User level: Level 1 (40 points)support for Mac 24 M4 Contacts app frozen with a circling ball. Unable to close app or do anything with in app. masOS Golden Gate
Posted on Oct 1, 2026 3:59 PM
User level: Level 9 (72,871 points)Oct 1, 2026 4:04 PM in response to CamCaGuy
This was reported by another user and the issue was caused by a corrupted preference file. The solution is to delete that file, macOS will automatically create new, clean one.
Delete problematic preference file
In Finder, select Go menu > Go to Folder
Paste the following into the dialog box then press return
~/Library/Preferences/
Locate and delete the following file: com.apple.AddressBook.plist
Restart your Mac
User level: Level 1 (32 points)Oct 9, 2026 11:02 AM in response to neuroanatomist
M5, Golden Gate 27.0.1
Contacts freezing after Golden Gate upgrade. Also Preview less stable, but workable with patience.
Deleting the file did not work for me, but thank you. I reinstalled the OS this morning and contacts still immediately froze. Contacts work with a test user.
After working with 5 different Apple Support reps, the most knowledgeable disclosed this is a known issue and Apple is working on it (3 initial reps said this issue was NOT known, which was concerning). One said there may be a correlation with users who keep long notes in their contacts. Although he advised not to start deleting notes as this has not been confirmed and needs to be addressed.
I also had several "groups" with duplicate contacts. I deleted all of those last week and it did not help.
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256368763