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All replies
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Helpful answers
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Mar 14, 2015 2:31 PM in response to KNrajby peridigms,You beautiful person. This has been driving me nuts since Yosemite.
This worked for me.
In My case 'Message' had appleID account added but not in 'contacts'. What i did
1. spotlight search - enter: contacts
2. preferences > accounts > add the appleID used for phone and Messages
3. Restart Messages app
4. Smile that you now have your freakin contacts
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May 27, 2015 8:16 PM in response to peridigmsby LunarTempest,I am having the same problem as the initial user - I have the same apple ID on both however it doesnt register the new contacts my phone has on there - its very odd
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Jun 12, 2015 7:36 AM in response to LunarTempestby Ronyvy,I had the same problem and it was driving me nuts. The issue is there are a few different scenarios that can cause this problem. My issue was resolved by adding my Google Accounts to the Mail contacts (Former Android Man - Just an aside: While I now believe Mac is the superior computer in terms of quality, functionality, and dependability; iOS on the iPhone is extremely cumbersome, inconvenient, and stands years behind the Android OS). Now that that's over, if your Android contacts are the issue...
Open Mail>Preference>Accounts> then add your accounts where contacts are saved.
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Jul 9, 2015 1:16 AM in response to raphcampby isaqib,Had the same problem. Go into your contacts app and add any icloud account youve used in the past.
My icloud contacts synced with my old apple id and i was using my new apple id on my new mac. Add any account you know and your contacts should sync to imessage.
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Sep 16, 2015 10:07 PM in response to KNrajby Bookyreader,This was helpful. Another thing that can make contacts appear sometimes and sometimes not is if you both sync to your computer and to the cloud. On the iPhone saw: duplicate contacts, wrong contacts that we updated, then went wrong again, sometimes they're there, other times not.
We solved it by only syncing to one. Cant remember exactly where but it's buried in iTunes preferences and/or the iPhone preferences somewhere.
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Sep 21, 2015 4:13 AM in response to raphcampby WGETS,I was struggling with this as well.
I learnt that if I went into my iCloud account, deselected Contacts and then reselected it again, my contacts were working correctly in iMessage.
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Sep 26, 2015 8:56 AM in response to WGETSby GripTiger,I have been struggling with the same issue for at least a year, if not longer. I have previously searched for solutions with no luck. I couldn't figure out how to push a sync of my Contacts with iCloud. The setting to sync Contacts in iCloud was on (in my phone), and had always been on. Today, on a whim, I unselected (choosing "Keep on My iPhone", just in case) and reselected Contacts and magically it synched and I finally have this issue resolved! So much frustration, when all it had to do was actually re-sync.
So yes, what finally fixed the issue for me was exactly what WGETS stated above.
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Oct 1, 2015 1:13 PM in response to peridigmsby misslani,THANK. YOU. ugh such frustration trying to figure this out!
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Oct 2, 2015 6:21 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)by atlanta01,Thank you. I just upgraded to El Capitan and couldn't understand why my messages were not displaying the contact name. You solved my problem immediately. Thanks so much.
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Nov 5, 2015 7:37 AM in response to peridigmsby Mary BERG-LEVANT,It worked for my situation! Thanks!
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Nov 10, 2015 1:06 PM in response to raphcampby glattkjorer,does not work for me... tried all stated here :/
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Nov 16, 2015 11:14 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)by kellystyle,Hi Ralph,
If I may, here's a (hopefully) simple question from a basic iOS user.
When I add a contact on my Mac, it shows up perfectly on my iPhone.
When I add a contact on my iPhone, it does not show up on my Mac.
(ergo, when I'm on my Mac using iMessage, these contacts show up as numbers...and if I go to Contacts on my Mac that person isn't there at all.)
If I've added the contact on my Mac, I am then able to edit it from my iPhone and the edits show on my MacBook. I can even delete it on my phone and it will delete on my Mac.
Under Mail, Contacts, Calendars on iPhone under heading Contacts, "Default Account" says "On My iPhone."
I am not syncing by attaching my phone to my Mac. So apparently that's iCloud syncing? I'm fairly certain that I've checked all the basics as you listed and also in this thread -
Why aren't recently added contacts appearing on iMessage?
