Can't Access Contacts Sources on Device in iOS 6 - ios

Question

This code worked OK on iOS 5.1 and also does work in the iPhone simulator with iOS 6. It fails silently on my iPhone 4 running iOS 6. The end result is that I cannot add a person to the Contacts app. Neither of the following code snippets work (log follows each):
ABRecordRef defaultSource = ABAddressBookCopyDefaultSource(_addressBook);
NSLog(#"2 - defaultSource = %#", defaultSource);
AB: Could not compile statement for query (ABCCopyArrayOfAllInstancesOfClassInSourceMatchingProperties):
SELECT ROWID, Name, ExternalIdentifier, Type, ConstraintsPath, ExternalModificationTag, ExternalSyncTag, AccountID, Enabled, SyncData, MeIdentifier, Capabilities FROM ABStore WHERE Enabled = ?;
2012-09-24 11:00:36.731 QR vCard[193:907] 2 - defaultSource = (CPRecord: 0x1f59fd50 ABStore)
When I try to add a person to the Address Book I get this (seems to be because the source is invalid, even though it looks like it might be OK from the above):
2012-09-24 11:18:32.231 QR vCard[220:907] ABAddressBookAddRecord error = The operation couldn’t be completed. (ABAddressBookErrorDomain error 1.)
I thought I could get all the sources and then pick one, but the following returns none at all:
CFArrayRef allSources = ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllSources (_addressBook);
NSLog(#"2 - allSources = %#", allSources);
AB: Could not compile statement for query (ABCCopyArrayOfAllInstancesOfClassInSourceMatchingProperties):
SELECT ROWID, Name, ExternalIdentifier, Type, ConstraintsPath, ExternalModificationTag, ExternalSyncTag, AccountID, Enabled, SyncData, MeIdentifier, Capabilities FROM ABStore WHERE Enabled = ?;
2012-09-24 10:58:09.908 QR vCard[177:907] 2 - allSources = ()

Answer 1

I had the same issue and I could not get the Allow Access To Contacts alert to popup.
The Answer was posted by Kyle here:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/12648938/480415
// Request authorization to Address Book
ABAddressBookRef addressBookRef = ABAddressBookCreateWithOptions(NULL, NULL);
if (ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == kABAuthorizationStatusNotDetermined) {
ABAddressBookRequestAccessWithCompletion(addressBookRef, ^(bool granted, CFErrorRef error) {
// First time access has been granted, add the contact
});
}
else if (ABAddressBookGetAuthorizationStatus() == kABAuthorizationStatusAuthorized) {
// The user has previously given access, add the contact
}
else {
// The user has previously denied access
// Send an alert telling user to change privacy setting in settings app
}

Answer 2

This log message is an indication that your app is not (maybe not yet) allowed to access Contacts. iOS 6 gives users the possibility to deny apps the permission to access the address book.
The message disappears once the user has allowed your app access to Contacts - either via the pop up dialog, or by going to Settings -> Privacy -> Contacts.
For more infos on this topic, see WWDC 2012 session 710 "Privacy support in iOS and OS X".

Answer 3

If you got here from Google and you're using iOS's new CNContactStore framework, and getting these errors, read on:
I thought it'd be cleaner to make my CNContactStore a member variable that was initialized with the class instance:
class foo {
var contactStore = CNContactStore()
func findByIdentifier(identifier: String) -> CNContact {
let contact = try self.contactStore.unifiedContactWithIdentifier(identifier...
return contact
}
}
After I called this about fifty times, it started erroring out with
AB: Could not compile statement for query (ABCCopyArrayOfAllInstancesOfClassInSourceMatchingProperties)
I tried rate-limiting my calls, but that didn't help. It turned out that instantiating a new CNContactStore for every call had zero performance ramifications and completely solved the problem for me:
class foo {
func findByIdentifier(identifier: String) -> CNContact {
let contactStore = CNContactStore()
let contact = try contactStore.unifiedContactWithIdentifier(identifier...
return contact
}
}
Hope this helps!