Imessage on Mac does not sync my Iphone contacts

Hi,

Go to www.icloud.com and login.

Select the Contacts app

On your iPhone change a Contact or add one in a specific space that you can be looking at on the Web version.

Do you see the change on the web version ?

Repeat on the Mac in Contacts.

Can you see this change on the web version ?

This may highlight which device is not logged in properly to iCloud to fetch (or allow to be sent) any changes.

Also in the Contacts app itself, Preferences > Accounts how many Accounts are active ?

It should only be the iCloud one.

It should not have "On my Mac" showing and certainly not On.

7:30 pm Thursday; January 26, 2017

Hi,

Were they not showing active in System Preferences > Internet accounts ?

8:11 pm Monday; March 6, 2017

Understood.

7:55 pm Saturday; March 11, 2017

Hi,

It's not so much that Messages cannot get the Contacts app to resolve Exchange Address Books but the fact it cannot handle more than one Address Book syncing.

It seems that Contacts does not "mark" the first account it syncs and therefore goes around and around the list.

At the point Messages wants the info it waits for the "sync" to finish which of course it never does.

Tell them Feedback - Messages - Apple

Contacts does not have it's own page Product Feedback - Apple

7:55 pm Sunday; July 23, 2017

I never come to this forum to write something, but I thought this time was a good opportunity to share the good karma.

I realized that on my iphone --> Contacts --> "Default account" was actually the "Exchange" software, and not in my "iCloud". Hence, my iMessage on my computer did not recognize the new contacts.

What I did to solve the problem

1) Change my "Default account" to iCloud

2) download this app (and pay unfortunately for it) = Contact Mover & Account Sync for Exchange, Outlook, iCloud, Gmail, Facebook, & Yahoo Email= https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/contact-mover-account-sync-for-exchange-outlook- icloud/id582605968?mt=8

3) converted all my "Exchange" contacts to "iCloud".

4) Restarted "iMessage" and "Contacts" apps on my computer.

Et voilà! Problem solved!

Hope that helps someone else.

Cheers,

I've tried all the above methods and my contacts are still not syncing from my phone. All accounts are the same in my iphone on iCloud and my iMessage app on my macbook, in iCloud preferences in System Preferences, etc. Did my own card file, etc. NOTHING WORKS. My contact app on my computer does not show updated contacts from the past year. Anything else out there I can try???

For anyone who finds themselves scanning through this still in 2017, I had this problem after switching from Android to iPhone, too. Here was my solution:

Almost all of my phone contacts were technically Google contacts (i.e. people with their phone numbers and emails and stuff that happened to be associated with either my personal or work Google accounts). For that reason, when I was trying to sync my contacts from iPhone to Mac to use with Messages, I could not see them (even though I was syncing iCloud and had done all the unchecking and rechecking routines as described in this thread many times). All this sadness... UNTIL, it hit me. I went into contacts > preferences > accounts > and used the "+" button to add my two gmail accounts. All my phone contacts immediately synced to my Macbook Air and now I can see them in Messages. Yayyy!!!!

I wish I had been thinking big picture but unfortunately I'm not sure, as I never checked before adding them to my contacts accounts. I just know I hadn't added my gmail accounts to the "contacts > preferences > accounts".

This is the method that works for everyone that is having the issue....all above attempts did not prove useful. I think since the contacts are clearly coming from the phone, they need to be updated from that side of the equation. This does raise the question, however, as to how often things actually sync with iCloud automatically because some of these contacts were added multiple years ago and were still not showing on my Mac. Oh well, now I know how to force the update.

Hello,

Thanks, it seems that I have the same problem. Some of my contacts are listed within the Exchange account. So if I update an "iCloud" contact, it does sync, but if I updated a "Exchange" contact, it does not sync with the computer. I can't believe the OS is not able to deal with such a common configuration? I guess there must be tens of thousands of people with the same issue.

Many thanks to everyone for the discussion here, very helpful.

HI,

So in System Preferences > iCloud you have the Contacts item Ticked ?

This iCloud Apple ID is the same one used for iCloud Syncing on the iPhone ?

Settings > iCloud.

And the Contacts option here is On as well ?

9:52 PM Thursday; April 25, 2013

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.3)
 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
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi,

If you are asking the iPhone to hold a reduced number of Contacts then this is something that iCloud and the iTunes sync option cannot do.

I must admit to not being an expert on the Address Book/Contacts app to say which is the best way to merge two existing Lists.

I would have tended to manually add any iPhone Only contacts to the Mac or iPad before syncing. (Creating a "Master" List as it were)

10:26 PM Thursday; April 25, 2013

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.3)
 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
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Try this:

message>perference>accounts> you can be reached for message at > tickle all box

HI,

1) The question was posted in April and has had no replies from the Original Poster since 25th of that month.

2) Your answer has nothing to do with the question and is therefore, unfortunately, unhelpful.

Whilst the Poster was talking about using the Messages app on a Mac and the corresponding app on the iPhone they were is fact asking why the Contacts (Formerly the Address Book) did not list the same people.

Which Apple ID, iPhone Number or Linked emails or even second iPhone number make no difference to what the Contacts App on the Mac or the iPhone can show you.

They can be synced via iCloud or iTunes or kept separate.

The Apple ID used for Messages and the iMessages "registration" does not even have to be an iCloud linked Apple ID.

10:18 PM Monday; August 12, 2013

 iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.4)
 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
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously