Learn what to do if your iCloud contacts are missing in the Contacts app on your Mac, or if new ones are not syncing properly with it.
It’s handy to have all your contacts on your Mac so you can use Facetime, iMessage, email, and make cellular calls to your family and friends from your computer using your iPhone’s network. But if iCloud contacts are not syncing, showing just a few contacts, or not showing any contact at all, the following solutions will help fix the problem.
Before you begin, if you see at least some contacts in your Mac Contacts app, I recommend you make a local backup of these contacts to ensure they are safe. You can also create a backup of your iCloud Contacts from your iPhone.
1. Make sure your Mac is connected to the Internet
Your Mac must be connected to the Internet for iCloud contacts to sync to it. Open Safari and try playing a YouTube video. If it plays, that’s a good sign. If not, learn how to fix the Internet not working on your Mac.
2. Turn off VPN
If you are using a VPN on your Mac, turn it off. This is because you may not be able to log in to iCloud and use related services with some VPNs.
3. Wait for some time
Once you set up your Mac or enable iCloud contacts, it takes a while for contacts, reminders, calendar events, notes, etc., to download from iCloud to your Mac. So, give it a while and keep your Mac connected to a stable Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection.
4. Make sure you’re logged in to the correct Apple ID
Before moving further, it would be wise to quickly check and ensure the Apple ID you are logged in with is the correct one. To do this, open System Settings > Apple Account, and you’ll see the Apple ID email below your name. If it’s correct, perfect. If not, sign out and sign in with the right Apple ID.
5. Force Quit the Contacts app
Press Command + Option + esc or click the Apple icon > Force Quit. Now, select the Contacts app and click Force Quit. After this, re-open the Contacts app for iCloud contacts to sync.
6. Check iCloud Contacts status
If iCloud contacts aren’t syncing to your Mac, the problem may be in Apple’s servers. So, before trying the remaining solutions, visit the official System Status page and make sure you see a green dot next to iCloud Contacts. Additionally, if you see yellow or red shapes for other related services, consider waiting for a while until Apple implements a fix.
7. Restart your Mac
Another handy solution that works when contacts are missing from your Mac is to restart it. To do that, click the Apple icon and choose Restart. After this, open the Contacts app and new or missing iCloud contacts should sync correctly and appear here.
8. Enable and disable iCloud Contacts
1) Open the Contacts app on your Mac and click Contacts > Settings from the top menu bar.
2) Make sure you’re in the Accounts tab and select iCloud.
3) Uncheck the box for Enable this account.
4) Now, restart your Mac.
5) Repeat Steps 1 and 2, and check the box for Enable this account. While you’re here, set Fetch to Automatically.
Note: If you also use an Android phone, your contacts may be stored in your Google account. Click the small plus icon (+) from the bottom left, and add your Google account to your Mac. This will sync contacts from your Google account to your Mac.
9. Force Mac to resync your Address Book
Using these steps, you can prevent the Contacts app from accessing the current address book folder and the files in it. Once the Contacts app cannot access this folder, it will automatically create a new one and properly sync all iCloud contacts to your Mac.
1) Force Quit the Contacts app.
2) Copy this location address: ~/Library/Application Support/
3) Open a new Finder window, press Command + Shift + G or from the top menu bar, click the word Go > Go to Folder.
4) Paste the address you copied in step 2 and go to it.
5) You’ll see a folder called AddressBook. Select it and press the enter key to rename it. Add the word “Old.”
If you open the Contacts app now, it will say No Cards as it can no longer access the AddressBook folder.
6) Restart your Mac.
7) Open the Contacts app, and it will automatically create a new AddressBook folder and redownload & sync all your contacts from iCloud. Make sure your Mac is connected to the Internet.
Once you have all the contacts from iCloud, you can delete the Old AddressBook folder you created in step 5.
10. Download from iCloud.com and add to Mac Contacts app
Even after following all the above solutions, if contacts are missing or not syncing, you can manually download them from iCloud and add them to the Mac’s Contacts app.
Now, this solution does not exactly fix the sync issue, but it will ensure all your current iCloud contacts are added locally to the Mac’s Contacts app.
1) Visit iCloud.com and log in using your Apple ID. You can quickly log in via Mac’s password or Touch ID in Safari. But if you’re unable to download contacts using this (step 4 below), switch to Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
2) Click Contacts.
3) Click one contact and then press Command + A to select all. You can also click the menu button from the top, followed by Select All Contacts.
4) With contacts selected, click the share icon and choose Export vCard. It will download a .vcf file.
5) Locate the downloaded vCard file in the Downloads folder and double-click to open it. Click Add to have these contacts in your Mac’s Contacts app.
If your contacts are in Google Contacts or elsewhere, download them as vCard (.vcf) and add them to your Mac.
11. Restore deleted contacts from iCloud.com
Finally, if you recently deleted some contacts from your iPhone, iPad, or other Mac with the same Apple ID, they are deleted from everywhere. You can get them back by restoring recently deleted contacts from iCloud. But before that, make sure you follow solution 10 above and download all the current contacts.
By now, your ongoing problem should be fixed using one or a combination of a few solutions mentioned above. If not, sign out of your Apple ID on your Mac and sign in again. This will resync the iCloud contacts and solve the issue. And if nothing works, please get in touch with Apple Support and explain your situation.
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