Messages show up on my mac but not my iPhone 5s - Help??

Hi,

The Original Post was in early December 2014.

9:21 pm Wednesday; July 26, 2017

Make sure you have iMessage enabled on your iPhone. iMessages use data not cellular SMS. If you turn iMessages off on your iPhone, messages sent to you via iMessage by others will show up on Mac/Messages but will NOT show up on your iPhone. Conversely, if you send an iMessage to an iPhone user who has turned OFF iMessages because, for example, they do not want to use data, they will not receive your iMessage. At least with the iOS I am using, iMessages have a blue background and non-iMessages have a green background.

Hi,

Twice I have found that on my iPhone the Number for the iPhone in the Send and Receive part of the settings for the Messages app on the iPhone has become unticked (despite the fact it is greyed out an not changeable in that interface)

If this is the case the Mac will get the sync version of Messages aimed at the iPhone Number but the iPhone will not.

You have to remove the Apple ID from the setting on the iPhone then place the phone in Airport Mode (or Do Not Disturb) to break with the server then go back in and wait for the iPhone number to verify (Again) before adding back the Apple ID.

9:07 pm Sunday; December 14, 2014

Hey EllieScoobs,

Thanks for the question. If I understand correctly, iMessages on iOS isnt getting messages. I see you have already done some troubleshooting. I would recommend that you read these articles, they may be helpful in troubleshooting your issue.

iOS: Troubleshooting Messages - Apple Support

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

Have a great day,

Mario

Pls read EllieScoobs, question again. This is NOT the problem he/she & I are having. There's no red exclamation pt after sending a text.

PROBLEM #1 - People are texting from their iPh's/other SmartPh's to my iPh6, yet I am only receive theit txt msgs on my MacBook Air via the Messages pgm & not on my phone.

PROBLEM #2 - I'll be having a txt conversation with someone, partly on my MB Air & party on my iPh6, & the entire dialogue doesn't show up on both.

UTLIMATE QUESTION: How do we sync up Messages on the MacBook Air & our iPh's.

I've had this problem for over a yr & one half. It's MADDENING & BAD FOR BUSINESS. What's up with this????

Hi,

As I said earlier I have found it to be in this section.

This is Settings > Messages > Send and Receive on the iPhone.

On occasions I have found the Telephone Number without a Tick (not active) even though as a User I cannot change this.

Given long enough this will cause the number to be "de-registered" and therefore iMessages will not sync.

However if you set up Text Forwarding set up this will continue as it uses the Phone Carrier and then WiFi to the Mac and not the iMessages servers.

There can then be further issues if it is left longer but I have not tested this to find a resolution.

I would check everything very thoroughly.

On the Mac go to Messages > Preferences > Accounts > the iMessages account and click the Details Button.

You will have to Sign In here to see the details.

Check the Country is the one you are using (particularly for the Contacts "home" country i.e it should be were you are and where the iPhone is registered).

Check the Send and Receive section on the iPhone.

If required reset the iPhone.

Sign Out of the Apple ID.
Turn Messages Off and wait two minutes before turning back on Again.

Wait for the number to Verify.

test sending an iMessages to the Apple ID (Mac).

Add back the Apple ID.

Restart the Mac and the Messages and Accept the pop ups about what the iPhone is using.

Check BlueTooth and Wifi is active on the iPhone and Mac and Set text Forwarding again (If you don't get the Code number appearing on the Mac keep resetting until it does.).

10:03 p.m. Wednesday; August 12, 2015

I have the exact same issues and sentiments as you and I'm almost to tears stressed about it. None of the forums/Apple advice are relevant or helpful.

Hi,

On the other hand in this Thread no-one is posting back that their settings look like my picture (with the ticked iPhone Number) or whether they have checked every other setting.

Nor have they posted what happens if they iMessages the Apple ID (if it is syncing properly then both the Mac and the iPhone should show the iMessage.

Mousing over the iMessages on the Mac should give you info about whether it is from the Apple ID (A sync "Copy" and not the original) or whether it comes from the iPhone Number (Original iMessage).

It is possible to also check the details on the iMessages arriving on the iPhone.

Select the Chat then Details in the top right corner.

It will show you the Contacts details if you select the ℹ in circle Info option. The current method to contact you will be in blue (iPhone Number or Apple ID)

If they are not the same on the Mac and iPhone you will have to work out which is getting the "copy".

