Since updating to Sonoma 14.1.1 I can no longer send text messages to Android phones from the Macbook Air.
On the iphone the Settings/ messages/ "Text Message Forwarding" isn't listed any more. Turning of and on iMessages does help.
What is wrong, I'm going around in circles trying to sort it out...
MacBook Air (M2, 2022)
I have tried setting it up since Yosemite, it still misses at least half of the texts I send. Only the iPhone shows all the texts I send and receive. And my iPad and Mac both miss out on a lot of them and when I try to send with them, I get a red can't send icon over half the time.
I have tried setting it up since Yosemite, it still misses at least half of the texts I send. Only the iPhone shows all the texts I send and receive. And my iPad and Mac both miss out on a lot of them and when I try to send with them, I get a red can't send icon over half the time.
Hi jimihendeix272,
Just to confirm, are you signed in with the same Apple ID for iMessage on both your iPhone and your Mac?
On your iPhone, check in Settings -> Messages. Make sure these settings are enabled:
On your Mac, open the Messages app, then at the top of the screen, choose Messages -> Settings. Check the Apple ID tab.
If both devices are signed in to the same Apple ID, try signing out of that Apple ID on both devices, then sign back in. This should cause the Text Message Forwarding option to appear on your iPhone in Settings -> Messages.
You might also need both devices to also be on the same Wi-Fi network and have Bluetooth enabled.
Apple's guidance regarding this can be found here: Forward SMS/MMS text messages from your iPhone to your Mac or iPad - Apple Support (CA)
Sign out of out of iMessage on your Mac (messages then setting then @imessage then sign out). Next, sign out of your Apple ID on your iphone. Wait a bit then sign back into both (I signed back into my iphone first then my Mac). Thereafter, I was able to send text messages from either device to an Android phone once again. Note that I am on macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 on my Mac and iOS 17.4.1 on my phone. Hope this helps.
a brody wrote:
Macs have never been able to send texts to Android phones. Only iPhones can.
Macs have been able to pull this off since OS X Yosemite using an iPhone as a bridge of sorts: Forward SMS/MMS text messages from your iPhone to your Mac or iPad - Apple Support (CA)
a brody wrote:
I have tried setting it up since Yosemite, it still misses at least half of the texts I send. Only the iPhone shows all the texts I send. And my iPad and Mac both miss out on a lot of them.
Strange. I wonder if Messages in iCloud would help resolve that. Otherwise, I'm guessing that the iPhone and Mac must be able to talk to each other on the same Wi-Fi network to properly perform forwarding whenever a new SMS message arrives on your iPhone.
If Messages in iCloud (at least with iMessage) are enabled, messages are stored in iCloud and then synchronized across your devices. If that setting is disabled instead, (in my experience) some devices could miss a message if they were offline and another one of my devices received it first. I'm thinking the same logic could apply to SMS message forwarding. If Messages in iCloud is enabled, would the iPhone upload its received SMS texts to iCloud so that the Mac could download them later, instead of relying on both devices to be online and connected at message receive time?
Unfortunately I don't have an Android phone to test with (for sending SMS messages), but it might be worth a shot.
Set up iCloud for Messages on all your devices - Apple Support (CA)
I did turn on the iCloud sync, and while it doesn't bring past texts into the Mac, the most current text I got from a service that has never texted me on my Mac before came through on my Mac. That's encouraging. It was a form of MFA. I have a buddy with an Android who I will be testing momentary when he gets access to his Android.
Yes I have tried to use that answer but where it says: "On your iPhone, go to Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding", there is no "Text Message Forwarding" to chose.
I think that's a problem with the new update.
Yes, both signed in..
It would appear the three way solution suggested by Apple does work.
I noticed my iPad though periodically gets disconnected from my Apple ID, and when that happens, it will not receive the messages. But the Mac is able to get all the messages now. I wasn't syncing with iCloud before the messages. So that appears to be needed for Android messages to get through.
I signed out of iCloud on Mac then signed back in. No joy.
I then tried to do the same on iPhone but hit a security feature requiring 1 hour wait before turning off Find my iPhone. While I was waiting I turned the iPhone off and on again (I think I had done before) and that seems to have fixed it! Lots more options listed now in "Send and receive" on the iPhone, text forwarding tab reappeared and it seems to send to Android again from my (quite new) MacBook Pro.
Lots of quirks since recent update and need to update iCloud password, but seems Ok for now.
Thank you all!
Macs have never been able to send texts to Android phones. Only iPhones can.
Yep they all have the same WiFi, iCloud, AppleID, and it doesn't matter. Messages simply don't appear on anything but iPhone.
Yes, logging out and in again on both iphone and Mac does the trick.
Many thanks.
Why?
switched to spectrum mobile... now macbook texts don't send to androids as it always had before.
finally got it to work. signed in 'new' (same) apple id on iphone.
Sending text messages from Macbook Air not working
