Messages app not loading/opening on Sonoma 14.5

***** SOLVED *****

To recap ...

I erased my SSD and reinstalled MacOS to resolve an issue with file sharing. After that, Messages would not launch.

I spent hours on the phone with Apple tech support - they were very obliging, but had no idea what was causing this problem.

I did all the usual troubleshooting steps - rebooting, safe mode, reinstalling the OS again, running Disk First Aid, resetting permissions - nothing helped.

I knew that the Message service was OK because it worked fine on my other devices - and I knew my Mac and the Messages app were OK because Messages worked fine on a newly created 'test' user account.

It had to be something in my Home folder.

Then I realised that my freshly re-installed MacOS was missing Microsoft's Calibri font. I reinstalled that, then Messages instantly started working again !!

This explains everything !!

I'd previously set the Text Size in Messages/Settings/General to Calibri 14pt, and this was embedded in the Messages preferences in my Home folder - which explains why Messages (which defaults to the System font) worked for the 'test' user, but not for my User account.

Apparently, Messages looks for the specified font - if it can't be found, then it just gives up.

Unfortunately, this makes it impossible to trouble-shoot - or to fix easily - because if Messages won't launch, you can't edit the font settings.

So - that explains the cause.

The solution now is for Apple to explain how to reset the font settings for the Messages app when the app can't be launched.

I hope that helps :)

I was having this problem as well. This morning, I started to perform a reinstall of the OS but decided to see if there might be a problem with the disk. I started in Recovery mode on a MacBook Air M1 and ran the Disk Utility First Aid on each section of the Macintosh HD. Upon reboot, Messages started working correctly and even missing conversations appeared. I cannot explain other than maybe something in the disk hierarchy was at fault.

I made a reply earlier stating that running a disk repair appeared to have corrected the problem, but it did not. There was a delay from Messages continuing later in the day. And, as someone else pointed out, FaceTime would not connect; at least, that was happening to me.

What I did is the thing we all hate to do; I wiped the disk and let Sonoma reload. Of course, I have documents and personal items backed up in house and on iCloud, so there was no problem retrieving that data. What I did not want was to restore from a backup just to be back to where I started, with Messages and FaceTime not working properly. While I have not specifically tested FaceTime yet, the format and reload did fix the Messages problem. A message now from any of my Apple products (iPad, iPhone, iMac, and MacBook Air) now appears in all formats almost instantly.

So what was the problem? Something added to the system apparently did not like the recent update. I cannot tell what that is for now, but I will be adding programs back onto the MacBook Air (with M1). If suddenly Messages quits working again after a program is loaded, I will know and report back.

That didn't work for me. I have had this happen twice. I had to disable messages in the cloud on all 3 devices and then log out of iCloud. It was challenging disabling it in MacOS as it would freeze up there as well. Finally was able to disable it after many attempts. Logging back in seems to allow messages to launch again. This time I only reenabled messages in the cloud only on my iOS devices. Messages in the cloud seem to be the culprit here, especially on MacOS. Frustrating.

I was having the same problem and ran Disk First Aid on my Macintosh HD, then Messages loaded instantly.

Hi OriginalStevenh

I've done a lot of testing on this and am 99.99% certain this issue is caused by a missing font.

It isn't necessarily a missing Microsoft font - it could be any font - it's just that the Messages app cant find the default font specified in the app's settings.

Creating a test user sets the default font *for that user* to the system font - thats why the test user always works.

Gary

For me this problem went away after upgrading to Sonoma 14.6.1.

Reinstall macOS. It’s the only solution.

please try this solution i posted. it worked for me, i'd be very curious to see if this helps someone else - Messages won't open on Macbook - Solution… - Apple Community

Hi Texas_Man_Luvs_His_mac

I am 99.9% certain this issue is caused by the Messages app not being able to find the default font.

Try installing all the usual fonts, including the MS font set - including the Calibri font.

Didge

try this solution i posted. worked well for me. there are a lot of other workarounds such as this that i have to use with Logic and 3rd party software and other apps like Plugsearch that mess with the inner workings of the operating system, control the computer's operations, run in the background, etc..... just saying it supports my theory that Messages needs to be accessed differently sometimes. link ->

Messages won't open on Macbook - Solution… - Apple Community

Same here after reinstalling Sonoma 14.5 on an M1 Mac Studio.

Messages seem to come in - at least they appear in Notifications - but the Messages app will not launch.

Messages seem to sync OK in Settings/iCloud/Apps Using iCloud/Messages.

Messages still works OK on other machines - iMac, iPad, iPhone etc - so the service is fine.

When I try to launch Messages, the active app 'dot' appears beneath the Messages icon in the dock for a few seconds, then goes away - sometimes I get a crash report.

Same issue when booting in Safe Mode.

Had this problem for a while. ignored it but then when I needed it the most it was very frustrating. I don't have any Microsoft products so this is nothing to do with a font issue. reinstall macOS was not helpful. I have continued to go into safe boot and back and multiple restarts. same issue. Of course the problem is resolved on a test user because it's opening all new lines of code. I don't want to move data from one account to the next thats a band-aid fix that doesn't guarantee the issue is resolved.

One thing I have not heard about is FaceTime. I'm getting the same issue with FaceTime as I am with messages.

2019 MBP 15" Sonoma 14.5

This suddenly started happening with my Macbook Pro, 14in M3 Pro on 7/10/24. I had been working remotely last week and using my Macbook a ton, and had no issues. All of the sudden Messages won't open. I've tried so far:

1. Repairing the disk via disk utility
2. Deleting the plist files in the Library/Messages directory.

I use a Mac Studio in my home office, and Messages is working just fine on 14.5. Extremely weird and frustrating.

[Edited by Moderator]

Really? Removing mention of using a MacOS beta is against the rules?? I am taking advantage of the options available to ME by Apple. I'm not running Linux on my mac or anything.

For me, I restarted my MAC Studio MAX 2 twice, re entered my PW three times and have not had the problem again. I had read that some Studio MAX 2 chips had been reported as being buggy. To be sure I also made certain my MMS messages on iPhone were forwarded to my Studio. I then ran tests on all devices with iMessage. Hope this gets resolved for all. It's so frustrating. Now hoping 14.6 helps with a few other issues. So far the Studio Max 2 has been a race horse. Fingers crossed 14.6 is solid. Good luck to all.