Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Facebook chat in OS X Messages shows numbers instead of names

Though I have used Facebook chat in iChat and now OS X's Messages programs for many years now with few issues (some disconnecting issues here and there but that's about it) The past few days I have encountered a problem that I can't figure out how to fix.

Whenever I first launch Messages and it logs me into FB chat, the names of my friends show up correctly for a handful of seconds. Then, suddenly all of the names and pictures disappear and instead turn into numbers (those aren't the actual numbers, just examples of what it looks like.) So my buddy/friends list becomes populated with all of these numbers and I can't tell who is who.

If I quit Messages and relaunch it, again I will see the proper names of my friends for a handful of seconds after logging in, but it always turns right back into a bunch of numbers.

I'm thinking this MUST be a server problem since not a single thing has changed on my computer.

Anyone else experiencing the same thing? Can anyone help?

Thank you.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), 24 GB RAM

Posted on Jul 25, 2013 1:31 PM

27 replies

Aug 14, 2013 12:51 PM in response to TheGodfatha

Hi,

People can make use of several methods to update/sync their Contacts lists:-

iCloud,

Yahoo,

Facebook,

iTunes (syncing an iOS device includes more than music)

Google

I am sure there I some I have never seen or considered that also work.

As you used Facebook it is more likely this broadened the info held on the Server end of your Buddy list.

(AIM hold the Screen Name, Buddy pic and whether the Buddy is On Line)

Jabber Server can hold Address Card (vCard) info as well as the Jabber ID (JID) and Buddy pic.

8:51 PM Wednesday; August 14, 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

Aug 15, 2013 2:58 PM in response to Gordon Jue

First of all, what's upsetting is that for years I have not had to have FB friends' contact info/ID in their contact cards in my Adress Book/Contact for this to work properly and I honestly have no desire to do so and would hope that this gets fixed by FB.

But regardless, I decided to give this a try, so I added my FB account to my Contacts in OS X 10.8.4, and even though I have hundreds of friends on FB, only 9 showed up making this useless.

When researching why only that many showed up, I found this article that explains that FB decided to unclutter the contacts lists on iOS devices, so anyone who doesn't have more than their @facebook.com info on their FB profiles won't get a contact card created in your Contacts.

http://9to5mac.com/2013/06/06/facebook-aims-to-declutter-the-ios-contacts-app-by -no-longer-syncing-friends-without-useful-contact-info/

So this is now a useless feature and the only thing I could do if I wanted to is to go through my entire buddy list and create a contact card for every single person I'm friends with on FB.

I simply have no desire.

This is a huge pain.

Aug 20, 2013 6:23 PM in response to DigitalDuderino

Digital,

I was experiencing this problem as well. I removed the entire Facebook account from Messages and quit the app. I then started the app again and re added the Facebook account. It is now the first account in my list for Messages. Since doing that, the buddy list has been showing names and profile pictures of facebook friends. I restarted the app a couple times, but its only been a day so far. Hope this works for you as well if you haven't tried it yet.

Aug 20, 2013 6:38 PM in response to m_barrett

@ m_barrett. I tried your fix and it worked for about 5 seconds. Names and buddy icons showed up as usual. Then as soon as someone in the list logs out, all the budies change to a string of numbers. Then after a few minutes, they will change back to names and icons. Seems like it's when someone signs on or signs out that it flip flops between the names and icons to the string of numbers. It's very strange and annoying. I'm hoping that FB fixes this.

Aug 20, 2013 6:40 PM in response to Christopher Zsarnay

Chris,

Thanks for the update. My buddy list has not done that, and i've seen the list refresh with new buddies multiple times throughout the day. Sorry to hear the fix is not working for you. I'll keep everyone updated on my original post if things change on my end.

Aug 20, 2013 10:35 PM in response to m_barrett

This did not solve my problem either. (removing and re-adding my FB account in Preferences)

This is absolutely a FB server problem since multiple programs IChat/Messages/Adium on multiple computers have suddenly started exhibiting the same behavior at the same time.

If everyone on this thread would report it to FB as I have, maybe the more voices we get the better for getting it fixed ASAP.

Aug 25, 2013 11:45 PM in response to DigitalDuderino

I really hope I'm not writing too soon...but....

IT'S WORKING AGAIN!!!

I decided to try it just now (I try it every handful of days for the past however many weeks it's been broken.

And it's working!! It's been approximately a half an hour and I haven't seen any buddy names turn into numbers AT ALL. Not even once. All names are remaining names in my buddy list even with people coming on/offline all of the time.

Really hope it's fixed permanently!!

Let me know if you're all seeing the same behavior.

Aug 26, 2013 7:50 AM in response to DigitalDuderino

Same here. It's back to working correctly with names and icons!! Finally!!

Aug 26, 2013 3:03 PM in response to Christopher Zsarnay

Aaaaand back to being broken today :-(

darn it!!

Sep 1, 2013 2:42 PM in response to DigitalDuderino

It's been mostly stable now the past handful of days. Hoping they've worked out the kinks. *knocks on wood*

Sep 1, 2013 3:02 PM in response to DigitalDuderino

Same here. Every so often the number stings will appear but only a couple times a day now.

Sep 1, 2013 5:08 PM in response to DigitalDuderino

Looks like its working again for me. Keep my fingers crossed.

Facebook chat in OS X Messages shows numbers instead of names