mac/macbook messages showing phantom "unread" counts on badge

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Level 1

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mac/macbook messages showing phantom "unread" counts on badge

I don't use my mac computers everyday, but when I wake one up/turn one on the imessages are always out of sync.

The messages themselves are all accounted for, but the computers will show a high number of "unread" messages in the badge—I imagine the number of threads that were active since the last time I used the computer.

However there are no unread threads on my computer. If I right click on the dock icon, there's no shortcut for the supposed unread threads. And I dont have a "View Unread" option under View.

What I've tried:

turning iMessage off and then back on, on both my iPhone and computers
signing out of my iCloud account on my computer iMessages
restarting my computer and iPhone.
updating my macbook (macOS Monterey 12.7.1 - its an old laptop and can't update past Monterey)
checking for updates on my iPhone (iOS 17.2)

This is has been an issue throughout multiple system updates and I've yet to find a lasting solution.

iMac 27″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Nov 6, 2023 2:19 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,773 points

Nov 6, 2023 7:40 PM in response to starryfoot

Hi there...

Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at startup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode? Could take 10 minutes.

Safe mode attempts to repair Disks & clears lots of caches & loads safe Drivers, & prevents loading of 3rd party extensions, so if Safe Mode works try again in regular boot.

Manually Rebuilding Spotlight via Terminal

If the aforementioned Spotlight control panel approach doesn’t spur a reindexation of the drive, you may need to initiate it manually through the command line. Open Terminal and use the following command string to do so:

sudo mdutil -E /

This basically asks for temporary super user status, which is why Terminal may ask you for your password (it may not if you’ve used a sudo command recently or are already logged in as a super user or root. The command asks the unix tool mdutil to reindex the spotlight database for everything on the computer, including external drives, mounted disk images, etc. To re-index only for a specific drive, use the /Volumes path. For example, for an external drive named “MiniMe,” the command would look like this:

sudo mdutil -i on /

Rebuilding a drive index can take a long time, so be prepared to wait whether you do it through the System Preference panel or the command line.

If still need be…

Open Terminal and run each of these one at a time

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

sudo /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -seed -lint -r -f -v -dump -domain local -domain system -domain user -domain network

killall Dock

sudo mdutil -E /

sudo mdutil -i on /

Rebuilding a drive index can take a long time, so be prepared to wait whether you do it through the System Preference panel or the command line.

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mac/macbook messages showing phantom "unread" counts on badge

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