nomenclature

Q: imessage conversations out of order?

for some reason when imessage conversations sync between my 4S and my macbook, on the macbook everything is out of order. replies to me from days ago show as the newest, my more recent replies are somewhere in the middle of the conversation, and even then newest messages are above previous messages. then if I reply on the macbook, everything looks good until I close out of messages and go back in, replies on the macbook are then shoved randomly into an earlier part of the convo.

 

what's the deal? is there a way to sort it properly that I'm missing>

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), ios6, 4S

Posted on Oct 8, 2012 1:03 AM

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Q: imessage conversations out of order?

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  • by pcbene,

    pcbene pcbene May 7, 2013 7:07 AM in response to nomenclature
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 7, 2013 7:07 AM in response to nomenclature

    Issue for everyone, and it couldn't be more annoying. I can't figure out what is going on in my messages...

     

    Screen Shot 2013-05-07 at 10.05.13 AM.png

  • by RBSupport,

    RBSupport RBSupport May 10, 2013 7:53 AM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 10, 2013 7:53 AM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie

    @ibrennan.  ibrennan, I hate to sound harsh, but surely you jest.  You switched 300 Macs to PCs in your office because of the Messages app not displaying dates correctly?  That is honestly about the strangest thing I've ever heard.  If you had switched because you use some proprietary Windows software that doesn't run on Mac OS, that makes sense.  Had you swithced because you didn't like any of the Apple software, or your word demanded Outlook for Windows, that makes sense.  Had you swithced because everyone in your office was using Windows smartphones, that would make sense (but we both know that's not true).  But you switched your ENTIRE line of computers because (as Andrew rightly pointed out) of a seriously MINOR application, which very few people use on a regular basis anyway (so far it's just been geeks like us who use it regularly, the average user doens't even know what it is), knowing full well that Apple will almost undoubtedbly fix it in a software update soon...seriously?  I sort of have to believe you are lying (though I hate to ever accuse someone of lying).  There either must have been other major reasons you swithced, or you are not what you purport. 

     

    Now, FYI, I own and run a tech support company in NYC, and we service hundreds of individuals and small businesses.  Most of our clients are Mac users, but many are PC users, so we know both sides.  We have no stake in the game.  We support Mac and PC lovers.

     

    I truly do not mean to be attacking of you, or insulting.  It just seems odd that you spent certainly hundreds of thousands of dollars because of the time stamp issue in Messages. 

  • by Andrew Mcvinnie,

    Andrew Mcvinnie Andrew Mcvinnie May 24, 2013 2:30 PM in response to nomenclature
    Level 1 (37 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 24, 2013 2:30 PM in response to nomenclature

    The other day, I was sitting at my Mac as it was booting up. One app that launched as the desktop came up was Messages, because I had been texting on my phone all day and I had unread messages. Oddly enough, when Messages opened, I actually saw all the "text bubbles" of the conversations magically rearrange thems into the correct the order. Now, everything seems to be working and in the corrected order as one would expect.

     

    This may be just a fluke for me, IDK. Perhaps they changed something server-side?

     

    The only thing that I have updated since my last post was iTunes. Everything else has been fully updated, so I do not think I did anything on my side to make this suddenly work.

     

    If you are still having the issue, and my experience is ust a fluke for me, I am sorry. I just thought I post what I saw.

     

    Edit: After posting this, I decided to check on my MacBook Air, since it also syncs with icloud, but I rarely use it for Messages. It is still out of order... So IDK what to say about this odd bug.

  • by Andrew Mcvinnie,

    Andrew Mcvinnie Andrew Mcvinnie May 24, 2013 2:43 PM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie
    Level 1 (37 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 24, 2013 2:43 PM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie

    Sorry for additional posting, but that last one made me mess with some things. Here is what I found:

     

    On my MacBook Air, where the messages were still out of order, I compared the account settings (in Messages > Preferences > Accounts) to my main computer as well as my iPhone.

     

    All three machines had my 4 addresses (@mac.com @me.com @icloud and @phonenumber). The iphone is set to "Start new conversation from" using the @mac.com (which is my main address that I use). My Mac Pro was set to use the phone number. And, my Macbok Air was set to @mac.com.

     

    My first instinct was to set them all to use @mac, but first, just to see what would hapen, I set my MBA to match my MP and use the @phone number. I left the iphone alone, still set to @mac. Then I quit Messages on the MBA and reopened it. TADA! The same thing happened that I previously saw on the MP. The messages quickly reordered and now everything looks right. Even missing texts that had never been there are now there and in the right order.

     

    Not sure if this info will help any of you, but seems to have fixed the issue for me. Obviously, this is still a bug as it should not matter what the setting is set to, Messages should be able to put things in chronological order regardless.