Everything used to sync just fine. (Magically, I never organized it to do so.)
Do not know when it stopped working. (new iPhone 6? Yosemite? no idea, because I didn't notice it until it annoyed me long enough & I had time to google how to fix it!)
I don't use iCloud Drive, but it's installed (as you know I cannot un-install it.)
I don't use my iCloud email address at all, anywhere (and I particularly don't have it added on my Mac as an option because at one point my messaging was creating TWO threads of messages to the SAME contact. They'd reply on one, I'd reply on another - what a disaster that was!)
I don't even quite understand the difference between iCloud, iCloud Drive, and my Apple ID. My assumption is that iCloud works without iCloud Drive - and that iCloud Drive is something I can simply ignore if I use Dropbox. Which I do, extensively. My desktop computer is Windows so all my files are in Dropbox. (I run my own company.)
I'm a gmail user.
I do not sync my gmail address book with my apple contacts (although I probably should, but that's another topic.)
Hope this is clear, not too annoying, and that you forgive me for not spelling organize like this: organise.
Greetings from California,
Kelly
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Nov 17, 2015 12:51 AM in response to raphcampby glattkjorer,this is what fixed mine.
problem: iphone contacts does not sync with mac. i turned off contacts at i cloud and chose keep my contacts , then turned it on, after doing these it started syncing, i chose icloud as my default contact list and left zero contacts on my phonr. after doing this the "groups" button at upper left of my phine just became a refresh button and because of that , spotlight search bug in my iphonr cant be fixed so i restore my phone using itunes, resync all contacts , groups button is back and it also started syncing with mac and all contacts now in mac and phone the same and imessage in mac shows names
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by Ralph Johns (UK),Nov 17, 2015 12:52 PM in response to kellystyle
Ralph Johns (UK)
Nov 17, 2015 12:52 PM
in response to kellystyle
Level 9 (72,994 points)
ApplicationsHi,
On the Mac.
System Preferences > iCloud (most Likely) it should be ticked for Contacts.
This Moves the List to iCloud and all the devices using this iCloud ID can access it and Names instead of Apple IDs or iPhone Numbers should then show up.
On the iPhone it is in Settings > iCloud.
Back to the Mac if it is Not iCloud.
Go to Internet Accounts in System Preferences.
One of the accounts (Google, Yahoo, Facebook etc) can also sync the Address Book/Contacts App Details.
It needs to Match the iPhone on this as well.
Messages will take an inordinate amount of time to start up if you try to sync several Address Book lists in Contacts.
Check Contacts App > Preferences > Accounts (it should list only one).
NOTES
The iMessages Account Apple ID on the iPhone and the Mac need to be the same.
It can be different from the one used in System Preferences > iCloud if that is where the Sync is set up.
It is this that starts the Syncing between Mac and iPhone.
Yes iCloud works without iCloud Drive.
iCloud is effectively some Apps on line that can be accessed by other devices.
Emails are held in the Mail part and then accessed by each device.
Same with Contacts if you set up the Sync and others.
As you can see you can access them in a web browser as well.
You may not have all these as I signed up for a On line trial version of the Pages, Numbers and Keynote apps.
iCloud Drive is as you guess a from of On Line storage like Drop box.
My main Apple ID is an original email I Set up as an Apple ID when I had Dial up.
Like a Google Mail ID it is not from Apple.
However when iCloud Started I did link it to iCloud and got an @me.com ID at the time and later an @iCloud.com one as well.
If your Google Mail ID is also your Apple ID and have been liked to iCloud (you said you had one) then there should not be a problem.
To be clear, iCloud IDs are Apple IDs, always but not all Apple IDs are iCloud ones.
This can have an impact on the iMessages account in Messages on the Mac and the iOS devices.
It looks like this is the actual setting causing the issue
Under Mail, Contacts, Calendars on iPhone under heading Contacts, "Default Account" says "On My iPhone."
There is a similar Setting on the Mac.
If you turn Off the sync method in System Preferences then it asks you if you want save the List On your Mac
You may see it in Mountain Lion (as that is where this post is) or you may see something close to this.
I hope that gives you enough info to check the required settings to sort it out.
8:52 pm Tuesday; November 17, 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


