Messages finish indexing

I had this same issue after I utilized my most recent iCloud Backup for my new iPhone 11 Pro. Try going to Settings > Phone > My Number. My phone number was not entered under the 'My Number' tab. I entered my phone number and immediately everything repopulated (photos, links, etc).

That just happened to me. I went to settings, tapped my name, then iCloud, found that messages was turned off. I just turned it back on. All fixed. 👍

I used the “Turn on iCloud” method just for messages and it worked for me. You may have to buy more iCloud storage (is there a conspiracy here?) but it only cost me $.99. It does take a while (18 GB of messages) so I just let it run all night and got everything back, except the indexing error message, the next morning. Just made an iTunes backup of the fixed phone and will now get off iCloud and save $.99 a month, lol. Have patience with this method; someone said “I have tried toggling on/off Messages in iCloud at least a dozen times with no luck” but that’s not how it works. Follow the tip above... good luck.

I was told by Apple that they are aware of it. In the meantime, go to settings> Siri & Search then scroll down to messages. Click on messages. Turn off the first two toggles. Turn off the phone for 2 minutes. Turn it back on then go back and turn those 2 toggles back on. Give it 24 hours for the pictures to come back. It works for some. I’m only 20 minutes in so I’m still waiting but at least it’s a shot and they are aware of the problem. I couldn’t stand to lose those memories! Oh, and be sure to have the “download and keep original photos” on in iCloud as opposed to “optimize phone storage.” If you have enough space.

Plugging my iphone into my imac solved this for me

The latest update, 13.3 fixed this issue for me.

i have text convos from 2017. It took my phone about an hour (hour and a half max) to do everything (without incident)

The only real workaround right now would be to scroll through your messages and save the photos to your phone. The photos are still available in the message thread. Nothing appears to be missing.

so I left my mob over night & hoped the pics would download. Strangely I have one txt message / contact & his pics have all appeared. Not for everyone though. If I scroll up through the txt msg then the pics are downloaded but still do not appear in the media list. I don’t have the time to sit & scroll up through all my txt msgs to find a pic! 🥵

This is the same thing for me. Photos are there if I scroll back through the thread, and for a couple threads, they appear when I click on the i but most have the message that they will be available one messages finishes indexing. This needs to be fixed Apple!

I noticed this when I switched from my iPhone XS to 11 Pro, as well as on my iPad when I upgraded to iOS 13. I have been back and forth with Apple support since September 25 when I first noticed the issue. I’ve been through every troubleshooting step they’ve asked of me and still nothing. I’ve spoken to multiple Senior Advisors and nothing. If you have figured out something that has worked for you, please let me know.

This is insane. I woke up this morning and my phone automatically updated which i have turned off. Photos that were sent to me 3 days ago are missing and not downloading. I get the same "indexing" message at the bottom and when i click to download nothing happens. I've tried the steps below but nothing is helping. Apparently this is a new issue?

I've been fighting this for weeks. Initially noticed it when I did a wipe and restore of my 7+ running iOS 13. Would get all the right feedback "Downloading messages" progress bar, the option to "Download all images" in message threads, etc, but nothing will bring back the images in the media list. All photos are in iCloud, I wiped my MacBook Pro and it has them all. Even got a new iPhone 11 and thought maybe it was an issue with the previous phone, nope, it's definitely an iOS issue. None of the solutions have worked for me.

Call them. It happened to me again and I was not a happy camper - I can’t tell what they told me to do but I did it and was at 78% battery and whatever they did and helped me with worked for the 2nd time of this super annoying issue

Same issue although under the info button I git an option to download images from the iCloud . Clicked that then nothing .. no pics loaded! I hope the images have not been lost!