2FA, iMessage, OSX 10.13 (High Sierra), and lost phone registrations

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MAW0811 Author

Level 1

6 points

2FA, iMessage, OSX 10.13 (High Sierra), and lost phone registrations

I have a Mac running OSX 10.13 (High Sierra)

Up until about 2 days ago, I was able to iMessage with my family's iPhones, iPads, etc.

All of the sudden iMessage says that none of my devices are registered with iMessage

I have another Mac running Catalina and it does not have this problem.

This is not a problem on my iPhone either

Nothing has changed on any of my devices, EXCEPT-

I signed up for 2FA many weeks ago (still not sure why) and my waiting period ending just about now.

So I am wondering if for some reason with High Sierra (but not Catalina) my invoked 2FA policy has blocked iMessage to my other devices

Apart from upgrading this Mac to Catalina (which I am loathe to do, even if my hardware would support the upgrade), is there any other solution to restore my other devices to iMessage on this computer?

(Note that I have scanned the forum for possible solutions except none fit this exact scenario)

Thanks

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 10.13

Posted on Dec 15, 2020 9:22 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

KMB_12

Community Specialist

Dec 18, 2020 3:41 PM in response to MAW0811

Hello MAW0811,

We'd like to help with the issue you're experiencing with Messages. We'd like to ask a few questions to help us better understand the issue and hopefully lead to a resolution.

You mentioned that Messages is saying none of your devices are registered with Messages. To confirm, did you get this prompt when you attempted to send a message on your Mac or do you see this prompt when checking your Messages preferences?

Can you share the exact wording of the prompt you are seeing?

If you navigate to Messages > Preferences > iMessage, does it show that you are currently signed in on the Mac experiencing the issue?

If you are not signed in and are experiencing an issue when trying to sign in, check this resource for some steps to try: If you can't sign in to your iMessage account or FaceTime on your Mac

Let us know how it goes.

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Answer 2

MAW0811 Author

Level 1

6 points

Dec 21, 2020 10:12 AM in response to KMB_12

Thanks for your reply.

On further investigation, I found that this iMAC had been 'kicked out' of imessage (I don't know why) and had defaulted to another messaging service that I did not recognize. Going into Messages > Preferences > General, I reselected iMessage as my default IM application and then on >Accounts, signed back into iMessage with my AppleID. This fixed things. Not certain why I was kicked out of iMessage in the first place

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Answer 3

Jeff_W.

Community Specialist

Dec 22, 2020 8:42 AM in response to MAW0811

Hello MAW0811,

Thanks for keeping us updated on this issue. We're glad to know that you were able to sign back into Messages, which also resolved the issues you were experiencing.

Let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

In the meantime, have a great rest of your day!

Cheers!

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2FA, iMessage, OSX 10.13 (High Sierra), and lost phone registrations

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