9:04 p.m. Tuesday; August 18, 2015

Hi all... and especially Ralph... brand new user here.... and totally mystified by Apple... I have read the above... completed the steps as suggested by Ralp...; and got to the part where I try to get the Text Message Forwarding to work... I know Ralph said to keep prompting and waiting for a magic set of numbers to appear on the Mac to put in to the iPhone S 5 I have... and after several hours... natta...nothing.... zip....

So

What am I doing wrong???

To say that I am frustrated to the MAX would be an understatement... .

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Dashx

Hi,

So... you have the iPhone set to do Messages (the app is turned on and showing the green part of the slide).

You have added the Apple ID to the Messages app on the Mac for the ID for iMessages account.

At this point the Apple ID should be able to send iMessages to the iPhone Telephone Number (as that is the ID in use on the iPhone).

The iPhone should be able to respond or even send from the iPhone Number to the Apple ID.

If you now add the Apple ID to the iPhone the two become Linked and anything sent to the iPhone Number will be "synced" (duplicated and shown) on the Mac. (and vice versa).

This should cause Pop ups to appear on the Mac to say what the iPhone is using.

You need to accept these so the Mac can use the iPhone Number as well as the Apple ID.

The iPhone should be set to to connect to your Home Wifi (presuming that is where the Mac is)

The iPhone and Mac should be on the same LAN (home Network) as long as this does not involved multiple routers to do wifi separately from Ethernet.

Then the Text Forwarding item on the iPhone can be set.

This should offer the devices you can connect to that are on the Same LAN.

You should pick the Mac.

On the Mac this should trigger the Slide out with the code number on it.

That in turn needs to be entered on the iPhone to link the two devices.

The earlier post presumes that the iPhone is already on the LAN connected by Wifi.

8:45 p.m. Friday; August 21, 2015

Hi,

So... you have the iPhone set to do Messages (the app is turned on and showing the green part of the slide).

You have added the Apple ID to the Messages app on the Mac for the ID for iMessages account.

At this point the Apple ID should be able to send iMessages to the iPhone Telephone Number (as that is the ID in use on the iPhone).

The iPhone should be able to respond or even send from the iPhone Number to the Apple ID.

If you now add the Apple ID to the iPhone the two become Linked and anything sent to the iPhone Number will be "synced" (duplicated and shown) on the Mac. (and vice versa).

This should cause Pop ups to appear on the Mac to say what the iPhone is using.

You need to accept these so the Mac can use the iPhone Number as well as the Apple ID.

The iPhone should be set to to connect to your Home Wifi (presuming that is where the Mac is)

The iPhone and Mac should be on the same LAN (home Network) as long as this does not involved multiple routers to do wifi separately from Ethernet.

Then the Text Forwarding item on the iPhone can be set.

This should offer the devices you can connect to that are on the Same LAN.

You should pick the Mac.

On the Mac this should trigger the Slide out with the code number on it.

That in turn needs to be entered on the iPhone to link the two devices.

The earlier post presumes that the iPhone is already on the LAN connected by Wifi.

8:45 p.m. Friday; August 21, 2015

It was a bit painful to get to this point, but these directions (what I could understand of them) worked to pop up the magic numbers on my mac. Thanks, Ralph.

Ralph's solution worked for me as well, for the same problem as the OP except on an iPhone 6. Thanks.

Hi,

I was also having this same problem. I followed Ralph Johns' steps, but the problem did not go away. However I was able to solve it.

Apple has a tool for deregistering your mobile phone number from their iMessage servers. You can do so here: https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage. Here's what I did:

1. Followed Ralph Johns' steps. This did not solve my problem, but it may have been a necessary step.

2. Disabled the iCloud account in iMessage on the two Mac laptops.

3. Used Apple's tool linked above to remove the number of the phone that wasn't receiving the messages.

4. Re-enabled the iCloud accounts in iMessage on the two Macs.

After that, I could finally receive messages on both the Mac and the iPhone. Yay! I can only guess that somehow the iMessage account at Apple was still associated with my old iPhone. When I got a new iPhone, even though it had the same phone number, something was different that made Apple's servers fail to recognize the new phone. So deregistering and then setting it back up again worked.

Jake

Hi,

On the Mac the Serial Number is used with the Password for the ID to create an IDS: AppleID-Auth Token to login to the iMessages servers.

It is not clear what the iPhone uses but it too will generate and unique Login to the iMessages servers. It is likely though that it is the Serial Number of the device.

8:16 pm Tuesday; November 24, 2015