Contacts app is a nightmare on Tahoe.

[JoeSilver]

The OS including contacts WAS tested through all the betas. I was one of them. Did I like the previous way messages was set up? Yes. Do I find I can still use contacts well? Yes. The changes are cosmetic basically and trust me, the Mac world went crazy when the settings app was changed. Did the world end? Nope. We found out how  wanted it to work and we learned the new way. If you intend to stay in the  ecosystem you too will come to accept the new way forward. But all the hate and dislike comments will wither away and life will go forward and those of us fully vested in the ecosystem will be happy when the hate mongering goes away so we can get back to actual informative posts.

Contacts app was basic but functional in Sequoia. At least enough for me. It is still usable in Tahoe, but honestly also visually chaotic with that photo + background block which can't even been completely customised (last time I tried to change the background I gave up, my understanding is that it's automatically created from the contact's photo). But if you don't have a photo? Then you have this large solid colour block (if it's even solid) which occupies space and flicker when you touch it or scroll it. It smells like sloppy or unfinished work.
No hate mongering here, but I'd like to see apps improved or refined.
The fact that eventually the complaints fade away doesn't mean that things are now better. I'm rather new with this ecosystem, but I still read comments about Photos has never regained functionalities which were lost at a certain point, etc.

 

[Martyimac]

Your mapping some grand vision onto was is more likely just "really poor design that isn't thought out".

Thank you for your opinion.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Thank you for your opinion.

Thank you for yours as well

 

[turbineseaplane]

No hate mongering here, but I'd like to see apps improved or refined.
The fact that eventually the complaints fade away doesn't mean that things are now better. I'm rather new with this ecosystem, but I still read comments about Photos has never regained functionalities which were lost at a certain point, etc.

Exactly.

Just "be quiet and accept it" is not a policy I'm interested in.

There are many examples of feedback being received by Apple and course corrections happening.

People should be absolutely vociferous about things they don't like, particularly with Apple.

 

[fisherking]

People should be absolutely vociferous about things they don't like, particularly with Apple.

sure, with apple. but not here, with each other.

this should be a civil place to discuss apple-centric issues, get help, explore possibilities. it gets combative too quickly (and am working on my own part in that) 🙏

 

[Mike Boreham]

One annoyance is that the default view of the main pane is white text on dark background, even if the System is in Light Mode. This means if copy and pasting info into another document it appears a white on white ie invisible!

You have copy and paste to match style, cmd+shift+V

 

[tomekwsrod]

Contacts app is a total disaster. Don't listen to those human bots praising Apple. Apple can piss on them and they will tell you it is raining. Or they are simply paid for saying this. Apple destroyed the Contacts app, I'm in similar situation as you are.

 

[fisherking]

Contacts app is a total disaster. Don't listen to those human bots praising Apple. Apple can piss on them and they will tell you it is raining. Or they are simply paid for saying this. Apple destroyed the Contacts app, I'm in similar situation as you are.

right, don't dare allow anyone to have a point-of-view different from your own 🙄

the tahoe contacts app, in my opinion, definitely needs work, and hopefully will get better; we'll see. but it's hardly 'destroyed'. if you feel that, that's your right, as is others to feel differently.

this is a forum, ie a place for open discussion and differing opinions 👍

 

[edubfromktown]

I switched to using Google Contacts and Keep for notes on all of my devices (Chromebook, S25 Ultra mobile phone and multiple Mac systems) 4+ years ago and it has been a far better experience.

 

[Starfia]

The interface under Tahoe really sucks big time. I'm devastated.

I feel your pain.

Contacts under Tahoe tries to display a background image in the contact detail area. This leads to bad legibility and it's wasting a lot of display space.

The tiny notes field -- the huge amount of empty space on both the name list (the pointer shows that it's supposed to be resizable but it's not), and the huge wasted space for displaying an empty bubble for anyone you don't have a photo of (90% of my contacts) instead of any useful information.

A quick 30-second look at the app reveals the following…

I agree that contacts is almost useless now.

You can't even 2 finger scroll on the Magic Trackpad unless the cursor is on the area where the text area is.

I can't believe anyone would find the new look any bit of an improvement (see attachment).

