iMessage not displaying international dialling code instead of contact name

Hi,

Check the two cards on the Mac and the iOS device

I suspect the one on the iPhone lists the full Country Code.

It probably also shows the Country Code number as your number when you look that up.

The next thing then is to check that the sync between Contacts app is the same and is working.

There can be issues if many "Accounts" in System Preferences > Internet accounts are turned ON for Contacts which then means the Mac never gets to the end of the list - it can't tell when it is going over the same list on one of the servers.

This in turn causes iMessages to not list the person properly.

Next check the way the iPhone sends iMessages

If it list the iPhone Number then the Mac may see the "Sync" of that.

The Mac may be set to send using the Apple ID and if that is not logged in properly then that will also create the results you see.

If you suspect this try setting Send From to the iPhone Number.

If it does seem to be this then Sign Out then Quit the app before opening the app again and Signing in again.

The Mac longer has a setting in Messages to set the Country.

However it does need this.

The OS gathers the info by checking other nearby connections and stating where you are.

Date and Time and then Time Zone in System Preferences > Date and Time also help with this.

8:42 pm Thursday; April 27, 2017

Hi,

If in System Preferences > Internet Accounts (or iCloud) there are multiple options trying to sync with the Contacts you can have issues.

Apparently the Contacts app cannot tell when it has got to the end and goes around and around.

In Contacts itself in Preferences > Accounts only one account should be active.

If the iCloud on is chosen then the On My Mac one should disappear as the whole list is actually then in the Cloud and is "read" by the devices that are syncing with it. (obviously it could be any of the other services rather than iCloud).

7:35 pm Friday; April 28, 2017

Hi,

My "On My Mac" account disappears when another account is used to sync.

The others that Internet Accounts think will work with Contact App are also listed but turned Off.

I am not sure I can add anything else.

8:38 pm Monday; May 8, 2017

Hi,

This is the .plist that was involved.

In Xcode (which is free) it looks like this:-

The Profile line can be expanded like the ones on view and the Country and Code are the five lines inside that item:-

This item is no longer in ~/Library/Preferences in Sierra.

I have not been able to find it anywhere else such as ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Preferences (or the com.apple.soagent one either).

If the info is now in another .plist I have not been able to find that either.

I have tried the Easy Find App as well as Spotlight without any luck.

7:52 pm Thursday; May 11, 2017

Hi,

In summary.

Early Messages had a Pane that slide out in Account (in Messages) that could have a country allocated.

This prefixed "local" number with a Country Code

I believe it was in El Capitan that this changed to the OS polling local connections to work out where the Mac was.

This too seemed to be passed on to Messages in some way that made "local" numbers work with Country Codes.

It seems there has been a more recent change and Messages is no longer prefixing "local" numbers.

The only fix seems to be to change them in Contacts

For me that was very few and although I don't recall doing it specifically I did go to France to years ago (I was distracted by many other things at the time).

I have not found a specific "fix" at present.

9:23 pm Saturday; June 10, 2017

Hi,

From the posts I have read it is only effecting OS X 10.12.5

It seems that it is something in the OS or at least what Messages does with the info about the Mac's Internet Location and how it uses that to change the Number called to include the International Dialling Code when the Contacts don't have it.

If you have already added the International Code to your Contacts then you don't see the issue.

As I can also remember the iChat 3 fiasco that stopped many people east of the Mississippi and as far north as the Great Lakes which happened when Steve was alive I don't think the issue has anything to do with his passing.

iChat 3 went to 4 way Video chats and 10 way Audio Only chats.

Apple choose a new protocol that was supposed to have been implemented from a 7 year before that agreement. (I.e. the "internet" was supposed to be ready).

However it was only found after the GM release that it did not work for everyone. (The test group Apple uses is potentially too small and possibly at that time to few used Video chats to discover the issue early).

7:35 pm Monday; June 26, 2017

Hi,

Just to clear.

Apple don't monitor these boards as a matter of course.

They do employ the Hosts (Moderators) who only deal with offensive and other posts that break the rules.

There are also Community Specialists who do offer some sort of Tech Support where they are supposed to picked up missed or unanswered threads over 24 hours old (the time in many areas for an Thread to drop off the front page) or when it has reach the second page in faster areas.

Most of their help is sign posting people to relevant help documents.

It seems the only help now is for your to Add the Country Codes as you need them.

Messages no longer seems to add them automatically to "local" to your country to the numbers you have.

7:27 pm Tuesday; July 25, 2017

Hi,

This is where it used to be set in Older version of Messages.

(Messages have more in Preferences back then)

In later versions the OS took over finding out your Location. This was then stored in a .plist in ~/Library/Preferences as detailed in previous posts.

In Sierra something about this has changed and that .plist is no longer used even if it is retained. (it's not recreated if you delete it).

Without this info Messages does not know where you are and no longer adds your Country Code to those numbers that appear to be from the same country (i.e if you are in the UK +44, where as contacts in the USA already have +1 added).

The only real fix at present is to add the Country Code to all your Contacts that need it or at lease the ones that you use with Messages and/or FaceTime.

8:12 pm Wednesday; July 26, 2017

Hi,

Messages has lots of .plists now.

All the com.apple.iChat ones that were used by iChat are still used.

