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Message app slow and lags on Big Sur

The Messages app (which you send and receive iMessages with) becomes very slow and unresponsive after upgrading to Big Sur. Other apps seem to be performing fine. Do anyone else have this problem? Will it be fixed in a future release?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Nov 15, 2020 3:48 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 25, 2020 11:57 AM

I found this and it worked for me.

Sonia Huelsenbeck says

APRIL 3, 2019 AT 9:53 PM


After trying all the suggested fixes, I contacted Apple. They had me do the following and it worked:

Sign out of Messages on the MacBook. We can do that by opening Messages, then going to the top left corner of the screen and click messages -> iMessages. We should be able to sign out from there .

Up next we’ll go on the iPhone to Settings -> Messages, turn off iMessage, restart the iPhone, then turn iMessage back on.

Go back on the MacBook and get signed back into the Messages app. 

Go on the iPhone to Settings -> Messages -> Text Message Forwarding. We should be able to flip a switch for the Mac to allow us to send SMS and MMS messages from the MacBook, and hopefully sort out the last of it.

Enter the code that pops up on your screen.

58 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 25, 2020 11:57 AM in response to SBDowd

I found this and it worked for me.

Sonia Huelsenbeck says

APRIL 3, 2019 AT 9:53 PM


After trying all the suggested fixes, I contacted Apple. They had me do the following and it worked:

Sign out of Messages on the MacBook. We can do that by opening Messages, then going to the top left corner of the screen and click messages -> iMessages. We should be able to sign out from there .

Up next we’ll go on the iPhone to Settings -> Messages, turn off iMessage, restart the iPhone, then turn iMessage back on.

Go back on the MacBook and get signed back into the Messages app. 

Go on the iPhone to Settings -> Messages -> Text Message Forwarding. We should be able to flip a switch for the Mac to allow us to send SMS and MMS messages from the MacBook, and hopefully sort out the last of it.

Enter the code that pops up on your screen.

Nov 18, 2020 5:45 PM in response to singularitylxc

I had the same problem but only on one Mac. I have Big Sur installed on a MacBook Air, a MacBook Pro, a Mini, and an iMac, and it was only running slow on the Mini. It would also freeze and needed to be forced to quit. It's a 2014 i7 3 GHz 16 GB RAM Intel Iris 1536 MB. Everything else works fine, so I checked all settings and found one different. I set it the same as the other Macs, and Messages works absolutely fine now. That one setting was in Accessibility > Display > Cursor > Cursor Size. It was set on the 4th (middle) size. I reduced it to the smallest size even though the other Macs are on the second setting. As I said, works perfectly now.

Dec 4, 2020 7:28 AM in response to flakarek

I agree. The fix works, but the problem comes back. It appears to be a sync problem across platforms. With a Mini, an iMac, a MacBook Air, an iPad Pro, and iPhone 11Max next to each other a message doesn’t appear on all screens for several minutes at times. Sometimes it works extremely well. I go through the suggested fix, and the results are immediately obvious, but then it comes back within a day or two.


Dec 14, 2020 9:40 AM in response to Bob Howard

This worked for me.

November 2018 Mac Book Air

Productivity-killing lag when typing in Messages after installing BigSur.


My mouse cursor size was already set to the smallest setting. I enlarged by one degree, and PRESTO! No more lag in Messsages. Can't believe this worked.


I see many posting that it is a temporary fix and the lag returns in a few days, or so.

I'm happy to have to toggle my mouse size every few days till a proper fix comes along. Less than ideal, to be sure. But at least I can get work done now.


Thanks Siingularitylxc,

Dec 14, 2020 6:06 PM in response to ClayJBook

ClayJBook wrote:

This worked for me.
November 2018 Mac Book Air
Productivity-killing lag when typing in Messages after installing BigSur.

My mouse cursor size was already set to the smallest setting. I enlarged by one degree, and PRESTO! No more lag in Messsages. Can't believe this worked.

I see many posting that it is a temporary fix and the lag returns in a few days, or so.
I'm happy to have to toggle my mouse size every few days till a proper fix comes along. Less than ideal, to be sure. But at least I can get work done now.

Thanks Siingularitylxc,

This is so bizarre tho, Why the heck Mouse cursor size would have impact iMessage performance ? It like, smaller/bigger headlight will impact how fast you car can go ?


Doesn't make any sense to me, Apple should coming and take a look at it.

Dec 31, 2020 7:49 PM in response to dylano

I finally got a chance to work with Apple Support on this issue and they escalated my case up since I spoke to Support about this in September. We are trying to figure out if there is 3rd Party app that is causing this issue. If you have this issue, please reply if you have any of the following 3rd party applications to try to figure out if there is a common denominator:


Spark

Fantastical

Microsoft Office Apps (Excel, Word, Powerpoint, etc.)

WhatsApp (wish Messages worked as well)

PDF Expert

EZCCs

Ulysses

iMazing Profile Editor (or other apps by DigiDNA)

Kiwi for Gmail

Speedtest

Mactracker

OneDrive

Dropbox

Speedtest


There are enough people having a problem with this lag that we may be able to narrow this down by app.

Jan 6, 2021 12:38 PM in response to wizard_chef

I've tried everything suggested and nothing works. The safe mode solution works for maybe a couple of days and then comes back. Now it's getting worse where even opening the text on my computer gets the wheel going and deleting text is almost impossible. Is someone doing something about this?

I got the email about other app contributing to the problem. The only other app that I have from the ones listed is What'sApp.

Thanks

Message app slow and lags on Big Sur

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