In the same way, it's ridiculous how they are adding all this padding to the entire UI, which just nukes effective usable screen space.

… it still beggars belief that the Contacts app hasn't been even tested.

I must agree with the OP.

It is still usable in Tahoe, but honestly also visually chaotic…

People should be absolutely vociferous about things they don't like, particularly with Apple.

One annoyance is that the default view of the main pane is white text on dark background, even if the System is in Light Mode.

Contacts app is a total disaster.

Thank you to everyone for coming together in what is, deeper down, a spirit of appreciation for the traditional quality of software that we think Apple in particular stands for.

I've just submitted the following as feedback:

"Hi, staff. I'm sure you've been hearing feedback about the Contacts app on Mac in Tahoe – seemingly the latest adopter of an interface designed for iOS. I'll attempt to criticize constructively with two points. One: the very first version of Contacts on Mac OS X inspired my admiration by virtue of being useful and tidy, but aesthetically unopinionated enough that I imagined potentially every user would like it. Two: in this version, a window typically must exceed 460 points vertically to show even two lines of contact info. In edit mode, and it shows up to 16 – that is, edit mode is now up to eight times more useful for viewing contact info than the default mode. Thanks for listening and considering, as always."

If you believe we should help Apple and each other by sharing our opinions, and haven't already done so, please join me in submitting feedback. There's no question in my mind that the staff are doing plenty of hard work there, and specific feedback is the most useful feedback. So please be polite and be precise.

Feedback - Contacts

Apple wants to hear from you. Send us your comments and feedback about Contacts.

www.apple.com

 

[fisherking]

Thank you to everyone for coming together in what is, deeper down, a spirit of appreciation for the traditional quality of software that we think Apple in particular stands for.

I've just submitted the following as feedback:



If you believe we should help Apple and each other by sharing our opinions, and haven't already done so, please join me in submitting feedback. There's no question in my mind that the staff are doing plenty of hard work there, and specific feedback is the most useful feedback. So please be polite and be precise.

Feedback - Contacts

Apple wants to hear from you. Send us your comments and feedback about Contacts.

www.apple.com

and of course, if you're running the OS betas. use the Feedback Assistant app. i've actually gotten some responses using it 👍

 

[zevrix]

Did I like the previous way messages was set up? Yes. Do I find I can still use contacts well? Yes. The changes are cosmetic basically... Did the world end? Nope. We found out how  wanted it to work and we learned the new way. If you intend to stay in the  ecosystem you too will come to accept the new way forward. But all the hate and dislike comments will wither away...

Oh yeah. The Contacts app has already once gone through such a "new-way-forward" change when it acquired the leather skin (while also losing some useful options for the sake of serving the skin). Was it on Mountain Lion?

And where's that visionary leather now? Fortunately, Apple came back to its senses and restored the normal UI. But well I guess they felt the urge to destroy Contacts again now.

P.S. I personally don't even care, fortunately, as I didn't use Contacts for the last 15 years after switching to Android.

 

[SherwinL]

The OS including contacts WAS tested through all the betas. I was one of them. Did I like the previous way messages was set up? Yes. Do I find I can still use contacts well? Yes. The changes are cosmetic basically and trust me, the Mac world went crazy when the settings app was changed. Did the world end? Nope. We found out how  wanted it to work and we learned the new way. If you intend to stay in the  ecosystem you too will come to accept the new way forward. But all the hate and dislike comments will wither away and life will go forward and those of us fully vested in the ecosystem will be happy when the hate mongering goes away so we can get back to actual informative posts.

If you make extensive use of the notes area, as I have for decades (long preceding my current Macbook), having the useless margins forces way more scrolling than I should need to do. I can't find any way to make the second column narrower to at least give the actual contact column more width.

Getting rid of the lists column just makes the second column wider, which is useless.

If I widen the entire window, it widens both columns, which just leaves more wasted space in the left column.

There is no practical reason for the wide margins in the contact column. It doesn't improve readability or aesthetics.

 

[SherwinL]

I must agree with the OP. Contacts under Tahoe is HOPELESS and a disgrace.

1. On my Mac Mini M2 with Tahoe and Apple Cinema Display 20 inch displays, the screen flickers in Contacts. It never used to - and it only happens in CONTACTS.

