▹ Preferences... ▹ Certificates

There are three menus in the window. Change the selection in the top two to Best attempt, and in the bottom one to CRL.

Next, select

Passwords

in the Category list. Enter "ids" (without the quotes) in the search box in the toolbar of the window. Delete all items of type "application password" that have a name beginning in any of the following ways:

ids:

IDS:

com.apple.ids:

Also find and delete all items with "facetime" or "com.apple.idms" in the name.

Step 2

Hold down the option key and select

Go ▹ Library

from the Finder menu bar. Move the following items from the Library folder to the Trash (some may not exist):

Application Support/CallHistoryDB

Caches/com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent

Caches/com.apple.Messages

Containers/com.apple.AddressBook.FaceTimeService

Containers/com.apple.corerecents.recentsd

Containers/com.apple.FaceTime

Containers/com.apple.soagent

IdentityServices

Leave the Library folder open.

Step 3

In the Preferences subfolder, there may be several files having names that begin with one of the following strings:

com.apple.facetime

com.apple.FaceTime

com.apple.ids

com.apple.im

Move them all to the Trash.

Also in the Preferences folder, there is a subfolder named "ByHost". Open it and do the same thing.

Hi,

I use iChat and Messages a lot.

There was once this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_%28computer_worm%29

Whilst I am careful about what I click on my computer that might be an Install of something Malicious I would rather be prepared than surprised.

I run ClamAV

In OS 9 I ran Symantec and had no problems with it.

However in OS it was a dog and I have never gone back to using it. (reports about it I read don't seem that encouraging).

Whilst most Anti Virus ware picks up on Windows based items I would also rather not be known for passing them on if I can help it.

I would guess people make there own choices about this.

8:52 pm Friday; April 17, 2015

I'm not sure whether you followed Apple's instructions or mine. It's certainly not a problem with OS X, because I'm running the same version on more than one computer and I don't have the same problem. You have it only in one account. But I can understand that you may not want to spend any more time on the matter.

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then launch Messages. Select any lines that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

Some private information, such as your name or email address, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

I have exactly this issue after upgrading to 10.10.3 as well. I've managed to track down what appears to be an important clue -- if I turn off all of the Contacts that are coming in from external services (Google and iCloud in my case) iMessage and FaceTime open instantly. If I add back in just iCloud, iMessage opens in about 15 seems. If I add in Google as well launch time slows to 40 seconds. Seems pretty clear that Messages and FaceTime in 10.3.3 are doing some sort of time consuming contacts scan on startup.

Hi,

It is known that Contacts app having two active sync "Accounts" will cause issues for Messages.

I had once turned Off the Sync via iCloud and saved the Contacts List back to the Mac and then later re-enabled the Sync. On checking later the Account pane of the Contacts Preferences showed the On My Mac and iCloud option active at the same time.

7:56 pm Friday; April 24, 2015