Can't sign into iMessage after updating to Sonoma

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Level 1

48 points

Can't sign into iMessage after updating to Sonoma

After updating to Sonoma I was signed out of iMessage on Mac (which is ridiculous, as all other iCloud services work properly, and for some reason only iMessage needed to re-sign in).

But the problems is that I can't — once I type in email/password, I get a spinner of 5-minutes long (the longest password check ever), with a 'useful' response after 'An unknown error occurred'

I've checked the password, it's correct, I log into iCloud with in on the web, so it's not a problem.

Any advice on how to get iMessage working back again on macOS Sonoma?

MacBook Pro 15″

Posted on Nov 16, 2023 8:37 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

artoix Author

Level 1

48 points

Nov 25, 2023 5:28 AM in response to artoix

It's so annoying. I managed to eventually log into iMessage after a couple of days(!), but now I get it again — what's the point!? I AM logged into iCloud with the same credentials on macOS, iMessage IS part of macOS, why on earth it requires separate log in. Why it takes 4 minutes(!!!) to check password with dumb spinner. And how anyone can release a product that responds "Unknown error" on login!? It's insane and soooo disappointing.

To me it seems as if Apple teams just kills product by product, one by one. What once was the whole seamless ecosystem working smoothly, now a disintegrated patchwork of products that can't even do basic things, such as login. Bummer.

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Answer 2

nesafarm

Level 1

10 points

Feb 5, 2024 8:19 AM in response to artoix

can't log into imessages - spinner doing its thing endlessly. Nothing happens, tried everything? New M3 Max here....

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Answer 3

Feb 5, 2024 2:15 PM in response to artoix

Same problem and with Facetime too. Does Apple give a **** any more?

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Answer 4

artoix Author

Level 1

48 points

Feb 19, 2024 12:02 AM in response to nesafarm

After several updates, with Sonoma 14.2.1 already, the issue is still there on my mac, which is supper annoying — one each reboot iMessages asks to log in.

I see here many people having the same issue.

One 'workaround' (kind of) that works for me — type in your email/phone and password, and when you get this infinite spinner that (kind of) checks your password for 5+ minutes (and most likely will return super helpful 'unknown error'), don't wait, just quit the iMessage and relaunch it. For me I usually get it working after such step. ... until next reboot :/

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Answer 5

Nov 16, 2023 1:13 PM in response to artoix

After updating to Sonoma I am being told I am logging into Apple with a new device and my iMessage is not working. This is ridiculous and basic....shows Apple are really failing in the QC of their releases.

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Answer 6

yodercan

Level 1

15 points

Feb 28, 2024 12:57 PM in response to artoix

Same. I've contacted Apple Support twice this past week but nothing has worked to this point. It's clearly an authentication-state issue.

For me, the issue presents once my computer (M1 Mac Studio running 14.3.1) awakes from sleeping. iMessage appears to log out, but cannot authenticate when prompted (An unknown error occurred). Note: I'm unable to actually log out of iMessage when accessing the settings; I'm logged out but not 🙃. Apple support had me boot into safe mode to logout of iMessage, restart my computer and log into iMessage. It took 3-4 days, but the issue reared its head again.

The only workaround is to log out/in of my user account or perform a reboot. So annoying!

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Answer 7

Jan 10, 2024 7:58 PM in response to artoix

Same thing. No fix as of yet

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Answer 8

artoix Author

Level 1

48 points

Nov 20, 2023 1:55 AM in response to Leaflover

Yeah, and most annoying that seemingly their stuff doesn't read these complaints and problems reports, and there's nowhere you can ask for help or fix :/

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Answer 9

Mar 22, 2024 8:28 AM in response to artoix

I totally signed out of iCloud thinking that would help - but NO!

I can't sign out of iMessage either????

I'm currently running Sonoma 14.3.1.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance

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Answer 10

Jan 27, 2024 3:06 AM in response to artoix

Initially after upgrading to Sonoma, iMessage worked fine but in the last couple of days I've had this "Unknown error occurred" message and it has stopped working, and no Apple support pages are of any use.

Apple please respond and fix.

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Answer 11

Feb 22, 2024 7:18 AM in response to artoix

Holy cow...that worked!! I have been searching for a workaround for this incredibly annoying issue and yours worked. Before, I could restart and sometimes it would automatically log me in but if I shut my laptop for an extended period of time it would log me out again.

Thanks!! Of course, I'm hoping Apple gets a permanent fix here.

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Answer 12

yodercan

Level 1

15 points

Mar 22, 2024 11:14 AM in response to yodercan

This may be completely coincidental, but my router was set to block traffic ingress/egress to certain countries (including China). I removed China from the firewall deny rules, and I've seen a marked improvement on the frequency of this issue.

For what it's worth, this also resolved a timeout issue when interfacing with remote Gitbub repositories - as GH appears to route through China from time to time. Maybe CDN caching?

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