iCloud Contacts failing to sync after High Sierra

I have found a solution that works for me.

1. quit Contacts
2. open ~/Library/Containers and delete anything with addressbook in its name
3. open ~/Library/Application Support and delete anything with addressbook in its name
4. open ~/Library/Preferences and delete anything with addressbook in its name
5. open ~/Library/Caches and delete anything with addressbook in its name
6. opened System Preferences : iCloud and uncheck contacts
7. restart your mac
8. when it boots back up open System Preferences :iCloud and check contacts

***Problem Resolved***

I spoke with an Apple Senior Tech Advisor this morning and they were able to resolve the contact issue. Here are the steps the must be taken in the exact order for this to work.

1. Go to iCloud.com and export all your contacts to a safe file, just in case.

2. Turn off iCloud contacts in MacBook preferences so no longer connected to cloud

3. Make sure the MacBook Contacts are empty with zero contacts.

4. Restart computer and reopen contacts to make sure there are zero contacts.

5. open ~/Library/Containers and delete everything with addressbook in its name

6. open ~/Library/Application Support and delete everything with addressbook in its name

7. open ~/Library/Preferences and delete everything with addressbook in its name

8. open ~/Library/Caches and delete everything with addressbook in its name

9. Restart computer (this will restore OS operating files and folders for contacts, but not any contacts)

10. Go to preferences and check the iCloud contacts to update to contact folder.

A few other people have pointed this process out; however, Apple recommends removing contacts then restart and then empty the folders, containers, and preferences... then restarting again.

What is happening is there is an old copy of the contacts that the computer is populating instead of the new contact data feed.

This worked on my MacBook Pro and Desktop.

***Problem Resolved***

I spoke with an Apple Senior Tech Advisor this morning and they were able to resolve the contact issue. Here are the steps the must be taken in the exact order for this to work.

1. Go to iCloud.com and export all your contacts to a safe file, just in case.

2. Turn off iCloud contacts in MacBook preferences so no longer connected to cloud

3. Make sure the MacBook Contacts are empty with zero contacts.

4. Restart computer and reopen contacts to make sure there are zero contacts.

5. open ~/Library/Containers and delete everything with addressbook in its name

6. open ~/Library/Application Support and delete everything with addressbook in its name

7. open ~/Library/Preferences and delete everything with addressbook in its name

8. open ~/Library/Caches and delete everything with addressbook in its name

9. Restart computer (this will restore OS operating files and folders for contacts, but not any contacts)

10. Go to preferences and check the iCloud contacts to update to contact folder.

A few other people have pointed this process out; however, Apple recommends removing contacts then restart and then empty the folders, containers, and preferences... then restarting again.

What is happening is there is an old copy of the contacts that the computer is populating instead of the new contact data feed.

This worked on my MacBook Pro and Desktop.

The Issue:

On initial setup MacBook Pro with High Sierra downloads contacts from icloud.com

However subsequent entries and/or edits made on iPhone are not replicated to MacBook Pro address book. These changes are instantly visible on iCloud.com

Changes made to contacts on MacBook Pro are NOT visible in iCloud.com

Proposed Fixes (didn't work):

Spent about 2 hours with 4 different Apple advisors, who were no help. Last chap who was a supervisor (Jeremy) just d/c me.

I was even advised to re-install macOS which I did, but made no difference.

I also deleted the com.apple.addressbook in ~/Library/Containers. restarted etc...

This took me back to stage one, where contacts are pulled down fine but no subsequent changes are reflected in address book.

The Fix that DID work:

1. Log into iCloud.com > Contacts.

2. Make sure ALL your contacts are up to date on ICLOUD.com then Export ALL contacts to vCard which will then be downloaded to Mac nice and safe!

3. DELETE all contacts from iCloud.com

4. wait a few minutes for contacts to disappear from your iPhone etc...

