Mac Messages app showing phone numbers not names

Hi John,

I had a similar problem and found somewhat of a solution. If you haven't already resolved your issue, give this a try:

On Macbook: contacts → settings → accounts → with iMessage open, toggle "enable this account" for each active account (watch your messages app to see if contact names reappear).

In my case, disabling my google account made my contact names and photos reappear. I noticed for all the contacts that were unknown when my google account was enabled, each contact card included the person's email. Having their email in their iMessage contact was unnecessary for my use, so I simply removed their emails from their contact, reenabled my google account, and the issue was still resolved.

My apologies if this is not useful for your purposes; good luck!

I solved the same issue. After reading some replies above, it did occur to me that on my iPhone, I sync all of my contact info from Google. I have used Google as my back up long before iCloud. Therefore on my mac mini or macbook, Open contacts -> Add account - > add google account. As soon as i did this, all of the names /pics/contact info synced on all of my iMessage's and will now be in your Contact app as well. Good Luck!

If contacts are not synced through iCloud, in internet accounts, is contacts on for the account your contacts are connected through? If yes, toggle contacts on/off to see if that brings the names back. Also make sure it’s not asking you for a password for third party accounts. Sometimes a third party account needs you to verify by adding the password when you update.

I deleted my Google account due to multiplied calendar alerts. That caused the names to disappear. Reconnecting that Google account and rebooting made the names reappear.

That tip was very helpful. I found CONTACTS in the iCloud tab of settings. Clicked box next to CONTACTS and in a few seconds all of the numbers in my text history turned to their contact names before my eyes. Thanks for the help Ipack1234!

I've had the same problem crop up at random intervals. Adding the country code (+1 for the US, +44 for UK, etc.) supposedly helps, but I think the act of editing the phone number in the Contacts data is all that's really required - no actual change to the number is needed. I can just click "Edit" in Contacts, click within the number, as if intending to modify it, then click "Done". The contact's name shows up immediately in Messages.

Actually for me the country code was the problem. In my contacts i've input the starting code as 0 (09xxxxxxxxx) and in few instances there was no country code (9xxxxxxxxx). I changed every contact number with the apt country code, I've few Indian contacts which start with the country code 91 -> (+91 9xxxxxxxxx). It worked for me.. might work for you guys...

Thanks

I had this exact issue too which is what led me to this post. I just got the new MacBook and have never had this issue before. I followed all the recommended steps and nothing worked. I tried editing the contacts and adding the number to contacts that already existed, it worked but would revert again to "maybe" and then the number or just the number of the contact.

I noticed certain numbers were fine though- especially the non-phone users. What actually fixed it for me was changing iPhone users from having a "mobile" number to an "iPhone" number on their contact card. Sort of annoyed by that but it fixed it. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the tip, John. Odly enough, I had my google account disabled while this problem showed up for me. I enabled the google account, and that suddenly fixed it. I then disabled the account again, and everything remained correct. Apparently, just some change needs to be made to wake it up. I need to jot this down for next time!

Yes, something close to this worked for me too on the MacBook! Once all accounts (including email/gmail) are synced and enabled, most contacts were still only showing phone numbers on the MacBook. So I right-clicked one of the phone numbers in the 'To' section and clicked 'Add to Contacts'. Then I typed in the exact same contact info for the person's name that was in my phone and clicked 'Create'. This conflict (person already exists in the directory) prompted some sort of directory refresh and ALL of the phone numbers on the MacBook got updated to people's names! :D

I had a similar issue where both my iCloud and Google accounts were enabled under Contacts > Settings > Accounts, but the solution for me was:

1. Uncheck "Enable this account" on both the Gmail and iCloud accounts
2. Quit out of Contacts
3. Quit out of Messages
4. Re-open Contacts
5. Go to Contacts > Settings > Accounts
6. Check "Enable this account" on the Gmail account
7. Close out of Contacts
8. Re-open Contacts

Now I can see all my contacts and Messages shows their names as well!

Thank you for this!! I know it has been a year and a half since your answer, but I also know people are so often running into similar problems and hopefully they see that 1.5 years later, someone else is still trying to figure it out and they can see that the answer may still help them.

I did what you said and thought "well, let's see if maybe my contacts are somehow connected to Google?" and it worked, I added my Google account following your steps and within a minute or so, the contacts on my Mac started populating the same as it is on my iPhone/iPad.

So, even though I think that I am adding new contacts onto my iPhone, I guess my entries must actually be syncing or adding to Google, and then Google is what is populating my iPhone contacts. So my next question/topic of study is, to figure out how to stop that Google sync and just get it to go to my iCloud account.

After many months of frustration this worked for me. Contacts in Sync with

iCloud on the Mac was already on - but toggling off then back on again sorted it out instantly. Thx!

Hello John,

Thanks for that info and for choosing the Apple Support Communities. If we understand correctly, you are unable to see contact names in the Messages app on your Mac, as it only shows a phone number. You mentioned that you don't use iCloud for syncing contacts, so let's make sure whatever account you use for contacts is added to your Mac:

"Add a new account

1. In the Contacts app  on your Mac, choose Contacts > Add Account.

2. Select an account type or, if you don’t see your account type, select Other Contacts Account, then click Continue.

3.

4. Enter your account information.

5. Make sure the Contacts checkbox is selected for the account.

Add an account you already use on your Mac

1. In the Contacts app  on your Mac, choose Contacts > Accounts to open Internet Accounts settings.

2. Select the account you want to use on the left, then select the Contacts checkbox on the right.

Choose your default contacts account

If you use more than one account in Contacts, new contacts are added to the default account. You can choose the default account.

1. In the Contacts app  on your Mac, choose Contacts > Settings, then click General.

2. Click the Default Account pop-up menu (shown only if you use more than one account), then choose an account."

And that info is from here: Add contacts from iCloud, Google, and more to Contacts on Mac - Apple Support

Next, use safe mode to start up your Mac as it does the following things:

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed
• Loads only required kernel extensions
• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically
• Disables user-installed fonts
• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

Log in to your user account and test the issue while in safe mode and then restart normally and test the issue again.

Use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

If you are still having this issue, please contact Apple directly to investigate further: Apple Support

Cheers!