Handoff working but no continuity of partially entered texts in iMessage

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Level 2

214 points

Handoff working but no continuity of partially entered texts in iMessage

I am using Yosemite and iOS 8.1. I also have handoff working - and it appears to be working correctly - for the most part - but I am questioning the handoff behavior with iMessage (the issue occurs whether I am handing off Mac to iOS device, iOS device to Mac or Mac to Mac. For example - I can begin composing or replying to an email - and I can hand it off to a Mac or iOS device - and my partially composed email or response shows up on the the receiving device - as expected. However - if on an iOS device or Mac - I begin composing a text message (whether via iMessage or SMS) - I am able to hand it off to another iOS device or Mac just fine - but all the handoff does is open the conversation in Messages (for the correct person) - but does not include my partially composed text from the originating device. Am I doing something wrong - or is handoff functionality partially limited by the devices/Macs being used.

In my scenario my (compatible) devices are iPhone 5, Late 2012 27" iMac, Late 2012 MacMini. My non-compatible devices are Mid 2010 15" MacBook Pro and an iPad 2. I have signed out of iCloud completely everywhere and re-setup iCloud - but the Messages behavior remains the same.

Is anybody else having these issues? Unfortunately nobody in my circle of acquaintance has handoff working - so I can even check.

~Scott

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Nov 2, 2014 5:31 PM

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Answer 1

SBeattie2 Author

Level 2

214 points

Nov 6, 2014 10:55 AM in response to SBeattie2

Update: I have contacted Apple - they are researching and will get back to me on this issue.

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Answer 2

Nov 16, 2014 5:14 AM in response to SBeattie2

I have the same issue on Iphone 6 IOS 8.1 and MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) OS X 10.10.

Mail and Safari work properly.

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Answer 3

SBeattie2 Author

Level 2

214 points

Nov 17, 2014 6:18 PM in response to sixhundredtwentysix

So far - everyone I have asked has indicated that there is no continuity of partially entered text messages when handing off to another device - iPhone 6 included. Will test iOS 8.1.1 tonight - I am not expecting to see any difference. I have also not heard back from Apple. I suspect the only alternative is to report a bug.

~Scott

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Answer 4

SBeattie2 Author

Level 2

214 points

Nov 17, 2014 7:08 PM in response to SBeattie2

Tested with iOS 8.1.1 and Yosemite 10.10.1. No change.

~Scott

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Answer 5

Nov 18, 2014 1:39 AM in response to SBeattie2

Same here. Although, i noticed something new. In Mail, you can handoff "reading an email" too now. All you have to do is select an email and the icon pops up.

I am not 100% sure if this new with 8.1.1 or i just didn't notice it earlier.

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Answer 6

jyp371

Level 1

4 points

Nov 18, 2014 6:30 AM in response to SBeattie2

Same here. Tested with iOS 8.1.1 and Yosemite 10.10.1. No change.

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Answer 7

SBeattie2 Author

Level 2

214 points

Nov 20, 2014 10:46 PM in response to jyp371

Just got an iPhone 6 two days ago - figured maybe this functionality might actually work on newer hardware. No difference.

~Scott

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Answer 8

SBeattie2 Author

Level 2

214 points

Nov 20, 2014 10:53 PM in response to sixhundredtwentysix

sixhundredtwentysix -I am fairly certain I was always able to "hand off reading an email" - and I am thinking that was on 8.0.2. Email handoff seems to have worked exactly as I would have expected - since day one of using it.

~Scott

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Answer 9

Sep 16, 2015 2:49 PM in response to SBeattie2

I have the same problem. No handoff of the typed text in iMessage. The other apps work fine. Actually tested with iOS 9.

In the meantime someone has the solution?

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Answer 10

SBeattie2 Author

Level 2

214 points

Sep 16, 2015 4:57 PM in response to Kursiefen

The other apps do seem to work fairly seamlessly. I have somewhat stopped thinking about handoff and basically use it with email. So far - nobody that I have asked seems to have any idea whether handoff with messages is supposed to bring over a partially entered message from the device that is handing it off. If it were to actually work as we are expecting it to - then I suspect that we would all be sending very long texts. I am the first to admit that I overwhelm people with my very long texts. Maybe Apple has intentionally not supported the text carry over for a reason. However - if this functionality is intentional - then I'm not really sure what the point of handoff would be with regards to messages? The only thing that handoff does with messages is to take you into the same conversation on the other device - which is handy - but I would think that most people would expect their partially entered in-progress text to come over as well. We will need to see if this behavior changes in El Capitain.

~Scott

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