I have a similar issue, I think. I have a macOS and iOS app which share the same code. Both make a call to CNContactStore().unifiedContact(withIdentifier, keysToFetch). However, th iOS call takes a small fraction of the time for a given contact - 0.005s compared to 0.35s! The console in the Mac has the message [api] Attempt to read notes by an unentitled app I am not trying to read a note from the contact. The contact actually has a blank note. So it looks like the macOS mistakenly thinks I am trying to access a note, and that this cause a delay in the routine.