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Suddenly, SMS will receive but not send on Mac Book Pro

My iPhone works perfectly in iMessage. My MacBook Pro has suddenly decided not to send texts to non-iPhone users, giving me the red exclamation point, no matter how many times I hit "Retry." No settings were changed. Just a sudden spate of denials.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Feb 2, 2023 10:36 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 4, 2023 6:18 PM

Try this checklist. ALL must be correct but in your case, in particular, the “Start new conversations …” setting on the Mac needs to show the phone number to be able to message non-iPhone users successfully:


iMessage checklist


iPhone and Mac both logged in to same Apple ID. Try logging off and logging on if necessary.


iPhone Settings => Messages shows iMessage as "on" (sometimes toggling this off and then on fixes some things)


iPhone Settings => Messages shows Send & Receive showing both phone number and email (Apple ID)


iPhone Settings => Messages shows Text Message Forwarding and your Mac is listed and shown as "on" there.


iPhone Settings => Messages shows Send as SMS "on" and MMS Messaging and Group Messaging both "on"


On the Mac: Messages => Preferences shows same and correct Apple ID and "You can be reached for messages at" indicates both phone number and Apple ID (email), and "start new conversations from" indicates the phone number.


* Don't see the Text Message Forwarding setting on your iPhone? Go to Settings > Messages, turn off iMessage, turn it back on, tap Send & Receive, tap Use Your Apple ID for iMessage, then sign in with the same Apple ID used on your other devices.


Forward SMS/MMS text messages from your iPhone to your Mac or iPad - Apple Support


1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 4, 2023 6:18 PM in response to StephenGNichols

Try this checklist. ALL must be correct but in your case, in particular, the “Start new conversations …” setting on the Mac needs to show the phone number to be able to message non-iPhone users successfully:


iMessage checklist


iPhone and Mac both logged in to same Apple ID. Try logging off and logging on if necessary.


iPhone Settings => Messages shows iMessage as "on" (sometimes toggling this off and then on fixes some things)


iPhone Settings => Messages shows Send & Receive showing both phone number and email (Apple ID)


iPhone Settings => Messages shows Text Message Forwarding and your Mac is listed and shown as "on" there.


iPhone Settings => Messages shows Send as SMS "on" and MMS Messaging and Group Messaging both "on"


On the Mac: Messages => Preferences shows same and correct Apple ID and "You can be reached for messages at" indicates both phone number and Apple ID (email), and "start new conversations from" indicates the phone number.


* Don't see the Text Message Forwarding setting on your iPhone? Go to Settings > Messages, turn off iMessage, turn it back on, tap Send & Receive, tap Use Your Apple ID for iMessage, then sign in with the same Apple ID used on your other devices.


Forward SMS/MMS text messages from your iPhone to your Mac or iPad - Apple Support


Suddenly, SMS will receive but not send on Mac Book Pro

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