Ben401

Q: iMessage syncing slow?

I can't tell if this is just a problem with me, or if this is fairly common, so any input is appreciated:

 

I have an iMac, iPhone and iPad. Theoretically, iMessages should instantly sync between all three devices. However, in practice, the sync between devices is (usually) quite slow. Messages will often come through to the iPhone first, then take up to fifteen minutes to sync to the other two devices. This greatly undermines the practical utility of the service.

 

Additionally, the Messages app on my Mac routinely gets the order of sync'd messages wrong (it'll show messages out of chronological order)... the only way to fix this is to reboot the application.

 

Does anyone else have issues with slow sync and/or out of order messages? I've tried deleting conversations and signing in/out of iMessage on various devices to correct the issue, but it never works... it makes me think it's something wrong on the Apple server end...

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Sep 23, 2012 5:11 PM

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Q: iMessage syncing slow?

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  • by Dylan Drazen,

    Dylan Drazen Dylan Drazen Apr 22, 2014 4:41 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Apr 22, 2014 4:41 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Very interesting, thank you for that information.

     

    The support document details which ports need to be opened, but what's the best way to actually test these ports? I could go ahead and forward those ports from my Comcast router, but Comcast could be blocking or throttling those ports behind my router.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Apr 23, 2014 12:22 PM in response to Dylan Drazen
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Apr 23, 2014 12:22 PM in response to Dylan Drazen

    Hi,

     

    The Apple App, Network Utility, can do some of the things.

     

    This Site can tell you  (And a friend) the Public IPs you have. http://www.whatsmyip.org/

    Then you can Ping each other as a first step.

    This, if they allow responses to Pings, (which they need to with iChat or Messages) does give you times in milliseconds

     

    Then you can use the Port Scan option to test the ports between you to see if they are working properly.

    This takes some time in some cases, somewhat based on the distance the person or Server is away from you.

    However whilst it does not report the time in a figure you may get an impression of what it actually is.

     

    The Port Scan can only do TCP.

    IPNetMonitorX can do UDP ports.  It can be downloaded and will work as a trial for a period.

     

    As Messages can use AIM, Jabber and Yahoo as well as iMessages plus the fact the AIM and Jabber ones can do Video chats  it can be best to use UPnP in the router to open the ports.

     

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:22 pm      Wednesday; April 23, 2014

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Dylan Drazen,

    Dylan Drazen Dylan Drazen Apr 24, 2014 4:03 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Apr 24, 2014 4:03 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Thank you very much for all this info. I'm going to test everything when I get a chance if the problem persists, and report any useful findings.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Apr 24, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Dylan Drazen
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Apr 24, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Dylan Drazen

    Understood.

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    7:33 pm      Thursday; April 24, 2014

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Nathan McKaskle,

    Nathan McKaskle Nathan McKaskle Oct 1, 2014 11:30 AM in response to Ben401
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apple Watch
    Oct 1, 2014 11:30 AM in response to Ben401

    I'm having the exact same problem. I either have to respond on my phone or otherwise wait till it finally appears on my iMac 15 mins to an hour later.  This is upsetting and it all started with Maverick.

     

    Since this thread was started in 2012, I expect that this will never, ever be fixed.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Oct 1, 2014 12:20 PM in response to Nathan McKaskle
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Oct 1, 2014 12:20 PM in response to Nathan McKaskle

    Hi,

     

    Yep, this thread is two years old and the issue from back then  was fixed in the OS X 10.8.2 updated that Updated Messages to version 7.0.1 which in turn required the Mac serial Number to be present on the Mother/logic board.

     

    This Serial Number  was used to create an Auth Token  (IDS:Apple ID-Auth Token) in the Keychain that verified the proper login.

     

    Also during this time the Push notifications have been changed at the server end.

     

    You also claim to be using Mavericks where is significantly less reporting of this.

     

    The Push protocols to the iPhones is slightly different to the Mac one which is why there can appear to be a split.

    This can then appear to be exaggerated if they are not actually using the same network at the time - an iPhone might not be on the same Wifi Network as the Mac and still using the Phone Carrier's signal.

     

    I was away recently in France and used a Hotel's free Wifi.

    If I didn't keep On line in an active fashion I would get dropped by their server and there would be no notification so iMessages would appear on my iPhone and not on my Mac until I signed in again.

     

    Other issues can centre around Daylight Saving time and Location settings.

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:20 pm      Wednesday; October 1, 2014

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Nathan McKaskle,

    Nathan McKaskle Nathan McKaskle Oct 1, 2014 12:51 PM in response to Ben401
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apple Watch
    Oct 1, 2014 12:51 PM in response to Ben401

    Yeah I'm on Mavericks 10.9.4 on a 2013 iMac. This is incredibly frustrating and actually began with Mavericks. The iPhone and iMac are sharing the exact same WiFi on my home network.  I've been waiting for a fix, is it not going to be fixed?

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Oct 1, 2014 1:06 PM in response to Nathan McKaskle
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Oct 1, 2014 1:06 PM in response to Nathan McKaskle

    Hi,

     

    Mavericks is at OS 10.9.5 at the moment and that came out not too long ago.