2. The SEARCH box is located on the top right, which is the opposite of where you want it, because you scroll on the left, and then have to move the cursor to the far right to enter some text. Designed by an idiot.

3. The TEXT SIZE is TOO SMALL, and there is no way to make it bigger just for Contacts, or within Contacts, or within System settings (App specific)

4. The GREY background screen is HIDEOUS, and it makes the text difficult to read. Why not allow users to have a clean white background, like previous versions? So bad.

5. Then there is that HUGE space for an image, when you have no image for the person ... so why take up half the screen with a giant circle of an empty head, when it is just an empty head.

6. DISPLAY OF PHONE NUMBERS:
Say you have a COMPANY card, and then enter different phone numbers for different people at the company as say:
0401 111 222 -Dave Black
0402 333 444 - Sam
Under Tahoe, Contacts removes the spaces between the number and the name, and it reads as:
0401111222DaveBlack
Just hopeless. Designed by an idiot.

7. The tiny Notes field.

Hope Apple could release such crap beggars belief.

The screen also flickers on the M3 MacBook Air when you move the cursor across the contact.

 

[August West]

Agree the changes in Tahoe to the Contacts are a terrible step backward. I installed Tahoe on my M1 MBA which is only used as a sofa internet surfing machine and not much else so I don't use the Contacts on it much. But after seeing this thread decided to check it out yesterday. I would absolutely hate to have to use it on my main machine. It did make my decision to revert back to Sequoia easier though. I already had a bootable USB with 15.7 on it so made the move back today. My first Mac was a mini back in 2009 and through all of the releases Tahoe the only time I actually considered going back to an a prior release let alone actually doing it.

 

[SherwinL]

Sorry, guys. If you haven't noticed the interface change of Contacts, you clearly don't use Contacts. In both sides, actually: the contact listing and contact data. After 2 days of Sequoia, I can't keep using it. I know, silly, but Contacts is a tool I use almost 24/7 while working since the dinosaur age. Went back to Sequoia today. What a relief.

I did just find that setting "reduce transparency" in system settings at least makes the contacts readable.

 

[SherwinL]

I think the changes bring the macOS version of Contacts more into line with what Apple have moved to on iOS, so the consistency is one benefit of the new UI.

But is anyone else seeing a jagged/pixellated Contacts icon (specifically the white 'person' icon) when using Command + Tab to bring up the app switcher?

If they were going for consistency with iOS, why didn't they add back the alphabetical tabs? At least those remained in iOS and iPadOS.

 

[SherwinL]

I just noticed that the new contacts also fails to show the start of notes if you have a lot of content in the notes field.

For example, one notes field I have totals 15,408 characters. The new app fails to show the first 7,523 characters.

All the content shows if I click "edit".

 

[hoobury]

- You can no longer copy the user's name, and good luck trying to copy any of the other info such as email. It doesn't work. This has removed any sense of actual usefulness.

Just ran into this. Had someone with a complicated last name. Not being able to copy the contact name out of the contact app is uhhhhh...a choice. I guess.

I echo everyone else's complaints about the ridiculous amount of wasted real estate and endless scrolling I now have to do.

 

[BigBlur]

You can no longer copy the user's name, and good luck trying to copy any of the other info such as email. It doesn't work. This has removed any sense of actual usefulness.

Just ran into this. Had someone with a complicated last name. Not being able to copy the contact name out of the contact app is uhhhhh...a choice. I guess.

I'm not a fan of the new Contacts app either, but I'm not having any issues with copying contact info.

To copy the name, select the contact in the left pane and hit Command-C. (No need to highlight or select the name on the card.)

To copy their number, email, address, etc., just right-click on those and copy. (No need to left-click to highlight or select these either.)

 

[hoobury]

To copy the name, select the contact in the left pane and hit Command-C. (No need to highlight or select the name on the card.)

To copy their number, email, address, etc., just right-click on those and copy. (No need to left-click to highlight or select these either.)

Thank you for this information on copying the name. This does help somewhat but there's still a problem. Are you able to copy company information?

When I try to your Command-C, it automatically grabs the contact name off the card with no option to grab the company information instead.

As for the other information on the contact card, neither of us were saying you can't copy that information. Though I appreciate you showing me that I don't have to left click and highlight but rather, can just right click.

