Mac Messages app showing phone numbers not names

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!

I had the same problem. I had some names that would show on Mac and others that just show as numbers. I tried the recommendations on this chain but without success. Then I checked my iPhone, and turns out It was because I did not have all my contacts synced to iCloud on my iPhone. I must have turned it off at some point. I did the following on my iPhone which synced them right away on my Mac:

Go to Settings and then iCloud.

Under Apps using iCloud select Contacts, or Show All, if contacts is not one of the top ones that is displayed for you.

Once you see Contacts, make sure they are toggled to on (i.e., green).

That should do the trick.

@jpdemers, this is what I've found as well. Something just needs to sort of "wake it up" and have it refresh the contacts. Of course Apple should be doing this in the background automatically, but apparently something is off.

I've had *some* success in adding a country code. But sometimes the code is already there. If I remove the code, it never seems to help. But going into Message settings and accounts, and checking and unchecking various accounts seems to have been the ONE way I can consistently get everything back in order after it goes wonky.

Hi All. I had similar problem. This forum was helpful. But, I found that the cause of my problem was different. I use Microsoft 365 (Outlook) as primary place to manage Contacts. I had set up my iPhone to sync with Microsoft (thus contact names appeared in Messages on my iPhone). Some contact names were not, however, appearing in Messages on my Mac. I then found that I had to go into the Contacts app on the Mac itself and add my Microsoft account to Contacts app on the Mac. Once I did this, all my Contacts showed up in Mac Contacts and then they also showed up in Mac Messages.

One of my Macs is on Monterey, the only one I use for email through Google=gmail. I get Messages on all of my Apple devices.

Like someone else, I found the solution for names not appearing in Messages on this Monterey Mac has something to do with syncing Contacts through BOTH iCloud and Google. In Contacts->Accounts (which takes me to System Preferences->Internet Accounts) I clicked on Google, and UN-checked Contacts, Calendars, and Notes, leaving Mail checked. When I did that, Messages (which was open) immediately showed names instead of phone numbers. I closed Messages, reopened, and names were still showing. I quit all the programs System Settings, Mail, Contacts, and Messages, then reopened Messages -- Success!

I also looked at iCloud settings in Internet Accounts. Conspicuously UN-checked is Mail. Contacts is CHECKED in iCloud.

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!

I followed this tip of editing the contact. I had to click in the phone number and do something, anything to the phone number, and then the person's name would appear right after doing so as I was looking at it in iMessage. This needs to be fixed on Apple's end because I am not going to do this for every contact!

I couldn't solve this on my own by just looking at these things, but what worked for me (and may work or at least give lots of clarity on your SPECIFIC situation) was calling Apple Customer Service -- wow they are frickin professional! They solved my problem today, while answering another question with an unrelated issue that's been bothering me too! Just do it!

On your mac, go to settings-> tap on your profile-> icloud-> show more apps -> messages in icloud -> on

Also make sure contacts is turned on in both iphone and mac

The previous answer by ipak1234 worked. Disabling Google solved the problem. Thanks.

My contacts were already toggled on but not syncing properly, I just toggled contacts off and back on in iCloud sync and my MacBook contacts populated instantly ! Hope this helps someone !

Hi John,

Thank you for the update. At this point, we suggest you contact Apple Support so that they can look into this with you further.

They can be reached here: Apple Support

Take care.