5. IMPORT the contacts which were downloaded to your Mac, BACK into iCloud.com

6. MacBook Pro address book will now populate, along with your iPhone, iPad etc.

ALL FIXED! 🙂

REMINDER: MAKE SURE ALL YOUR CONTACTS ARE UPTO DATE ON ICLOUD.COM before DELETING them!

What worked for me was to make sure that I am working in Contacts from my iCloud account, not my On My Mac account. On my iMac, I changed my Contacts Default Account on the General tab of Contacts > Preferences from On My Mac to iCloud. When working on my iMac, I just need to remember to work from Contacts in iCloud and not in On My Mac. Everything done in iCloud Contacts is synced with my iPhone and iPad Contacts and vice versa.

Rob.... Try this again as it worked for me and contacts are updating as it's been two weeks since I did this and no issue!

Fixing Address iCloud Sync Issue

***Problem Resolved***

I spoke with an Apple Senior Tech Advisor this morning and they were able to resolve the contact issue. Here are the steps the must be taken in the exact order for this to work.

1. Go to iCloud.com and export all your contacts to a safe file, just in case.

2. Turn off iCloud contacts in MacBook preferences so no longer connected to cloud

3. Make sure the MacBook Contacts are empty with zero contacts.

4. Restart computer and reopen contacts to make sure there are zero contacts.

5. open ~/Library/Containers and delete everything with addressbook in its name

6. open ~/Library/Application Support and delete everything with addressbook in its name

7. open ~/Library/Preferences and delete everything with addressbook in its name

8. open ~/Library/Caches and delete everything with addressbook in its name

9. Restart computer (this will restore OS operating files and folders for contacts, but not any contacts)

10. Go to preferences and check the iCloud contacts to update to contact folder.

A few other people have pointed this process out; however, Apple recommends removing contacts then restart and then empty the folders, containers, and preferences... then restarting again.

What is happening is there is an old copy of the contacts that the computer is populating instead of the new contact data feed.

This worked on my MacBook Pro and Desktop.

I was having this problem on my MacBook Pro -only- (not my other 7 devices) after a reinstall of HighSierra from the Mac App Store (trying to fix other bugs)... I have fixed this NOT by deleting ANYTHING in "containers" BUT by going to: ~ / Library / Application Support / and renaming the existing AddressBook to AddressBook-OLD... ReLaunch Contacts. The AddressBook folder will be recreated and after syncing everything has worked / and synced / across all 8 of my devices, including my wife's (we share a iCloud account). Once things are good you can delete the "renamed OLD folder"... My theory is that this folder DID NOT get moved to Containers when it should have back with Sierra... Just a guess...

Have you tried this?

Fixing Address iCloud Sync Issue

I spoke with an Apple Senior Tech Advisor this morning and they were able to resolve the contact issue. Here are the steps the must be taken in the exact order for this to work.

1. Go to iCloud.com and export all your contacts to a safe file, just in case.

2. Turn off iCloud contacts in MacBook preferences so no longer connected to cloud

3. Make sure the MacBook Contacts are empty with zero contacts.

4. Restart computer and reopen contacts to make sure there are zero contacts.

5. open ~/Library/Containers and delete everything with addressbook in its name

6. open ~/Library/Application Support and delete everything with addressbook in its name

7. open ~/Library/Preferences and delete everything with addressbook in its name

8. open ~/Library/Caches and delete everything with addressbook in its name

9. Restart computer (this will restore OS operating files and folders for contacts, but not any contacts)

10. Go to preferences and check the iCloud contacts to update to contact folder.

A few other people have pointed this process out; however, Apple recommends removing contacts then restart and then empty the folders, containers, and preferences... then restarting again.

What is happening is there is an old copy of the contacts that the computer is populating instead of the new contact data feed.

This worked on my MacBook Pro and Desktop.

Spoke with Apple support and seem to have solved problem so far.