That said, while this is helpful, it's completely not intuitive on copying the name. I appreciate that you've given me a keyboard shortcut option. But how would anyone know this without trial and error?

Your second action is a prime example of how not intuitive this action is compared to that. How is a user to know that in one section of a contact card, a keyboard shortcut copies specific information with no pop up indicator of what you're getting. And in another section of that card, you have right click to do the same thing? Also, when I right click on the information in the card, I get the nice pop up menu with lots of options. What if I want those same options for the name of the contact.

Again, appreciate the tips. And let me know if you find a way to copy the company information.

 

[hoobury]

Also, and I realize this is macOS and not iOS section, but since we're talking about an app they're trying to make the same, here's my experience trying to do the same action in iOS 26.

Copy Name on iPhone - same issue. Can't highlight the name. Can follow @BigBlur advice and just hit copy on the contact card and it will grab the name. However, when going to paste in mail, it pastes as a huge font and is centered in the body of the email. This doesn't happen with copy and paste of other contact information as that pastes normally. Name information does paste normally into the Notes app. Haven't tried others. Unfortunately, copying someone's name into an email is my highest use case scenario.

Same problem as MacOS that I still can't copy company name and now I realize, person's title.

But the bigger issue I have in iOS is that I can't control what I copying in the notes section. If you have a notes section larger than one screen, when you go to try to copy something towards the top, it auto selects what it thinks you want, then jumps down to the bottom of the notes section. In my case, while trying to copy a frequent flyer number, it doesn't get the whole thing. When you scroll back up, it drops the clipboard and lets you try again.

If you double click, it will select as normal. So mostly gets what I want, but then it will scroll down before you can select Cut, Copy, Paste. When you scroll up, those options disappear again. Making it an endless loop of not being able to copy.

Again, this is only a problem if your notes are longer than a single screen and doesn't affect the stuff at the bottom of the notes. Just the top.

From the multiple comments in here about it, I don't think I'm a fringe use case as it sounds like lots of users pack a lot of information into their contact cards.

All in all, a major step back in functionality with little to nothing gained, even aesthetically.

 

[brsilb]

Apple completely blew the Dark Mode interface on MacOS and IOS. The light background in Dark Mode makes it almost impossible to read. Visually impaired users cannot use the app.

 

[poocat]

Issues:
1. Searching a name in Spotlight doesn't return the Contact card!?!? This truly blows my mind. This is *by far* the way I use contacts the most. What am I doing wrong?
2. Text on copy is white? Why would I possibly want to copy white text?
3. Name is not highlightable/copyable?
4. Information constantly twitches (visual breaks/refreshes) at the bottom of contact pages. This is nuts, see video
5. I can't scroll the contact info from the contact pane, just from the info overlay? Why waste all that area?
6. Performance w/ 2k+ contacts is just abysmal, multi-second open time
7. Searching a person via another app (Launchbar) and launching to that person - doesn't work? It's like they totally broke the external search functionality? As with point 1, this is *by far* the way I use contacts the most.

Help for any of these welcome.

 

[MareLuce]

The macOS Contacts app has not went through the most basic of QC. The fact Apple, a trillion-dollar company, which once prided itself in beautiful UI/UX, went ahead and released this POS to the public, is appalling, and quite honestly insulting.

A quick 30-second look at the app reveals the following:
- Using the top Menu such as going to "Help" results in the contacts background flickering all over the place
- You can no longer copy the user's name, and good luck trying to copy any of the other info such as email. It doesn't work. This has removed any sense of actual usefulness.
- When sharing the "Me" contact (the one I share most often), if you click "Share Contact" and then click away, will force-open Apple Maps for no apparent reason
- Visually it's a mess. 1/3 of the screen is taken up by the contact initials or photo, which are then replicated directly below in a small version called "Contact Photo & Poster".

Apple's ability to take something useful, completely break it, and put it forward to the public as an exciting new release, is quite impressive.

Well said. I am in so much pain over this. (I have 15,000+ contacts)

Is anyone seeing the White Screen of Death on their iOS 26 phone?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/psa-if-you-are-missing-contacts-on-your-new-iphone.2467530/

I really need to start using a different app entirely.