Q: iMessage on my Mac no longer sends messages. It only sends SMS, even to contacts that have apple ID

Hi,

Go to the iPhone > Settings > Messages > Send and Receive.

The iPhone Number should be ticked but greyed out (i.e. you can't change it as the user).

If it is unticked (it happens)  sign out of the Apple ID on the iPhone.

Place it in Airplane mode for 2 minutes.

On going back to the settings wait for the number to Verify.

Add back the Apple ID and then the SMS/Text Forwarding setting (You might have to do this several time to get the Mac to show you a new code).

9:40 p.m.      Wednesday; July 22, 2015

HI,

OK so the iPhone Number has been reset with the servers.

Is the iPhone listing the Apple ID as an Active (ticked ) Send and Receive option ?

Logic states that it should be as they as the first steps to do (do the standard Sync linking) before you attempt the Text Forwarding link.

If that is ticked then we need to check the Mac > Messages > Preferences > Accounts > iMessages Account lists the Apple ID (Almost certain) and that this is also active as a Receive At ID (which when the iPhone Number is listed creates the "Start Conversations From" drop down).

It may pay to Sign Out of the Apple ID here and then Sign Back in again.

This will cause the pop ups to appear about what the iPhone is using - which you need to accept - just to make sure the link on the Mac is made between Apple ID and iPhone Number

8:14 p.m.      Thursday; July 23, 2015

Hi,

I don't have any other suggestions myself at the moment but I will remain Subscribed to this thread if you update it.

8:07 p.m.      Tuesday; July 28, 2015

Hi Joshua and Ralph - I'm glad I found this thread.  I have been having EXACTLY the same problem you describe, and I have tried all of the same fixes to no avail.  This started a few days ago after I got my MacBook Pro (mid-2012 Retina) back from Apple Repair where it had to get a new Magsafe board and a new logic board (it had lost the ability to charge).  After I got it back, everything about the computer worked perfectly fine (in fact, better than before) EXCEPT for Messages, which was now doing the problem described above (only sending green SMS messages from the computer - although I can send blue imessages from my phone and iPad).

If either of you learn anything that helps, PLEASE let me know - this is quite annoying as it had been working fine with full linking ever since Apple came out with handoff.

Thanks!

James

UUnfortunately, that's not encouraging. I've found a few other posts out there with a similar problem and the answer from Applenalways seems to be "we've never seen this before."  Unfortunately, as you and I are experiencing, it's very real!  The logic board isolation makes some sense as that is the only thing that has recently changed in my computer......

Hi,

We may be looking at two issue running together.

It is possible that the Mac can get locked out of the iMessages servers for no apparent reason.

Basically this from the start of OS X 10.8.2 shows that this is possible:-

This is what happens when the Serial Number is missing.

We know that there are at least two types of "Silent" failures (before the Yosemite SMS link ability) which showed up as All contacts going red and "not Registered with iMessages" alerts being shown.  The other is when sending a iMessage always gets a "Not Delivered" alert appearing under the text.

Both these mean you are not logged in (? fully) from the Mac for iMessages - the presumption being you can use the same ID to login to other services (different Servers) and even with different devices to the iMessages servers.

However at the same time the iPhone has to have the same Apple ID in use to work over your Local network for the SMS to be forwarded to the Mac from the iPhone's carrier service.

This works as the iPhone and Mac are linked locally and not just with the iMessages servers.

Ergo the SMS function may keep working even though the Mac does not has  full login with the iMessages servers.

It used to be that we suggested phoning Apple Support, saying you had a login /Apple ID issue (free to fix) and got (asked for ) a level 2 person and got them to look a the iMessages servers regarding your Mac login and they would reset it.

Then the issue seemed to be more common and also further away in time from the Pic above error.

This seemed to cause a moment towards the Engineers being involved and lots of testing and the Level 2s not solving the issue on their own.

If it is the Mac's use to the Apple ID used for iMessages only a reset seems to fix it.

The Serial Number is used for two reasons.

1) A unique login for each device.

2) a security feature that stops a Man-in-the-Middle attacks (people pretending to be your Mac)

Obviously it seems to be being triggered by ordinary events and causing everyone a headache.

Apple are obviously looking for this cause rather then endlessly resetting everyone that phones up.

9:28 p.m.      Saturday; August 1, 2015

This does help me understand what might be going on.  So, do you recommend I call Apple and ask for a reset?

Thanks!

These are good ideas and I may try them.  And, I have an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar on Thursday.  However, miraculously, I just received several imessages on my computer and it may be that my problem cleared on its own as well.  Perhaps Apple just did something???

Anyway, thanks so much and I'll let you all know if I learn anything new.

I had the same problem but i figure out what worked for me.

On my mac I went to iMessage preferences, then go to accounts and click on the iMessage account and at the bottom it says "start new conversations from:" Click on it to dropdown and click your email instead of your number and that should be it. This is what worked for me so i hope it helps y'all out!