There are a couple with messages in the name.

There used to be called com.apple.ids.service.com.apple.madrid.plist

This used to hold the Country Code

This is not used in Sierra so the issue appears.

In fact it used to also hold the Apple ID the iPhone Number if linked and also any other emails you have added.

Removing it and then restarting Messages used to be a way of unlinking the extra emails but this no longer works as the .plist is not recreated. (the info is now held elsewhere and I have not found out where yet).

This means Messages is not overriding the info in Contacts when there are no Country Codes for your Contacts.

I hope this takes things a bit further for you.

s

7:36 pm Thursday; July 27, 2017

Hi,

That does seem odd and I can't explain it.

There were "rumours" that it was in fact "Fixed" in 10.12.6

If the Reinstall used a Combo version of the update there can be deeper changes than just a standard 10.12.5 to 10.12.6 update would do.

I am not sure if the Reinstall does in fact use the Combo version (normally used for jumps bigger than the .5 to .6 points). i.e. 10.12. base to 10.12.6 versions

10:07 pm Friday; July 28, 2017

Hi,

It would either be the Contacts (iCloud) servers or the iMessages ones.

As the location of your computer is worked out locally I doubt it is either server.

I am in the UK. I am 6 miles west of the Hampshire/Dorset border.

For those that don't know that is effectively middle of the country and I am about 10 miles inland of the coast, west of the Isle of Wight.

However my ISP is Sky.com and I use their Fibre service.

Most two step Verifications place me a hundred miles away in London. (to the east)

There again most "what's my IP ?" type site place me more to the west in the town of Poole (the Big Harbour slightly further west and obviously close to the sea).

System Preferences > Date and Time > Time Zone list my town and the Time Zone complete with the current Daylight Saving Time.

The Time Server is set to the Europe one.

The Language and Region which I doubt actually effect this is set to the United Kingdom and the English (UK) settings.

Little Snitch lists some connections to apple that might be to do with location

and

which seem to be used to work out where your Location actually is.

In Sierra the Messages App no longer tells the iMessages server where it is.

8:30 pm Saturday; July 29, 2017

Hi,

Basically the info is not there (well not in Messages)

Both the iPhone's version and the Mac's version of Messages used to add the country code if it was not there as ALL iPhone numbers have to be located within the greater world wide web and/or phone carriers.

Therefore as the current situation is that iPhone's can add the Country Code you can send an iMessage to +44 1234567890 as it were.

The reply is from +44 1234567890 and this is what the Mac displays.

As this full locations and number, if you like, is NOT how your contacts on the Mac has the person listed then the the person's name does not show.

8:13 pm Monday; August 14, 2017

Hi,

The issue is unlikely to go away until they either bring out OS X 10.12.7 - if they are going to do such a thing before High Sierra is released - or we have to wait and hope that High Sierra catches it.

Developers and people who might have advanced/test copies of High Sierra are supposed to sign NDA documents meaning they cannot discuss it.

Such posts often disappear from view.

8:02 pm Tuesday; August 29, 2017

Hi,

In my case I have a relatively small Contacts list most of whom are family.

I do have though a larger number (in comparison to the whole list) of AIM Screen Names where I used to connect with people using iChat.

Being a long time Mac user my son, daughter, wife, Son-in-law all have at least iPhones, in some cases iPads and of course Macs.

It was two years ago that in going to France and taking 2 iPhones and a laptop that I changed all my family's telephone numbers to include the Country Code. (in France they weren't "Local" number so they had to be added).

This was how I missed the issue.

After suggesting many things to "fix" this and not finding the file that stores the info (most can be edited with TextEdit if required or with Apple's own free Xcode) it seems the only "fix" is to change all the Contacts you have either manually or with a batch app creation like something in Automator.

Apple has Feedback - Messages - Apple

This feedback page is rarely up to date as to the Messages Version drop down (Put everything in the free text box).

There is never any answer from this page.

It requires sheer volume of numbers to post on that page to get an update.

Hints about what may or may not be in High Sierra are banned under Non Disclosure Agreements that Developers and other testers have with Apple are banned from general discussion (or at times, reserved to Public Beta forums) so some posts will disappear before many (if any) get to read them.

The ones I have seen suggest it is NOT "fixed".

I would encourage people to use the Feedback page.

8:49 pm Wednesday; August 30, 2017

Hi,

I had not seen that info before - where a second Mac running Sierra was not having an issue.

As I said, in my case the Contacts all got changed As I left the UK (+44) and had to change them all so I could "call Home".

I discovered the "madrid" IDS .plist was not being recreate in Sierra when I went to remove it to remove an ID that keeps returning.

(I had two phone and two IDs but only one iPhone and Apple ID was on the Mac and then in a moment of madness I added the second iPhone (and of course the Apple ID through sync) to the Mac login).

Every now and then a pop up appears asking if I want to use this Apple ID.

You can say no to this Pop up but it still adds it but as an inactive ID.

Upgrades can sometimes migrate items to new places in the file structure.

This is particular in the cases with Sandbox items. Most of these have extra files in the ~/Library/Containers folder many with Aliases pointing to the original Files.

I Fresh Install may miss some migration markers - if they existed.

It seems to be developing into a wider issue problem.

8:27 pm Sunday; September 3, 2017