Q: My iMessage ( inactive )

Thanks, but I hope that you forgive me, I'm new in the Mac system, and my technique English is not as it should,i can see my serial number!  I just want to write to me what is the purpose of the last  step? I didnt understand ended! What about apple store?

Hi,

The "pixelated" bit just means I used a Graphic app to Hide the actual number in the picture.

As you can see the Serial Number on your computer you do not need to go to the Apple Store.

The Number is held in a special storage/Memory chip on the Logic board.  It needs a special App to "write" the info to it.

It can only be done at the Apple  Store or an Apple Authorised Service Provide (AASP).

In the Messages App use the Messages Menu and select Preferences and then the Accounts pane.

In the iMessages account  what do you see ?

Please post a Picture (hide the Apple ID if it is on view).

8:18 pm      Tuesday; March 10, 2015

h

Hi,

That appears to be a very odd picture.

It Says the account is Enabled and the name of the Account is dark suggesting in is Enabled.

But as the other accounts are Inactive I presume that is what the word in Brackets is.  Is that correct ?

if you Untick the "Enable this Account" box (i.e. it is disabled) then all that pane goes greyed out.

The Apple ID is Grey.

The Receive At IDs and Phone Number go grey.

So does the "Start Conversation From" drop down option.

I thought you were saying this but I have never seen it before and don't know how it has been created.

Even if you login then lose connection to the Internet (I turned Off Wifi) it does not make it appear like yours.

Try this:-

Quit the App

In the Finder use the Go Menu whilst holding down the ALT key.

Select the Library that appears when you do this.

Navigate to Preferences.

Find the file called com.apple.ids.service.com.apple.madrid.plist

Drag this to the Trash.

Also find com.apple.imessages.bag.plist and drag this to the Trash as well.

The first of these holds your Apple ID and other IDs in use in Messages for iMessages.

The second holds the server you are connected to info.

Deleting both will refresh the Login to the iMessages servers.

It is likely you will have to enter the Apple ID again and accept the pop ups when they appear about the iPhone Number

7:26 pm      Wednesday; March 11, 2015

Thank you its finally work , also my mac show on my iphone at text message forwarding،   all this after your last reply , thanks again

You are welcome.

8:34 pm      Wednesday; March 11, 2015

Hi Ralph,

You seem to understand this problem quite well, so I hope you will be able to assist me.

I have 3 devices (an iPhone 3GS, an iPad mini and a Macbook Pro).  All 3 were configured for iMessage using my mobile phone number, not my Apple ID, not another email. (Operating systems are 6.1.6, 8.2 and 10.10.2 respectively)

Yesterday, my Mac was disconnected from iMessage (I don't know why, this has never happened before) and since then it is impossible to have my mobile phone number on my Mac and my iPad for iMessage.  From information I found on internet and in some of the discussions elsewhere here, I logged out of FaceTime and iMessage on both my Mac and my iPad (and tried to reconnect) to no avail.

When I try to "activate" FT and iMessage, it shows my Apple ID asks me to login and then automatically uses that email for iMessage and will not allow me to add my phone number on either device - only an email apparently.  I am currently logged out on both devices.  Only my iPhone is configured properly.  I thought they might sync to my iPhone settings, as that seems to be the "master", but no.

I do not have the option "Start new conversations from" on my Mac or on my iPad and I cannot add a telephone number where it says "add an email"...

Why or how I was disconnected seems moot at this point, but I want iMessage to be identical across the 3 devices.  Can you help?

Thank you!

K

Hi,

Your phrasing is a little strange as at some point you must have used an Apple ID  to set up the Mac and possibly the iPad so that you could link in the iPhone and then select the iPhone Number on the Mac and iPad as the Send/Start From  and Receive At ID.

I.e you could be using just the iPhone number to Send and Receive on all the devices but the Apple ID still has to underpin the Links between them.

Apple have this page http://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/

At the bottom is the "Detailed Timeline" that can be put back at least 2 whole days.  You can also scroll back through the hours of each of those days as not all are in view.

The last detailed outage was on Wednesday. In my time zone all of the outage was in Wednesday.

That is not to say that there are not  very small almost personal event s that do not show up.  (It seems at least 1% of users have to be effected from what I have seen in the past).

To Add the iPhone number to the Mac version you have to have Messages enabled in the Settings > Messages part of the iPhone.

First check the Number is still registered.

It should be ticked to be active even though the choice is greyed out and you cannot switch it "On" or "Off".

I have actually seen mine Unticked but the Apple ID still ticked.

I then turned the Enable option off on the Mac version fro the iMessages account.

I removed the Apple ID from the iPhone in the Messages settings.

I set the iPhone to Airplane Mode and waited two minutes.

Then on going back to the Settings > Messages I made sure the App was On and the iPhone Number was verified again.

Once this was done I turned On the Mac version.

At this point the iPhone only has the iPhone Number to Send from.

SO test to the Apple ID which at this pint is only the Mac.

Return the test so you know the iPhone can Receive.

Then Add the Apple ID to the iPhone.

This should cause the Pop up to appear on the Mac that tells you what the iPhone is using (Number and Apple ID).

Accept this pop up and it will add the iPhone Number to the Mac's Receive At list and cause the Start Conversations From drop down to appear.

Turning the app On on the iPad should get two sets of Pop ups telling you  both the Mac's and iPhone's info.

Accept both.

NOW you can set the Receive At and Send From on all devices to only be the iPhone Number.

9:01 pm      Saturday; March 14, 2015

Hi Ralph,

Thank you. 

I honestly believe the whole problem is (or was) with Apple.  This morning when I turned on my iPad both my Apple ID email and my phone number were listed as my "addresses", so I simply unchecked the email address (my Apple ID); idem for my Mac.  I did not do anything to either device this morning other than just turn them on. 

I apologize if you were under the impression I did not login using my Apple ID to FT or iMessage.  What I meant was I did not use my Apple ID email to send/receive messages via iMessage.  They were always set up to send/receive from my mobile number only.

Each device has shown a pop up message that both iPad and Mac are now using my phone number to send and receive messages.

Since the problem seems to have resolved itself, I assume it was Apple that had a problem where I live on Friday and I got hit with it. 

Thanks again for your assistance !

Have a nice Sunday,

K

hi,

I did gather you were using just the iPhone Number on each device.

I just wanted to check you had set t up the right way in the first place.

If you got the pop ups to show again then a device has be re-registered.

Glad to hear it has resolved itself.

7:57 pm      Sunday; March 15, 2015