iMessage automatically logs off when mac is idle

Hi,

I posted this pic for other purposes but what settings do you have in the lower section ?

Technically AIM Accounts can have Four or so "States".

Off line is obviously one.

Available is another (with or without an Status Message).

Away is another.

Idle whilst Available is yet another (you can see these iChat and Messages Buddies and they can see you as Amber blobs)

Idle whilst Away is not displayed separately within iChat or Messages Buddy lists.

There is also Invisible.

On some laptops you have an option to power down Apps to save power/battery.

I don't have a laptop that can run Mavericks so I am not sure where the Setting might be.

Start with Energy Saver in System Preferences.

8:40 pm Friday; March 21, 2014

Hi jjg614 - were you ever able to solve this issue? I experience the exact same thing using gchat within Messages. Thanks

Hi,

On re-reading my reply I am snot sure I was as clear as I could be.

The App will go "idle" after a default period (10 Mins)

This will show as an Amber or orange blob or indicator on other people's Buddy Lists.

If the computer sleeps you get disconnected and the settings in Messages about when you Quit take over.

In the Pic I am set to go Off Line on Quit.

As you can see in the Pic there is also an option to set the Away Status if the 10 mins applies (Instead of going Idle you go straight to Away with or with a Status Message).

Can you explain your Energy Saver settings regarding being Awake ?

And also the settings in Messages about being Idle or Away or even Off line on Quit ?

8:51 pm Tuesday; May 26, 2015

Hi,

I did some testing on this.

I had Messages active on my iMac running Yosemite.

I open iChat 5 on my MacBook Pro.

Some accounts are on both machines but some are not.

I left the iMac with System Preferences > Energy Saver set to Not Sleep but Screen at 15 minutes

I did not turn Off my Screen Saver which is set to start at 5 minutes.

At 10 minutes the MacBook Pro showed the separate accounts that are on the iMac as Idle and not as Off Line.

However when tapped the mouse for the iMac I did hear the Logging in Sound.

I cannot work out which account if any actually logged back in.

I do have one account that is an AIM account that is set Not to Allow Multiple Logins and this account DID NOT log back in when I went back to the iMac.

AS far as I can tell the Yosemite preferences work the same way as the iChat ones did.

9:38 pm Tuesday; May 26, 2015

So to summarize, you were able to recreate an account automatically logging you off and then logging back in as soon as you touch your mouse?

No,

I was able to see that the account showed as Idle on another Buddy List (Like it should and like iChat versions did before for the previous 15 years).

The accounts do NOT log out but go Idle after the keyboard and mouse (or other input device) have not been used for fifteen minutes.

The unexpected bit was the app did make the Logging in sound when I activated the computer which activated the Screen.

As far as I could tell no account actually logged back in.

To Restate.

AIM for instance allow 5 states.

Available

Away

Invisible

Idle whilst Available and

Idle whilst Away

The top three of these can be set by the user.

The other two cannot.

The bottom one in fact is not used in iChat or Messages (you only see Away markers for others in your Buddy List and your app only sends Away flags)

This Hint tell you how to change the Idle time

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=200402181751007

You have to change the ichatagent to imagent for iChat 6 and later.

I used a second computer with a separate AIM Account to see the accounts I have on my iMac so I could check they are logged in.

The App making the logging in sound is not indicative that the app has logged out (Unless the computer Sleeps).

7:39 pm Wednesday; May 27, 2015

Thanks - unfortunately my account does indeed log out and then logs back in when I return to the screen. It not only makes the login noise, but I also see the gchat Buddy List within Messages go from "Offline" to expanding and showing "Available". Again this does not happen all the time, just maybe 30-40% of the time even though my settings have never changed (drive never sleeps, screen sleeps after 10 or 15 min, only Quit moves account to offline, and account is set to go away, not offline, when idle). Curious to see if the original poster in this thread or the other thread (Messages shuts down after inactivity) found a solution. It is also very possible this is simply a bug with gchat and Messages that has not been resolved. Thanks

Hi,

Currently at this time I have a Google account but no other Jabber account (that includes Facebook Chat) to be able to check with.

Looking back in Console I cannot see an account logging back in.

8:55 pm Wednesday; May 27, 2015