Level 1

28 points

Apple Watch not marking SMS text as read

Hello,

I have been having an issue for quite some time with my watch not marking my text messages as read. The iMessage ones come through fine and if I read them on my phone they mark on my watch, however when I send or receive a message that’s not iPhone it makes it as unread even if I sent the message. I have tried unpairing and repairing, I have the newest version iOS 14 and watch os7 I have restarted you name it I’ve done it and it’s still not working. Any other advise?

Apple Watch

Posted on Sep 18, 2020 12:55 PM

Top-ranking reply

mikey407

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Jan 21, 2021 12:46 PM

I had no issues like this until the day I activated my new phone (12 Pro Max). No issues with iMessages, but if I read a non-iMessage SMS on my iPhone, it would still show unread on my Watch and iPad. I followed the steps listed in this thread and others, and the suggestions of some YouTube videos. I contacted Apple and after nearly three hours with an agent, it was escalated to engineering. Their last reply was that they were aware of the issue and hoped it would be resolved in an upcoming iOS 14.xx release.

After looking more into potential fixes, I decided to try this and it worked.

On your iPhone: Go to Settings --> Messages --> Send & Receive.
Under You Can Receive iMessages To and Reply From, deselect your phone number. You will be asked to confirm you want to remove the number from iMessage and FaceTime. Click Remove. I did not lose any messages or experience any other irregularities on any of my devices when I did this.
After a few seconds, add the phone number back.

After doing this, any non-iMessage that came in to my iPhone that I read would correctly show as read on my Watch and iPad. It will not mark read any messages received before this, but moving forward after following those steps, it synced correctly.

Hopefully this is a possible fix for those who have exhausted all other options.

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91 replies

bevinL

Level 1

4 points

Jul 3, 2021 1:44 PM in response to Hairgeek_6

The solution provided worked like magic. Thank you!!

Jul 10, 2021 10:14 PM in response to mikey407

i guess when apple won’t give us a workaround at least users will find a way anyway lol thanks

Jul 20, 2021 6:44 PM in response to mikey407

This worked for me! I’ve tried EVERYTHING and this finally did it! Thanks!

Jul 22, 2021 10:48 PM in response to mikey407

Thank you so much, I have been trying to figure this out for at least three months. Simple, follow the steps above problem solved. Thank you again

sdhaase

Level 1

9 points

Aug 19, 2021 12:05 PM in response to Hairgeek_6

Thank you so much!! I had tried nearly everything as well. Came across your solution today and it worked! Really appreciate your sharing.

B_504

Level 1

4 points

Aug 25, 2021 12:32 PM in response to mikey407

Hallelujah, this worked! I tried multiple other methods & spent a long time on chat with Apple support & nothing worked until I tried your advice. Thanks!

Dondgc

Level 1

8 points

Sep 7, 2021 11:07 PM in response to mikey407

This issue was Driving me nuts! The solution from @mikey407 solved the problem. Thank you!!

dempc77

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2021 10:05 AM in response to mikey407

Seriously, thank you! I’ve been working on this issue for months and hours of phone calls with apple. This was so quick and simple and totally fixed it!

Dec 2, 2021 9:47 AM in response to mikey407

This is the answer right here. Apple take note and start using this instead of "Have you tried turning it off and on again"

Dec 6, 2021 8:55 AM in response to Hairgeek_6

Yo! After dealing with this for almost 2 years… I did this and IT WORKS!!! Thank you!

Jan 3, 2022 5:20 PM in response to Jrue4

This did not work for me. Problem just started a few days ago. I tried everything

Jan 5, 2022 9:10 AM in response to mikey407

This worked after a full watch reset wouldn't. I can't believe it took me this long to find this solution.

Thank you!

Jan 5, 2022 10:27 PM in response to mikey407

This did not work for me. I can’t get rid of the “1” on my text message icon on my Apple Watch. Neither my phone or iPad show any unread messages. I’ve tried everything.

cp from OH

Community Specialist

Sep 23, 2020 7:41 AM in response to Hairgeek_6

Hello Hairgeek_6,

Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities. From your message it sounds like you're having an issue with SMS messages syncing between your iPhone and Apple Watch.

If this is correct, let's begin by gathering some additional information:

1 - Are you currently using Messages in iCloud?

2 - You mentioned that you've restarted. Have you restarted your iPhone and Apple Watch with the following sequence:

- Power off Apple Watch

- Power off iPhone

- Power on iPhone

- Power on Apple Watch

Be sure you've waited for each step to complete before proceeding to the next one. If you haven’t restarted the devices before, here’s how:

How to restart your Apple Watch

Restart your iPhone

Once the restarting is complete, test to see if there is any change with the way the SMS messages are performing on your Apple Watch.

3 - Are the SMS messages you send from the Apple Watch appearing on the iPhone at all?

4 - When did this issue first begin?

All the best.

cp from OH

Community Specialist

Sep 23, 2020 8:03 PM in response to Hairgeek_6

Hi Hairgeek_6,

Great information you've provided.

With the issue occurring on your Mac as well as your Apple Watch, and only occurring with the SMS/MMS messages, the next step will be to check the Text Message Forwarding that you have set up.

Text Message Forwarding is how the other devices send and receive the SMS/MMS messages. Follow the steps from this article: How to forward SMS/MMS text messages from your iPhone to your iPad, iPod touch or Mac.

If all the settings appear correct, try turning it off on the Mac and iPhone > restarting the devices > and setting it up again.

Let us know the results.

Enjoy the day!

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Apple Watch not marking SMS text as read