Nat Harari

Q: Contacts is incredibly laggy and slow

Hi there,

 

Just a quick question: I have a MacBook Retina since about 6 months. It has El Capitan, updated to latest patch. It's Early 2015, 1.3 Ghz, 512 SSD.

 

My Contacts app is INCREDIBLY laggy. When I pull it up. it sometimes takes several seconds for me to be able to scroll through, or for a button to respond (such as Edit a contact), or input numbers or addresses. It's linked to my Google contacts as well, I believe, but I haven't unlinked it to check if that is the cause.

 

I'm just wondering if anyone else has had this problem? It's incredibly frustrating. Contacts on my iPhone 6S Plus are speedy, flawless, and smooth. So I'm wondering what is causing this problem and is there a way to go about finding out what it could be if no one here has an answer? Seriously, it's so laggy that it is almost unusable. Even task-switching back and forth from one app to Contacts takes a few seconds. This shouldn't be the case.

 

Any answers would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks for any input.

MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Mar 11, 2016 2:25 AM

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Q: Contacts is incredibly laggy and slow

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  • by alex_h1,

    alex_h1 alex_h1 Mar 12, 2016 12:33 PM in response to Nat Harari
    Community Specialists
    Mar 12, 2016 12:33 PM in response to Nat Harari

    Hello Nat Harari,

    Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

     

    I understand you're having an issue with the performance of the contacts app on your Mac.  To get started with troubleshooting this issue I'd like you to please begin by booting into safe mode.  Once in safe mode, try to replicate the issue.  Note if the issue persists or not.

     

     

    1. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down.

    2. After your Mac shuts down, wait 10 seconds, then press the power button.

    3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold down the Shift key.

       

      You should press the Shift key as soon as possible after you hear the startup tone, but not before.

    4. Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple logo and progress indicator.

    To leave safe mode, restart your Mac again, but don’t hold down any keys during startup.

    OS X El Capitan: Start up in safe mode

     

    If the issue persists, then I suggest testing in a new user:

     

    How to test with another user account

    You can figure out if unexpected behavior is related to user file or setting by trying to reproduce the issue from another user account. This process includes creating a new user account, logging in to it, and testing for the issue.

    Create a test user account

    1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
    2. Click the Users & Groups icon in the System Preferences window.
    3. Click the lock icon, then enter an administrator name and password.
    4. Click the Add button (+) below the list of users.
    5. Choose a type of user from the New Account pop-up menu.
    6. Give the user a full name, account name, and password.
    7. Click OK.
    8. Close the System Preferences window.

    If there are documents from your original user account that you want to test with, place a copy of these items in the Shared folder in the Users folder. Press the Option key while dragging a file to this folder to create a copy.

    Log in to the test user account

    Log out of your current user account by choosing Log Out from the Apple menu, then log in to the new account you created. If you're prompted to sign in with your iCloud account or Apple ID when you log in, skip this step.

    Try reproducing the issue

    Try the same steps that caused the unexpected behavior to appear before. For example, if you were unable to print, try printing from this user account. If you were unable to connect to the Internet, try browsing a website from this user account.

    If you were using any specific settings that testing depends on (such as using a specific email account or iCloud account) set up the same account in the test user. For email and most other settings you can use the Internet Accounts pane in System Preferences to set up these kinds of accounts. If files from your home folder are needed for testing, copy them to Shared folder in the Users folder (/Users/Shared). After logging in as the test user, copy these items to the same location in the test user's home folder to test with.

    If an issue happens in only one user account

    If performing the same steps in a test user account doesn't result in the same unexpected behavior, you most likely don't need to reinstall any apps or OS X.

    • If an issue only happens in one app, check the app's documentation or support website for instructions on troubleshooting specific preference or setting files.
    • If you need help with a specific alert message or issue, search the Apple Support website for the text of the alert message you're seeing.

    If an issue happens in more than one user account

    If the same unexpected behavior happens in more than one user account on your Mac, try checking for software or hardware issues.

    How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac

     

     

    Take care.

  • by Nat Harari,

    Nat Harari Nat Harari Mar 13, 2016 3:33 AM in response to alex_h1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 13, 2016 3:33 AM in response to alex_h1

    Thanks! I'm going to have to try that out on Tuesday as my time right now is kind of limited to start doing safe mode boot stuff. Once I do, I'll post the results.