Why does my Messages app keep freezing?

If anyone is still having this problem it may be your VPN.

I was experiencing this and called Apple Support. My VPN was disrupting the signal to my icloud. Here was the fix:

Settings -> General -> VPN Device Management

Click the i beside the VPN and delete it.

Delete the VPN app

Settings -> General -> Transfer or Reset iPhone

Reset -> Reset Network Settings.

Your phone will restart

You will have to re-enter the passwords to your WiFi networks

Then you have the option to add your VPN back. You may have to contact your VPN customer service and tell them the problem you had so they don’t disrupt the signal. I haven’t done this step yet.

I spent a bit of time with Apple Support this morning. It was happening on all my devices and my wife's. We ended up fixing it, at least so far . . . with a hard reboot on our phones. Volume up, volume down, hold power button until Apple logo appears. 🤷‍♂️

Not really sure what the hard reboot did, but iMessage works properly across both of our devices.

For me...resolving broken Messaging was resolved by suggestion #3 above...i.e. Signing Apple out and Signing back in. The other items had no effect. Now miraculously Messages is working again...on both iPhone and iPad (which had been both slowly failing over a couple months). Thanks all!

Saw this on a reddit thread and it worked for me - try disabling screen time limits! :)

I have a few more suggestions that you can try to resolve the issue:

1. Check for additional software updates: Go to Settings > General > Software Update to ensure you have the latest update installed, as there might have been a recent bug fix.

2. Reset Network Settings: Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. This will reset all network settings, including Wi-Fi, mobile data, and VPN settings. You will need to re-enter your Wi-Fi credentials after this reset.

3. Sign out and sign back in to your Apple ID: Go to Settings > [your name] > Sign Out, and then sign back in with your Apple ID. This can help re-establish any connection issues with iMessage.

4. Disable and re-enable iMessage: Go to Settings > Messages and toggle off iMessage. Restart your iPhone, and then go back to Settings > Messages to toggle iMessage back on. This can sometimes fix glitches in the iMessage system.

5. Reset All Settings: If none of the above solutions work, you can try resetting all settings on your iPhone. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. Note that this will reset all of your preferences and settings, but your data and apps will remain intact.

The issue may be Apple Message server side and I recommend that you contact 👉 Official Apple Support and get this corrected.

Axel F.

I am unable to use my apple text app, imessenger app, and any settings. Most other apps have been working but with delay/trouble. I've already done all the updating, hard resetting, and reinstalling. I don't have a VPN.

It has been several days with no communication--this isn't good for anyone.

We obviously rely too heavily on these apps ;)

I am sifting through 187 texts atm so, apparently, one of the things ended up working.

I don't know what ended up being "the thing" because I did all "the things".

I also signed out/back into iCloud----

Warning: this takes a long time and has left me with 100's of texts that have no contact information.

Just numbers.

Please, before changing anything with iCloud, make sure you have updated your cloud and just pay the ****** $2.99 for a month of extra storage to avoid losing things.

I would have paid a lot more to avoid this...

These are ALL people who have been saved into my phone contacts since iPhones were created by the heavens above.

Make it make sense.

Check for updates for everything in every way you can.

It was the last thing I did before checking if it worked.

Good luck, isolated comrades o7 /salute

This messages app is a total disaster. It keeps getting stuck on the phone (upon receiving each single message), force-quitting and restarting the app doesn't do anything, restarting the phone works, but shortly after it gets stuck again. Trying to access its settings via the settings app gets stuck as well. And the desktop app, also stuck, it doesn't even start.

Apple...!? this is a critical bug on a critical app and people are complaining about it for more than a year. Seriously?

Same thing is happening to both my & wife's phone. Seems to be even impacting our other Apple devices & other iCloud communications. I.e. can't FaceTime when iMessage is acting up. Happens for a day or two, then is ok (kind of), then starts happening again. Seems to be on different networks. Nothing really seems to help.

Same thing happening to my husband and me. I have done all the fixes and wiped my phone clean and reinstalled everything. Worked for a bit then back to same problems. It's been since mid-June. Had to start using WhatsApp to communicate. Is Apple working on this?

I am so frustrated by this glitch now. I have a 15 pro and iMessage works maybe once a day. It is also draining my battery like crazy. FaceTime doesn’t work well either. I can’t modify settings in the settings app. Please help.

The bigger funny part is apple wants me to use iMessage to talk about the problem in iMessage. 🙈

This happens constantly to my iPhone 12 iOS 16 & 17. It’s maddening.

Imessage is not working; have shut the phone down after toggling Imessage to off, and turned it back on, toggled back to on position, and it’s still not working! Iphone 11.

My message app keeps freezing after a couple of key strokes? I have rebooted etc.

Did you find any fixes for this? I have restarted and everything is up to date. I turned my VPN off and still no luck.