  • by Marc Mueller,

    Marc Mueller Marc Mueller May 26, 2013 6:05 AM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2013 6:05 AM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie

    Great Tip. This solved the Problem on my Macs!

    Thanks.

  • by Eric D.,

    Eric D. Eric D. May 26, 2013 3:16 PM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie
    Level 2 (189 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 26, 2013 3:16 PM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie

    I'm glad it appeared to solve the problem for you but my guess is it's only temporary.  I have all of my devices set to start conversations with my phone number and on my Mac's, the messages are constantly out of order.  Just to be clear, we're talking about the actual messages being out of order, not the converstations (in other words, the right window, not the left).  There had been problems in the past where the conversations themselves were out of order but that seems to have been fixed.  Now it's the individual messages that are the issue but only on Macs, not on the iDevices themselves.

  • by ygohome,

    ygohome ygohome May 27, 2013 7:30 AM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 27, 2013 7:30 AM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie

    Yeah, CLOSEing and RELAUNCHing "Messages" on a Mac almost always forces it to resync the messages properly.  But it is only temporary and the next time you post messages to an iOS device while the Mac's "Messages" is closed, they will all be out of sync again... until you CLOSE and RELAUNCH "messages" again on the Mac.

     

     

    Nothing new really, that has been the only workaround if you want to force "Messages" on the Mac to display in the correct order.  But it is only temporary.

  • by Andrew Mcvinnie,

    Andrew Mcvinnie Andrew Mcvinnie May 27, 2013 7:44 AM in response to ygohome
    Level 1 (37 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 27, 2013 7:44 AM in response to ygohome

    Since making the changes I noted earlier, my MacBook Air, Mac Pro, and all iOS devices have remained in sync and the messages have been in correct chronological order.

  • by Andrew Mcvinnie,

    Andrew Mcvinnie Andrew Mcvinnie May 27, 2013 7:46 AM in response to Eric D.
    Level 1 (37 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 27, 2013 7:46 AM in response to Eric D.

    Not sure if it matters, but for me, I did NOT put all devices uses my phone number. ONLY MY MACS. My iOS devices start conversations using main Apple ID (which happens to be my icloud ID as well).

     

    Since putting computers on phone numbers and iOS devices on iCloud (Start Messages from...) all my messages are correct chronogical order.

  • by ygohome,

    ygohome ygohome May 27, 2013 8:13 AM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 27, 2013 8:13 AM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie

    I only have one apple ID and I don't have an iPhone (so no phone number is registered with Messages).  I only have a single Macbook Pro and a single iPad2.

     

    If I'm on my iPad and I send a few messages while my Macbook's Messages is closed, the next time I open Messages on my Mac the message sequence is jumbled.

     

    It is good that you got it working though.  It means that there is hope.  But I have no idea why it is working on yours, unless you keep Messages open on your Mac all the time?

     

    Thanks

  • by Eric D.,

    Eric D. Eric D. May 27, 2013 8:13 AM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie
    Level 2 (189 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 27, 2013 8:13 AM in response to Andrew Mcvinnie

    Ok...having the phone number on your Macs and Apple ID on your iDevices apparently is a workaround for you but that won't work for me.  I've found that messaging people using my Apple ID confuses people.  And since sometimes sending messages from my iPhone results in an SMS being sent, not an iMessage, it gets really confusing for the receipient when messages come from two different addresses (phone number for SMS and iMessage from Apple ID).  When Apple made a change a while back to allow non-iPhones to also use a phone number, it greatly simplified all that.  I wouldn't want to go back to using the Apple ID for messages.

  • by ygohome,

    ygohome ygohome May 27, 2013 8:16 AM in response to ygohome
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 27, 2013 8:16 AM in response to ygohome

    oh wait, you said you are using your iPhone's number on your Mac and iCloud messages on your iOS... and it is working for you?  Maybe I need to switch to an iPhone?  Sounds like that is the key.  But I don't see me doing that as I'm addicted to my Samsung

  • by cjdshaw,

    cjdshaw cjdshaw Jun 6, 2013 2:29 AM in response to nomenclature
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 6, 2013 2:29 AM in response to nomenclature

    I've tried every combination of enabling and disabling emails and phone numbers, and installed 10.8.4 which was supposed to fix it. They're still out of order for me. This is really pathetic

  • by Pasko79,

    Pasko79 Pasko79 Jun 6, 2013 2:57 AM in response to cjdshaw
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 6, 2013 2:57 AM in response to cjdshaw

    Its fixed it for me. But I understand that the update will fix only FUTURE messages. The old garbled messeges will not be reordered.

  • by cjdshaw,

    cjdshaw cjdshaw Jun 6, 2013 3:45 AM in response to Pasko79
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 6, 2013 3:45 AM in response to Pasko79

    I hoped that, but this morning my new messages were all out of order

    Screen Shot 2013-06-06 at 11.43.25.png

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