You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Messages not showing Names in notifications

Within the last update to Big Sur (11.2.2) I now get only the telephone numbers in notifications rather than the name of the sender. They are all in my contacts so not sure how to fix it. I tried unchecking "contacts" and "Messages" in iCloud and rechecking but the problems is still there. Any suggestions?

iMac 21.5″ 4K, macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 21, 2021 7:15 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 22, 2021 7:58 AM

Hello Kevinwal,


It looks like you are no longer seeing the names of the people sending you those messages.


Let's try starting up the system in what is called safe mode. This will help us isolate this issue.


To start in safe mode, begin with the computer powered off. Press the power button to turn it on then press and hold the Shift key. Keep holding the shift key until you get to the log in screen. More information is available here: How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


The computer will take longer to start in safe mode, and the screen may have some distorted video as it starts up. This is normal. Once you are logged in, use the system and test to see if the same problem with Messages occurs.


If everything seems to work as expected, go ahead and restart the computer normally and test again. Starting in safe mode forces the computer to run some disk checks similar to First Aid. This can resolve some issues.


Cheers!

Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 22, 2021 7:58 AM in response to Kevinwal

Hello Kevinwal,


It looks like you are no longer seeing the names of the people sending you those messages.


Let's try starting up the system in what is called safe mode. This will help us isolate this issue.


To start in safe mode, begin with the computer powered off. Press the power button to turn it on then press and hold the Shift key. Keep holding the shift key until you get to the log in screen. More information is available here: How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


The computer will take longer to start in safe mode, and the screen may have some distorted video as it starts up. This is normal. Once you are logged in, use the system and test to see if the same problem with Messages occurs.


If everything seems to work as expected, go ahead and restart the computer normally and test again. Starting in safe mode forces the computer to run some disk checks similar to First Aid. This can resolve some issues.


Cheers!

Messages not showing Names in notifications

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.