My iMessages won't sync

I think I have figured out some of the problem.

Since iMessage is tied to my phone number, I went to Settings > Messages > Text Forwarding

There I saw 3 other devices (My iMac, iPad Pro and iPad Air2)

I found that the "Air2" was not checked so the messages were not being forwarded to it.

However, The Air2 seems to get all new messages like the others but it will not synch messages prior to the time I turned on the switch to forward messages to the iPad Air2.

Hi,

Any linking will only work from that point on.

iMessages are sent once then deleted.

They are flagged at the server for the number of devices current linked to be sent to.

Even if one device has yet to accept the iMessage it cannot be accessed by other devices.

If a device has "lost" connection it will depend how long that break is as to whether an "missing" iMessages are recoverable as it were.

SMS coverage will somewhat depend on the carrier used but it is unlikely that the iPhone will store them in a way that allows this to happen. The iPhone "Shares" the SMS/Carrier connection in a similar manner to a computer doing Internet Sharing. The SMS comes in on the phone connection and goes out to the Mac on the WiFi connection which allows the Mac to see and respond to the SMS messages.

9:06 pm Tuesday; January 24, 2017

Hi,

This thread was started in 2014.

The answers are likely to be different now.

Also the Original Question had the iMessages syncing to an iPad but not to a Mac so the issue you have, whilst similar, is not the same.

I would start your own Thread.

7:48 pm Friday; August 25, 2017

Hi,

I have never found that.

Since Messages 7 in OS X 10.8.x I have the iPhone set to it's Number an the Mac to the Apple ID.

As both devices actually have both of those Active then I get all iMessages on both.

The Start From ID is overridden when replying to an incoming iMessage as the App on the iPhone of the Mac relies from the ID that was Addressed.

8:28 pm Friday; February 2, 2018

This works for me too, but I have to do it everyday. When I open my MBP at work, every morning I have to sign out and then back in for the messages to sync over. I would hope that when my laptop is powered back on and connected wot wifi the messages would automatically sync over. It's so annoying. I also notice if I switch wifi networks, I have to sign out and back in to iMessage on my MBP for the messages to come over...

Wow, that is terrible. I've tried this as well, I can't even get my mac to authenticate the text message forwarding. Phone says to enter code on the mac, except, there's no code. Everything had been working fine until a few days ago...

The only way I've been able to sync as of today is when I tether my mac to the iPhone 6+, i.e. use the phone's network. Suddenly, everything synchs. The minute I disconnect, it stops working. Even though I have message forwarding enabled. Interesting.

Most of these 'problems/responses' are a year or older. The most recent updates to OS & IOS (10.13.1 & 11.1.2) are when I noticed big problems. I've done the sign out sign in a number of times. I've reset my apple/icloud log in to the exact same email and I still only see a full conversation on the device it was sent from. The received messages are on all devices, however, but I am unable to continue a conversation if I am not able to see an earlier part of it.

OH thank you who ever you are to figure this out... It worked for me.. I like to keep some texts from my sons & I will be able to get them on my Mac now & transfer them over into a doc file... Thank you Thank you... God bless.. ;o)

Make sure you’re devices are set to the same account.

I was was having difficulty with syncing and I found my iPad was sending and receiving with my email address and my iPhone was sending and receiving with my phone number! Settings , messages, send and receive And put them to one or the other

I too am having same issue. Recently purchased new MBP w/ Retina, and when setting up my imessages and facetime, nothing is synced and this also includes iPhone and iPad too.

For me all these issues started when I updated my iphone 5 and iPad mini 1st Gen to IOS 7.0.4 and with new MBP Retina running Mavericks 10.9.1.

Associate your mobile number with your Apple ID, if you haven't already done so.

Sign out of iMessage on the Mac:

Messages ▹ Preferences ▹ Accounts ▹ Sign out

and on the iPhone:

Settings ▹ Messages ▹ Send & Receive ▹ Apple ID ▹ Sign out

Then, on the phone, tap

Use Your Apple ID for iMessage

Sign back into iMessage on both devices and test. If there's no change, you may have to wait for a change in network conditions.

Credit for this solution to ASC member SmittyLove and to Glenn Fleishman of tidbits.com.

I was having the same issue! Thanks for your help! This fixed everything 😉

Worked like a charm, thanks!

Very helpful, worked great. Thank you!