Messages frozen and crashes on iOS 17.5.1

I took the suggestion I a few of you here shared and installed a beta update (so in theory whatever causes the problem is fixed in the new beta version). I didn't actually know how to do that, so again went to Support chat and they sent me here: Installing and using Apple beta software - Support - Apple Developer

I only did up to 17.6 and it seems to have solved the problem, though only for about 24 hours. That's happened before randomly, so I'm not positive it's actually a fix.

I think the intermittent nature of this Messages freezing thing is conditioning us all to think what we've done fixed it when it's actually just random and then the problem returns -- so we'll see!

Update!

I noticed that many here are having multiple devices, just like me. So I did the following:

1. force quit all apps on both devices.
2. turn off both devices
3. turn on only one device

immediately received a bunch of notifications and able to read messages.

let me know if this works for you too - and also if anyone experiences this without having multiple devices (even on Mac)

update again 5 minutes later… back to square one. Crashes with only one device started. Getting sick of this.

I have a potential fix. Check your time and date settings.

General>Date & Time> Set Time Zone Automatically

Mine was changed from my normal location to Beijing.

Here are the steps I preformed:

1. Disabled set automatically.
2. Changed it to the proper Timezone.
3. Re-enabled set automatically.

After about two minutes, I received every text I have missed over the last four days.

I hope this helps someone.

Hello,

I might have a solution.

This happened to me before I enrolled into the iOS beta testing programme.

I’m not trying to convince you to enrol yourself, but all you need to do is…

1. Go into your settings app
2. Go into your Apple ID settings
3. Find your iCloud
4. Tap ‘iCloud Backup’
5. Tap ‘[your name]’s iPhone
6. Check that Messages is switched on.
7. If it is, go back
8. Tap ‘Back Up Now’
9. After your back up has been completed, uninstall and reinstall messages.

I am seeing this same behavior as well.

Same issue with iPhone 14 Pro Max!

It freeze again

Y y phone just frozen I can’t reset try deferred kind of reset it’s not working

Sign out of your Apple ID on your device and sign back in. This resolved the issue for me on my iPhone 11.

Also experiencing this issue.

Confirming that Messages works fine on my Mac with Sonoma 14.5, which is now the only way I can access them because it is crashing on both iPhone and iPad.

My wife and I have this issue. It was fine for a few days after a restore but came back on my phone. Not sure about hers. She has an iPhone 11 (SIM card) and I’m using an iPhone 14 Pro (eSIM).

Nope, I have a couple of phones in the family that have stolen device protection disabled. Still the same freezes occur on iMessages.

Well that worked for about two hours, now we’re back in message jail. iOS gag order 17.5.1.