1. Go to system preferences

2. go to iCloud and uncheck all boxes

3. sign out of icloud on the left bottom of screen

4. close system preferences

5. now open system preferences click on icloud and sign in.

6. now click on all the boxes of programs in the window on right side

7. open Contacts and now your iCloud contacts should sync.

The support person I spoke with was very helpful, but he nor his supervisor had dealt with this problem. Their quidance and the way they worked through the problem was successful so far. Spent 45 mins on phone trouble shooting with them trying multiple ways to work the problem.

Have you tried this solution? It worked for me and hope this helps!

Fixing Address iCloud Sync Issue

***Problem Resolved***

I spoke with an Apple Senior Tech Advisor this morning and they were able to resolve the contact issue. Here are the steps the must be taken in the exact order for this to work.

1. Go to iCloud.com and export all your contacts to a safe file, just in case.

2. Turn off iCloud contacts in MacBook preferences so no longer connected to cloud

3. Make sure the MacBook Contacts are empty with zero contacts.

4. Restart computer and reopen contacts to make sure there are zero contacts.

5. open ~/Library/Containers and delete everything with addressbook in its name

6. open ~/Library/Application Support and delete everything with addressbook in its name

7. open ~/Library/Preferences and delete everything with addressbook in its name

8. open ~/Library/Caches and delete everything with addressbook in its name

9. Empty Trash

10. Restart computer (this will restore OS operating files and folders for contacts, but not any contacts)

11. Go to preferences and check the iCloud contacts to update to contact folder.

A few other people have pointed this process out; however, Apple recommends removing contacts then restart and then empty the folders, containers, and preferences... then restarting again.

What is happening is there is an old copy of the contacts that the computer is populating instead of the new contact data feed.

This process syncs iCloud contacts that are on your iPhone and iCloud with the Mac Book or Mac Desktop

FBdelaB wrote:

February 2018 and Contacts still won't synch to iCloud from macOS 10.13.3. Trued everything legit and user friendly. The Contact file in icloud.com is stuck in a november update. iPhone and iPad synch with this old file of course since they don't have access to the updated one on my iMac. What's up Apple ?

Apple doesn't watch these forums. Did you contact Apple for support or at least submit a bug request to Apple online (search Google: "apple feature request")? The suggestion below worked for me:

chrisadamswilson1087 wrote:

Fixing Address iCloud Sync Issue

***Problem Resolved***

I spoke with an Apple Senior Tech Advisor this morning and they were able to resolve the contact issue. Here are the steps the must be taken in the exact order for this to work.

1. Go to iCloud.com and export all your contacts to a safe file, just in case.

2. Turn off iCloud contacts in MacBook preferences so no longer connected to cloud

3. Make sure the MacBook Contacts are empty with zero contacts.

4. Restart computer and reopen contacts to make sure there are zero contacts.

5. open ~/Library/Containers and delete everything with addressbook in its name

6. open ~/Library/Application Support and delete everything with addressbook in its name

7. open ~/Library/Preferences and delete everything with addressbook in its name

8. open ~/Library/Caches and delete everything with addressbook in its name

9. Empty Trash

10. Restart computer (this will restore OS operating files and folders for contacts, but not any contacts)

11. Go to preferences and check the iCloud contacts to update to contact folder.

A few other people have pointed this process out; however, Apple recommends removing contacts then restart and then empty the folders, containers, and preferences... then restarting again.

What is happening is there is an old copy of the contacts that the computer is populating instead of the new contact data feed.

This process syncs iCloud contacts that are on your iPhone and iCloud with the Mac Book or Mac Desktop

I just found a solution that doesn't involve getting a DMG file from support. The problem (at least the one I'm having) has to do with adding photos to contacts -- the photos break the Mac Contacts app. Here's the fix:

1. Log into your iCloud.com account through a Mac browser.

2. Go to Contacts.

3. Click on the gear icon on the bottom left of the screen and "Select All."

4. In the same menu, Export vCard. It should include all your contacts. Save to somewhere on your drive (like the desktop).

