Phone number missing from iMessage preferences on Macbook

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Level 1

13 points

Phone number missing from iMessage preferences on Macbook

iMessage on my Mac is using my Apple ID email address rather than my phone number. When I open Preferences, the phone number is nowhere to be found, and I can't see a way to add it again. Please don't respond with the following link on the Apple Support site, as it does not address the issue of the phone number being completely gone: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201349

The settings on my iPhone are fine, so there's nothing I can do there to reactivate my phone number on my Mac iMessage app. I traveled recently, which seems to always mess up iMessage on at least one of my Apple devices.

The white boxes in my image are covering up only email addresses.

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Aug 6, 2019 9:19 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

CarlAVII

Community Specialist

Aug 7, 2019 6:04 PM in response to corpho

Hey corpho!

You will have to press "Use your Apple ID for iMessage" on your iPhone, in order to get your phone number to show up on iMessage on your Mac. Your Mac is signed in to your Apple ID in iMessage and this is how the phone number would sync there.

Regards.

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Answer 2

Leanne_68

Community Specialist

Aug 7, 2019 8:38 AM in response to corpho

Hello and welcome to Apple Support Communities, corpho!

I understand you're trying to add your phone number to Messages on your MacBook Pro. I'd be happy to provide information to help you troubleshoot this issue.

From the article you linked, sign out of both iMessage and FaceTime on your iPhone and MacBook Pro: Add or remove your phone number in Messages or FaceTime

"Remove your phone number

If you don't want calls or messages for your iPhone on your iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, you can remove your phone number. There are two ways to do this:

On your iPhone, go to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive. Select your Apple ID and tap Sign Out. Then go to Settings > FaceTime, select your Apple ID and tap Sign Out.
If the phone number that you want to remove belongs to an iPhone that you can't access, change your Apple ID password. This removes all phone numbers from your iPad, iPod touch, and Mac. Calls or messages for the removed numbers won't appear on those devices anymore.

If you have questions, contact Apple Support."

"Turn your phone number on or off for your Mac

After you set up your phone number, you can turn it on or off for Messages and FaceTime on your Mac.

Open Messages or FaceTime. If asked, sign in with the Apple ID that you're using with Messages and FaceTime on your iPhone.
For Messages, choose Messages > Preferences, then click Accounts and select your iMessage account. For FaceTime, choose FaceTime > Preferences, then click Settings.
Turn your phone number on or off:

- To turn on your phone number, select it and your Apple ID in the list. If you don't see your phone number, get help with your settings or contact Apple Support. If you see a number that isn't yours, change your Apple ID password.
- To turn off your phone number, deselect it in the list."

Once you've signed out of both iMessage and FaceTime on both devices, sign back in first on your iPhone. Then, proceed to sign in on your MacBook Pro.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

Enjoy your day!

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Answer 3

corpho Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 7, 2019 12:01 PM in response to Leanne_68

Thanks for this, but neither of these methods worked.

The problem with the first procedure you described is that when I go to Settings on my iPhone and tap Messages > Send & Receive, all I see is "Use your Apple ID for iMessage" and below that, "You can receive iMessages to and reply from" which is followed by my phone number. The phone number has a check mark next to it, but it's grayed out.

The problem with the second procedure, as I explained in my original post, is that the phone number is not displayed anywhere in my Mac's Messages > Preferences > iMessage > Settings. I can only see email addresses. I even signed out through iMessage > Settings, and signed back in, but my phone number is nowhere to be found.

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Phone number missing from iMessage preferences on Macbook

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