Text message forwarding - no code on iPad or Mac

This worked for me. Originally, I only had my iCloud email showing in the Messaging app on my Mac.

When I signed out of iMessage on my phone (not just turn off iMessage, but actually sign out) and then signed back in, my phone number appeared in the Messaging app on my Mac along with my iCloud email address. At that point, when I tried Text Message Forwarding, I finally got the code on my Mac.

Thanks!

Hi everyone

I had this exasperating problem as well and was able to resolve it:

1) As has been previously mentioned - on all devices, make sure your cell # (the one SMS messages are going to and from) is active.

2) On your devices other than your iPhone - where it says "start new conversations from" make sure the option that is checked is your email address used to log into your Apple ID / iMessage / etc account.

So for example, under the list "I can be reached at", I personally have 3 email addresses plus the phone number of my iPhone.

Then further down, it will give you an option to "start conversations from" one of the addresses / phone numbers on this list. Make sure the one you pick is the one you use for your Apple ID, etc login.

As soon as I did that the code popped up on both my Mac and my iPad and everything works perfectly.

I had the same problem and there are a number of frustrating threads on that topic on the support site. Today I spent over 2 hours on the phone with Apple Support. The first agent didn't even understand the process for enabling SMS messaging, so he had me walk through many foolish things to try to get it working. He could not, so he wanted me to do a factory reset on the phone. I refused to do this. The phone was brand new yesterday and there is no way I am wiping the phone because he wanted to take a shortcut with troubleshooting. So I asked to be escalated. The Level 2 support person did not even know that SMS forwarding was supported in iOS 8 + Yosemite. He thought only iMessages would work. It is very concerning that a Level 2 person isn't even aware of basic functionality. So he then walked me through all the same things that others have tried on the forum, including rebooting the phone and the laptop. We also signed in and out of Messages on both the phone and laptop numerous times. Finally we signed out of everything including iCloud on both phone and laptop. When we signed back in to iCloud (in both places), Messages (in both places), and Facetime (in both places) I was able to turn on SMS forwarding on the phone. We were both shocked that it worked, and neither of us really understood which combination of signing in and out made the difference. I recommend signing out of EVERYTHING on both devices (Messages, Facetime, and iCloud), then make sure you are signing in to all three of these on both devices with the exact same iCloud credentials and the exact same Apple ID credentials. I was using the same credentials all along, but he stressed that this is a common problem.

Good luck. I hope your experiences with Apple Support is better. I came from Android after many years looking for a better support experience and an easier way to make things work together. Kind of disappointed now. So much for "It Just Works".

Had the same problem after having changed my Apple ID this morning; code not showing up on any of my devices after having had to log back in again to iCloud on iPhone, iPad and iMac - for both Cloud features and Messaging and FaceTime.

Problem solved by ensuring that Keychain is activated across all devices. It would appear that you have to have Keychain activated across your devices before it will work.

I just fixed this issue. Spent many hours on my own and with Apple Helpdesk. Make sure under Settings/Messages/Blocked - your own phone number is not blocked. This causes an issue of Mac not showing the code when you turn on the Text Message Forwarding. Once its un-blocked, you should see the pairing code. Thanks.

I can confirm the way I fixed this problem was to :

1. Disable iMessage and Enable on my iPhone 6 Plus

2. MBP iMessage Pref. and made sure my phonenumber was enable

3. Close my iMessage on my MBP and open it again

4. iPhone 6 plus start forward again and a windows came in iMessage (MBP) with big numbers.

If someone still have the same problem, go to this webpage:

http://www.igeeksblog.com/sms-relay-not-working/

It solved my problem!

I struggled with this for while until realising that I had recently updated to a new iphone and was still logged into iCloud and using iMessage on my old iphone. Once I logged out of iCloud and turned off iMessage on my old phone, I turned on Text Message Forwarding on my new iphone the code appeared on my mac book pro. All working fine now 🙂

The ONLY thing that worked for me was this:

1. I added a SECOND email address to both my Mac AND iPhone

2. I unchecked the first email address on both devices.

3. Signed out and in of iMessages on both devices.

4. Went to Send & Receive on iPhone and checked only the new email address and my phone for "Start New Conversations"

5. Did the same on the Preferences/Accounts on my Mac.

6. Went to iphone: Settings/Messages/Text Message Forwarding and turned on the button for the Mac.

7. Code FINALLY appeared on the Mac.

It worked! thanks

Yes the fix helped here as well. Apple REALLY needs to get it together for Apple ID's. Had a 2 day nightmare trying to figure this out!

I did everything harshc4 suggested, did a bunch of re-booting, turning things off and then on again, etc. and also made sure all my devices had the same list of "You can be reached by iMessage at". Still no joy. But it turned out one more thing was also necessary. I had to make sure that my phone was set to "Start New Conversations From" my phone number. Both Mac and iPad had that set right, but for some reason, my phone was set to start conversations from @icloud.com. Once I fixed that, presto, the six-digit codes showed up. Hope that maybe helps somebody.

sign out and sign in from my Apple ID on my MBP did the trick.

Thanks for the help, Dave! I was at a loss for a few minutes...

This is what I did:

Settings >> Messages >> Turn off iMessage >> Turn on iMessage >> Text Message Forwarding >> Slide "Text Message Forwarding" on = CODE APPEARED.

None of the suggested (iMessage off/on, email address spec, network reset - rebooting - I did all of that) worked. Now one thing - amazing as it may be - worked although I must admit it could be coincidental with other phenomena since some things seem to appear and disappear over time. For instance the Text Message forwarding appears only many minutes after iMessage is enabled again. I own 3 iphones and ipads. One of my Phones would easily connect with one iPad (each person owns a set). The next one wouldn't. Until I realized it had the name 'iPad'. I thought: "maybe a bit confusing let's change it to 'iPad van Katja'" . Bang. Message box came up on the Pad, Phone and Pad linked, fixed.