How do I fix my message app on my iPhone?

Message app and Message settings frozen since last update I’m on 17.5.1 with a iPhone 12. Relying on WhatsApp instead for most things it’s far more reliable. Come on Apple sort it out! It’s not hard, messaging was one of the first things invented on mobile phones! Are you doing this on purpose??

I'm having the exact same issue after the 17.5.1 update. Worked fine for a couple weeks, now it always freezes when I open the app. Tried everything and nothing yet.

My messaging is stuck. When I try to open it, it’s all black.

updating to 17.5.1 has caused the following issues: native messaging app freezes , doesn’t send txt or iMessages. I tried restarting my iPhone 15 problem continued. I deleted all messages, restarted my iPhone 15, no progress. Signal was confirmed at 5g . Storage capacity is within normal range. No other issues with any other apps. How long will it take the techs at Apple to patch the update? These are very expensive phones and the service prices are unreasonable. Maybe further testing needs to take place before updates are released .

Try and Force Restart your iPhone EXACTLY as shown below and see whether that resolves the issue:

• Press and quickly release Volume UP button
• Press and quickly release Volume DOWN button
• Press and Hold the SIDE button until an Apple logo appears and then release the Side button (Can take up to 20 seconds. (DO NOT release Side Button when invited to Slide Power OFF). 

Axel F.

After checking my iPhone for a lot of time, I found out some more glitches:

• I cannot access some settings anymore: mobile settings, phone, message, FaceTime settings, accessibility settings.
• phone and message apps are still dead: only a white screen when opening. when I swipe up to reveal the running apps, I can see the last message conversation, but when selecting, the white screen reappears
• podcast and music app does not work most of the time, sometimes I'm able to play music, but most of the time, I select a title, it gets highlighted for a second but nothing happens. Today, suddenly the music began to play about 2 mins after selecting the title.
• in contacts, I can see the contact list again, but immediately after selecting a contact, it freezes, no more scrolling and I have to kill the app
• find my app most of the time does not load content (map, people, items and freezes -> have to kill the app.
• home app does not updates the status of all my smart plugs and other devices
• apple watch app show a pending update, but when I go to the update screen, it get stuck saying "checking for update...."
• my mobile data and WIFI works fine, I can open safari pages, or chrome/opera, my mail boxes are updating, I can also update apps in the app store
• After trying to reset my network settings, the phone got stuck in the update screen showing the apple logo and a short proggressbar for about 15mins until I tried a hard reset (plus/minus volume and holding power until it restarts)

What is going on on my iPhone?

[Edited by Moderator]

I am still having this issue - it works sporadically and then it gives me the white screen. when I go to close the app the messages appear. if I go back in to it then I can see them but the information at the top of the screen, such as time etc, dissappears.

Messages on my iMac is not working properly either. I can't send anything

I have an iPhone 11 running iOS 17.5.1

Yes, but it’s not a permanent fix “for me”. It might be a permanent fix for others though.

It doesn’t hurt to try and see if it fixes your issue for good, you won’t be deleting anything, just resetting most of your settings back to default.

I ended up calling support again after a week or so when the bug came back. They wanted me to do a factory reset and restore my phone via iTunes, just to see if putting completely new software on my phone, would resolve the issue.

Unfortunately, I’m not ready to go through **** doing all of that but according to them, this is the only way they’ll move forward with creating a ticket that can be sent to engineers.

What confuses me, when you Google search this issue, you’ll see complaints about this very issue dating back years ago. Like always, whenever someone mentions an issue that’s been going on for a while now for some users, they’ll claim “this is the first time they’ve heard about this issue and there’s no records of it in their system”, which is getting TIRESOME at this point!

Either they’re lying just to make it seem like “you’re the only one experiencing the issue you’re reporting” or they’re system deletes reported issues quickly than what it’s supposed to, because there should be NO WAY this issue has NEVER been reported to them when there’s years worth of complaints about it on here and on other websites as well.

My messages have been freezing since the last update. Every time I open my messages it shuts down and freezes my phone.

Update: I contacted support about this issue, they provided a fix for me, and when I asked what was causing the issue…

I was told they’re unsure and that an ongoing investigation is still going on to find the cause of the bug but in the meantime, they suggest users to backup their data and follow these steps.

• Settings

• General

• Transfer or Reset iPhone

• Reset

• Reset All Settings

The steps above, are meant to reset any “Settings” that may have caused this bug to appear, NOT delete user’s data.

Unfortunately, it will reset a majority of your “Settings” back to default. (Accessibility, Bluetooth, Cellular, Control Center, Display & Brightness, FaceTime, Messages, Notifications, Passwords, Phone, Safari, Siri & Search, Sounds & Haptics, Wallet & Apple Pay, WiFi, and etc)

So take screenshots of all your configurations (or the ones important to you) and backup before you proceed.

Yes, this is quite a bit of an annoyance, but at least your Apps, Call Logs, Media, Messages (sent or received), Files, and etc WON’T be deleted.

If resetting “All Settings” doesn’t work, Screen Record the bug, reach out to Support & tell them what troubleshooting steps you’ve already done, and let them know you’ve already captured the issue via a Screen Recording.

I’ve been having this issue for four days while traveling in Europe. My message badge shows over 70 messages but when I click on the icon it freezes my phone and the screen goes black. If I got to settings, messages, my screen also freezes. My daughter can’t set up WhatsApp as an alternative because it needs to text you a code, but text doesn’t work. This has been going on for nearly a week with no end in sight.

Mine is doing the exact same thing started today. 14 pro

It’s weird, I just started experiencing this issue nonstop for about a week now on my iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Oddly enough, I’m not experiencing this on my iPhone 15 Pro Max (which is using a different Apple ID).

Both devices are active with the same carrier, using different eSIMs, and using the same WiFi.

I thought it was my VPN based on googling this issue and seeing that VPNs can sometimes cause this exact issue… I deleted the VPN out of Settings, uninstalled the app, reset my network settings, but the problem still persist smh.

I wanted to test something else out by seeing if the issue is only related to the Apple ID I’m using on my iPhone 13 Pro Max, but I don’t feel like signing in and signing out of different IDs, and dealing with the aftermath of unintentional saves to the wrong iCloud, as I use these devices for two different purposes unrelated to each other and the two should never mix.

This is happening to me as well, fully updated and I only have 113 of 256 gb used. I can't even open the messenger portion in settings to try and reset imessage to see if that will help. Phone was running fine UNTIL I did this latest upgrade. I have the 11 pro max so yes not the newest but by far not the oldest that is "supported" in this upgrade.

Beef_Boy Said:

"Messages app keeps crashing: My messages app started crashing about an hour ago, I can't send or receive messages. When I load the app it shows me a black screen. Every once in a while I will receive all of the messages sent to me in the past ten minutes or so but I can't read them on the app. I can't send messages through the pictures app either. "

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Troubleshooting a Crashing App:

Start with a Restart:

Go Here: Restart your iPhone - Apple Support

Sending and Reeving Messages:

Go Here: If you can't Send or Receive Messages on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support