5. Delete all iCloud contacts AND Mac contacts.

6. Go back to iCloud.com contacts again and import the vCard you saved to your Mac.

7. All your contacts will be back again but WITHOUT photos. It should sync to your Mac fine now as long as you don't add any photos back in.

This is a definite bug that hopefully Apple will fix in Mojave!

P.S. I'm still experimenting and it looks like it's working OK to add photos all right through the iPhone and still have them sync to the Mac. But adding any photos to contacts through the Mac app will immediately break the connection to iCloud.

This fixed it for me. I had curiosity on your comment about different accounts with contacts turned on.

I looked at my System Preferences>>Internet Accounts.

I found an old account that I hadn't used in years with contacts turned on.

I disabled the account.

Then:

Edits on my Mac showed up on my iPhone.

Edits on my iPhone showed up on my Mac.

New contacts on my Mac showed up on my iPhone.

New contacts on my iPhone showed up on my Mac.

Deleting a contact on my Mac causes it to disappear on my iPhone

Deleting a contact on my iPhone causes it to disappear on my Mac

I just hope it stick.

This leads me to believe the problem may partly be related multiple accounts with contacts turned on.

I was working directly on a user's Mac and saw the problem first hand. He has 4 devices. Sync works on 2 devices (all Sierra) but on the other two only contacts are partially syncing and no groups. One device is a brand new iMac. So new Mac, new User, no import, connect to iCloud and he gets approx half of the contacts and no groups. All this points to iCloud as the source of the problem.

We talked with Apple and they were unable to fix and agreeded that there is a problem on the cloud with his data. His issue has been sent to the tech guys for iCloud and we expect an answer in a few days.

It's possible you are experiencing the same issue. I suggest you call Apple Support and report your issue. the more reports they get the higher it will go on the list to fix.

BugReporter http://bugreporter.apple.com

Free ADC (Apple Developer Connection) account needed for BugReporter. Setup a free account

Mac OS X Feedback (no account needed)

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

From my general experience, I believe the following steps could fix the issue.

Turn off iCloud for Contacts in System Preferences > iCloud.

1. Log into iCloud.com > Contacts
2. Select All Contacts > Select All then Select Export.
3. Do the same for each group.
4. Delete all contact data from the cloud.
5. Verify on each device that the cloud is empty.

Step 2) Test in a new User

Move the archived data you exported from the cloud to the Shared Folder. Data in the Shared folder can be accessed by another User. When you "Switch Users", you can access the files in the shared folder.

Your Hard Drive/Users/Shared

• Log into a new User. Log into iCloud and select only contacts to sync.
• Open Contacts.app - verify that it is empty
• Drag from Shared the archived contact data to the Desktop
• In Contact under File in the Menu bar, select Import. Navigate to the Desktop and select the All Contacts first.
• Did the imported contacts go to "On My Mac" or to iCloud?
  * If iCloud, wait until it completes sync, then check in your browser that the contact synced.
  * If "On My Mac", drag to iCloud. Wait until it completes sync, then check in your browser that the contact synced.
• Add a contact in Contacts then verify in browser to make sure it synced.
• In Browser, edit the contact you just added then check back in Contacts that the edits synced.
• Next, import your groups. Move to iCloud if needed.
• Verify that you can edit/add on Contacts and in iCloud.com that changes are synced.
• Log out of Test
• Log into your regular User

If all this works in the Test user, you will need to wipe the data for Contacts in your regular user, empty the trash, restart then check sync for Contacts in System Preferences > iCloud. All the data you imported in Test should download to your regular User.

It’s only related to new contacts or when you change the picture on existing contacts after the upgrade to High Sierra. Prior contacts as they are do not seem to be affected. I can recreate this repeatedly and have done so with Apple engineering. Once a picture is put into a contact or changed the update to iCloud fails. Take the picture away and it works.