Q: iMessage on Mac OS x won't connect to my Yahoo Messenger account

I to am having this same problem

tried everything but not luck ...

Hi All,

Are you using Little Snitch ?

If so you need to enable the IMServicePlugInAgent that runs the Yahoo side of things.

Basically it is a plug-in that is separate from the regular part of iChat and IMAgent that handles the login fo other accounts.

8:19 pm      Wednesday; January 29, 2014

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

I am on OS X Yosemite and my iMessage application can't connect to my yahoo messenger account. I am not using Little Snitch. I can log in fine to yahoo mail and access my yahoo messenger app through there.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Steve

Hi,

This does seem to have got worse.

I cannot Login myself consistently at the moment either.

if I click the the lightening bolt type icon when the connection fails I get this.

This suggests the server is either not there or is rejecting the current login from the app.

Give Apple Feedback http://www.apple.com/feedback/ichat.html

This page has not been updated since iChat 5.0.3 but it is the right one.

You will need to add all the details for the bottom Drop downs in the Free Text Area.

8:35 p.m.      Monday; September 28, 2015

I too am having issues to connect to my yahoo messanger through imessanger.  I went back into time machine and tried to restore but it will not let me tell me you need this app.  I am not trying to uninstall it but restore.  Apple needs to let us use yahoo messanger instead of forcing us to use imessage.  I think Tim Cook is really screwing every thing up.  Iphone and now the mac....smh

Hi,

I am not sure this is Apple's fault.

I shall rephrase that.

If you take out the fact it is a poor plug-in when compared to what the AIM and Jabber ones do for Messages (and for iChat prior to that) then the Login is based on details that were available for anyone writing an Yahoo based App or a Plug-in for an existing app.

This was done back in iChat 6 and little if anything has been done to update this Plug-in.

The Plug-in does  not create the extra tabs in Preferences > Accounts that the AIM and Jabber Accounts (including Google) get.

This means you cannot change the settings  and try another server.

The fact this has been the same in Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks and early Yosemite means something else has changed (the Plug-in is no worse than it was before).

As Yahoo have not updated their own Mac version of the Yahoo Messenger to the point where it is incompatible with Yosemite make you wonder if Yahoo have an issue with Apple.

That though is extremely fuzzy logic to the point of being beyond speculation.

The fact is neither company has done anything to help wither either app.

9:15 p.m.      Tuesday; September 29, 2015

This one has been around a while.  I just got it fixed.  You have to go to Yahoo settings, in security, and enable login from less secure devices and services.  This will allow iMessage on the latest version of Mac OS to connect.

So after dealing with the same problem I figured out what to do. So when you sign into your yahoo account go into the settings and go to Account Security and click on that tab, then scroll down to Manage App Passwords. Lastly click on Mac Mail and it will generate a password and the next time iMessage ask for a password or if you click available yahoo it should ask for a password and you put that password in and it will work.

works like charm, thanks for your advice.

This worked!