     

    Most OS Upgrade in recent times have been released in the "fall" as most Americans call it with slight variances between September and October being the actual month.

    A Current search reveals http://www.apple.com/search/?section=global&geo=us&q=yosemite

     

    Whilst there has been updates to the "outgoing" OS version after the release of an new version these are rare.

     

    After iChat 2.1 which added Video each upgrade to iChat (then Messages) has been at the OS Upgrade.

    However at Mavericks Apple stopped numbering sub increments in Messages  (you can only tell by the Build number in error logs) it is listed as Messages 8 throughout.

     

    It will not be clear until the release of Yosemite whether Messages will get an update.

     

    As to Apple's plans, very few will be privileged to know and they will not be telling.  It will be impossible to say if there will be more updates to Mavericks.

    Since the ichat 2.1 one update there has only ever been one Standalone update for iChat and that was at the Start of OS X 10.4 and iChat 3 with the iChat 3.0.1 update.

     

     

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    9:06 pm      Wednesday; October 1, 2014

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by niqu,

    niqu niqu Oct 13, 2014 2:18 PM in response to Ben401
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 13, 2014 2:18 PM in response to Ben401

    I still have the same issue and it hasn't changed a bit with the last major and minor updates to OS X and iOS. Let's hope Yosemite will do something about it. After all they advertise this new continuity feature.

  • by richrodny,

    richrodny richrodny Nov 17, 2014 11:12 AM in response to Ben401
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 17, 2014 11:12 AM in response to Ben401

    I am on OS X Yosemite 10.10 and iOS 8.1.1 and this is still an issue.. sometimes I don't get the messages on my MAC for hours and I'm on the same network with both devices. Prior to Yosemite I was on Maverick several months ago when I purchased the MACbook Pro and if I sent out a message on either device it almost instantaneously appeared on the other device. Come on Apple, get with the program! I left Windows and Android for this?

  • by Nathan McKaskle,

    Nathan McKaskle Nathan McKaskle Nov 17, 2014 11:15 AM in response to richrodny
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apple Watch
    Nov 17, 2014 11:15 AM in response to richrodny

    This was completely fixed for me finally in Yosemite. However when I first set up Yosemite and enabled the synchronization, it passed texts over from Android users as well and I was able to text Android users from iMessages, then that stopped working. Not sure why it stopped.

  • by Drumwiz,

    Drumwiz Drumwiz Dec 21, 2014 10:37 AM in response to Nathan McKaskle
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 21, 2014 10:37 AM in response to Nathan McKaskle

    I've always had this problem since the introduction of iMessage on OS X. Now I'm in Yosemite, still have this issue every day. iMessages always out of sync, out of order, slow to update, so annoying. False advertising, Apple.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Dec 21, 2014 12:26 PM in response to Drumwiz
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Dec 21, 2014 12:26 PM in response to Drumwiz

    Hi,

     

    I have seen delays in iMessages appearing on the Mac in the early days.

    I do not see it now.  There are differences about how the iMessages arrive at the Mac, the iPad and the iPhone I have linked via iMessages.

     

    Try a PRAM/NVRAM rest.

    Start up the computer holding down the CMD+ALT+P+R keys until you have heard three Start up "Bongs" the allow the Start up to finish normally.

     

     

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:26 pm      Sunday; December 21, 2014

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Dylan Drazen,

    Dylan Drazen Dylan Drazen Jul 22, 2015 1:22 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Jul 22, 2015 1:22 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Hey all, I'm back. I moved away since my last post and as expected this problem went away. The building I moved to last year didn't have Comcast. As I had originally suspected, the problem probably has something to do with the combination between Messages and Comcast.

     

    I've now moved again to a building that does have Comcast and the problem has returned! My suspicion has basically been confirmed. This is a Comcast thing. And my internet connection is stellar besides this problem. I'm not sure who to blame here. But I'm saddened to see others with the same issue and that nothing has been resolved. Is anyone else who is experiencing this problem not on Comcast?

     

    FYI, I didn't upgrade to Yosemite yet. I'm using Mac OS 10.9.5 and Messages 8.0 (4226). My Mac is connected directly to my Airport Extreme via Ethernet and wifi is turned off. The Airport Extreme is connected to my xfinity router. Messages pushes to my iPhone (same network) with no problem. My Mac is syncing anywhere from immediately to 15-20 minutes later.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Jul 22, 2015 1:35 PM in response to Dylan Drazen
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Jul 22, 2015 1:35 PM in response to Dylan Drazen

    Hi,

     

    Try turning off IPv6 in the router and in Network on the Mac.

     

    It seems it is either ISPs doing something that is restricting Messages and/or iChat  (previously some blocked the standard SIP ports (5060-5063) and then tried to ask money form them to be opened without telling people they were effectively changing the Contract).

     

    The other likelihood is something has changed to the backbone services such as a major player starting to use IPv6.

    As this is one of the few things you can control I suggest changing your settings on this.

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    9:35 p.m.      Wednesday; July 22, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
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