Cannot send iMessages on my Mac but can receive them

Hi,

From the first post.

There is nothing in System Preferences > iCloud that is anything to do with Messages or iMessages.

In fact I use two different IDs between the two places

On the Mac > Messages > Preferences > Accounts > iMessages Account.

On the iPhone > Settings > Messages > Send and Receive.

They should be the same.

Nominally on the iPhone the iPhone Number ticked and greyed out plus the Apple ID should be active.

On the Mac the Receive At list should also contain both.

The "Start Conversations From" can be different.

The Mac will only show this is both the Apple ID and Number are active.

What can sometimes happen is that one ID on one device is not fully logged in and you then only see the Syncs from the other option.

As the ID in question might not be logged in you may then have lost the ability to Send from the second ID as well as the first.

IN the Main Window on the Mac version use the "To" spot as a drop down.

It should make it clear which ID is send to you.

You may also see items like this in the chat text.

Where the ID sending to you has changed between their Apple ID and iPhone Number (or the other way round like the pic.)

If your Contact can tell you if this appears at their End about your iMessages you may be well on the way to finding which ID or Number is an issue.

Your Settings for "Start Conversation From" on the Mac is not the ID that you might be sending an iMessages from as the App will default to the ID the incoming iMessages was addressed to.

There is not really a clear cut way of really finding out on your own Mac which ID or Number the app actually sent from.

8:12 pm Thursday; April 14, 2016

Hi,

Sometimes on the iPhone the Send and Receive lists the iPhone Number but although it is greyed out and not changeable it becomes Unticked.

This means the iPhone Number cannot be used to Send and is in fact Not logged in.

What happens then is iMessages sent to your iPhone Number show up initially as the Sync to the Apple ID shows them.

After a while though the Number can become registered at the iMessages server.

IF...

At the same time the Mac version is set to only use the iPhone Number (Where the Apple ID is actually Unticked in Receive At) then the Mac will only get the iMessages send to the iPhone Number.

When the iPhone number becomes de-registered then the Mac can no longer Send iMessages if the Apple ID is effectively "Off" (if it is unticked in the Receive at list it will not appear in the "Start Conversations From" drop down (in fact the drop down might not appear if there are only the two options).

Now this scenario above does not quite match what you are saying.

I am pretty sure it is not a different ID.

I think it is about the way you have the two current IDs set up across the two devices.

I am presuming that the iPhone is set to Send iMessages (with SMS as a back up option) and that all the outgoing iMessages are blue.

As all incoming iMessages are grey it is not always clear which are are dealing with until you try to reply.

It is possible to have Text Forwarding (SMS) working on the iPhone and seeing them on the Mac when iMessages does not work.

I have my Mac version set to send from the Apple ID (my iPhone is set to Send from the iPhone Number)

I sent to my iPhone Number.

However the sync shows and being from the Apple ID

It is quirky things like this that can make it difficult to pin down exactly where the issue is.

9:20 pm Thursday; April 14, 2016

Hi,

I would be tempted to try and exclude the iPhone from the picture.

On the iPhone in Settings Sign Out of the Apple ID in Messages > Send and Receive

Then slide the Messages active Button to Not active in the main settings page for Messages (which turns It off).

On the Mac if it showing two options in Messages > Preferences > Accounts > iMessages Account and the Receive At section then make sure the "Start Conversations From" drop down is selecting the Apple ID.

Now try and iMessages someone.

Does this work ?

If it does not work then open a Finder window and Hold the ALT key down whilst using the GO Menu and select the Library that appears

Navigate to the Preferences Folder.

Find the com.apple.ids.service.com.apple.madrid.plist file and drag it to the Trash.

This file holds the Apple ID and any Receive At alternatives.

Restart Messages and you will have to re-enter the Apple ID and password again.

Now try sending an iMessage again. (See Note 1 at the bottom)

If that works Enable the Messages app on the iPhone and wait until it says the Number has Verified.

When it has done that send a test iMessages to your Apple ID.

If that works reply and then if that has worked add back the Apple ID.

This will cause the Pop up to reappear on the Mac to say what the iPhone is using.

Accept this.

What this will have done is forced the Mac version to reconnect to the iMessages server as well as the iPhone to do the same.

In addition the iPhone will have been forced to redo the Sync link to the Apple ID. (which you then will have had to accept on the Mac)

NOTE 1

If the Mac fails in Messages at this point - either in Registering in the first place, not finding a contact and saying they are Not Registered or Saying the iMessages is not delivered - which are all symptoms of not logging in properly then the only recourse is to Contact Apple Support.

State you have an Apple ID issue (It relates to using iMessages only and also Only from your Mac).

Apple ID issues are free to fix.

The Apple care first level responders are Script Led trying to fix Apple Care issue. (They are trying to get to to test Hardware and Software and not deal with Apple ID issues)

Ask to speak to a Level 2 person.

These can still not know of the issue about some Macs triggering the Server to not use the Apple ID.

Others know but want to gather data so that the engineer can figure why this gets triggered.

Some of this is OK.

Updating, Upgrading or Reinstall the OS will not change things.

Be persistent in trying to get them to reset the server.

When people report back on this they say they are told it will take 24 hours

I can't say we have found a quicker way to get though the Apple Support team process or in trying to get them to speed up the reset process.

7:49 pm Friday; April 15, 2016

Hi,

The computer is unlikely to be using different IDs.

You can read the ID name in System Preferences > iCloud and again from iMessages in Messages > Preferences > Accounts > iMessages account.

Most people do use the same ID (they connect to different Servers - although there is away to check the ID and password to the Apple ID servers).

If the Mac is not singing in then it is not "registering" the fact it is using the same Apple ID as the iPhone which is why the forwarding is not working.

(Although to check and make sure the iPhone is on your LAN. i.e. it is using WIFI).

To be clear there is nothing in System Preferences> iCloud to enable the same ID in Messages for iMessages, FaceTime, App Store, iTunes and Developer and other less standard services.

This means the servers are separate.

This in turn means that one app can fail or be blocked when other work.

As a test create another Mac User as a test account in System Preferences > User and Groups

Login as this User and set up iMessages with your Apple ID.

Does it login here ?

If not then the issue is with your Apple ID at the iMessages server and it will be time for Note 1 from above.

It is late where I am and it will be some time before I am back.

9:53 pm Friday; April 15, 2016

Please back up all data before proceeding.

Log in to the old account.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Keychains

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)

from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Move the selected item to the Desktop. Log out or restart the computer. Test.

Then put the folder you moved back where it was, replacing the new one that may have been created in its place. Log out or restart again.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You may not see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

Hi,

At this point follow Linc's Advice.

Essentially there are two choices now.

Move items to the new Mac User Account bit by bit in the hope that the corrupt item is not moved as well.

Or work on the old account and fix what is wrong.

Actually the second option can be a long haul but is does save moving Pictures, Movies, Documents let alone Passwords and Preferences fro all the apps you use and may have bought.

7:15 pm Saturday; April 16, 2016

This worked for me, thank you!

Deleting the iChat plist and restarting helped me.

Hi,

Did you solved it? Same problem here

Did you manage to solve the problem? I have the same issue now (just started happening after a couple days of bizarre messages behaviour on my mac) and cannot find a solution.

Hi,

Check the “Text Message Forwarding” setting on iPhone to make sure it’s turned on.