iMessages not showing Contact name

Hi,

I have the same problem ever since upgrading from OS X Yosemite.

After troubleshooting this issue with Apple Support and iCloud engineering for several months, I discovered the underlying issue with Apple ID and the macOS Messages app. This is not a fix, just an explanation with no practical work around. It is up to Apple to ultimately address this issue. Nevertheless I hope the information will be useful to others troubleshooting the same problem.

As several people have mentioned in this thread, the macOS Messages app region setting was removed in OS X El Capitan and macOS Sierra, however the iMessage region preference flag continues working on the same Mac even after upgrading from Yosemite to El Capitan and Sierra as long as the user never signs out of iCloud, iMessages or FaceTime.

However If the user signs out of these services after upgrading from Yosemite, the iMessages region defaults to the country setting of the Apple ID/iTunes account credit card and cannot be overridden on the local Mac. This causes the iMessages Contact name problem if you live in a different country than your Apple ID/iTunes account country setting.

For example I live in Japan most of the time but my Apple ID/iTunes account is set to the USA with a USA issued credit card attached to the account. In this case the macOS Messages app cannot format or send to local Japanese iMessage enabled iPhone numbers and will not match or group numbers with contacts. Everything works fine on iOS Messages side for the same Apple ID because the iMessages region setting can be set to Japan.

The only option for macOS iMessage users not residing in the same country as their Apple ID/iTunes account credit card & country setting is to change the iTunes account credit card and country setting matched with a locally issued credit card. The iTunes account credit card validation process seems to be what actually sets the Apple ID account country. Switching the country however invalidates all iTunes content purchased with the previous country issued credit card.

The easiest thing would be for Apple to restore the region setting to the macOS Messages app, similar to what has always existed in the macOS FaceTime app.

Note for Others.

It can sometime be that the Contacts App is not syncing with other devices in the way you want.

IF you are using multiple "Accounts" lists in the Contacts Preferences or in System Preferences > Internet Accounts then reduce it to one option - the one the other devices are also using.

If there is no sync going on then choose an option in System Preferences > Internet Accounts or the iCloud one.

10:14 p.m. Thursday; October 1, 2015

I'm having the exact same issue, I have tried a system restart, checked my accounts etc and all seems correct.This only seems to have happened since I have the new 6S and upgraded to the latest iOS - also updated my mac to El Capitan.

Any fixes yet?

Hi,

Either in System Preferences > iCloud or Internet Accounts one of the items will the chosen method/service of syncing the Contacts App to the iPhone and other devices.

Try deselecting the option and then resetting it a few minutes later, possibly with a restart of the computer in-between.

You may get an alert saying whether you want to keep the list on your Mac.

If it is working on the iPhone and other devices then say no.

If you are not sure then log in to the iCloud Web page and check Contacts there (or the service you are using) to see it is in the "cloud" properly.

9:48 p.m. Friday; October 16, 2015

Per Ralph's comment, my issue was with syncing contacts from multiple accounts. Specifically it was Facebook that was the culprit. I can sync both Exchange and iCloud at the same time, but with Facebook on it prevented names from showing up in Messages. Thanks for the help.

Thanks for letting us know.

8:14 pm Tuesday; December 15, 2015

This had been driving me nuts for ages on my iPad and I've finally cracked it for the issues I was having. My region was set to USA but I live in UK, this meant Messages was automatically adding +44 on the front of incoming messages, and in my Contacts they were stored without this, all just starting with the standard 0.

Changed country back to UK and all is fixed.

Hope this helps someone!

Where is the region setting?

Hi,

In the version up to and including Yosemite the place was in Messages > Preferences > Accounts > iMessages Account > Details Button (sign in here- again as it were).

However this button is not there in El Capitan and I have tried several places in the System Preferences such as Language and Region, Date and Time, iCloud that I think might add the info to the com.apple.ids.service.com.apple.madrid.plist which appears to hold the info (As do most of the other com.apple.ids. .plists)

Based on the fact the com.apple.ichat.plist holds other info about the app that is in fact superseded by other .plists it is hard to tell if some info is overridden from elsewhere. For instance if you have not deleted this ichat.plist and set different Fonts in the previous version where you could do so then they still show up but are overridden by the SOAgent set of .plists that are held in the Containers section of the ~/Library.

A study of the info about how the Mac works out it's Locations says it takes it from "local Networks and similar" rather than a specific setting.

8:20 pm Sunday; January 17, 2016

Hello,

How can i change imessage region setting in El Capitan ?

Hi,

There isn't anywhere to do this now.

It seems the OS s capable of working out where you are and using that.

This includes the City/town selected in Date and Time > Time Zone and what other networks it can see.

My iMac does not move about so it seem pretty set at the GB location seen in the madrid .plist

7:56 pm Monday; March 14, 2016

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for all the useful information.

I have the same problem with my El Capitan 10.11.6（15G31), the Messages app displays international phone numbers instead of Contact names.

All was working well until I signed out of iCloud and signed in again with the same ID two week ago. Suddenly iMessage and SMS texts displayed international phone numbers instead contact names. The Messages app region setting must have been reset somehow even though language and region setting were never touched in the preferences panel. As others have pointed out Messages used to have a region setting (the FaceTime app still does) but its gone in El Capitan (and Sierra beta too). BTW everything works great with the same Apple/iCloud ID on the iOS side.

If there is any new information on resetting the El Capitan Messages app region by deleting a preference/container plist file or via Terminal, please post here.

Thanks again in advance.

Hi,

I would still check the Contacts App > Preferences > Accounts on the Mac and make sure it is using the same "Account" to sync with the iPhone.

On upgrading to El Capitan I found every possible option for System Preferences > Internet Account had been activated creating the Number instead of name issue and an endless loop of trying to check every Address Book for updates.

8:57 pm Wednesday; July 20, 2016

Hi,

Thank you. I had checked it before but double checked to make sure. Both Mac and iOS are the same Apple ID/iCloud.

I am wondering if it has anything to do with Apple's migration of old "XXX@mac.com" Apple ID accounts to "XXX@icloud.com".

I "updated" my Apple ID from the old mac.com to "icloud.com" so that icloud.com is now the "primary" address for my Apple ID. That in itself did not affect anything on the Mac side but when I signed out of the "mac.com" iCloud ID on the Mac and signed in again using the new primary address "icloud.com", the OS X Messages app stopped showing Contact names.

The dig continues...