Jabber login - cannot connect to iChat/Messages on iMac

Hi,

This has moved on in High Sierra.

In the Preferences of Messages is an Account pane.

Unless the iMessages Account says it is inactive here there is no other indication whether the account is logged in properly.

The Status item in the Messages Menu refers only to Jabber accounts now that Apple have removed AIM and Bonjour (AIM came to an end as a service in December 2017 but it seems unclear why Apple removed Bonjour from the app).

Yahoo as a service that was in iChat 6 through to El Capitan has also been ended with Yahoo re-writing the app/Service and Apple not repeating the joining of that service.

GoogleTalk and Hangouts are Accessible by the Jabber Protocol.

However adding Google Talk in Sierra requires you remove the Google account from System Preferences > Internet accounts.

Then you go back to Messages and Add your full Google ID as a Jabber account.

Then it is back to Internet account and Enabling Mail (at least).

In High Sierra you need to delete the Google Account in Internet Accounts

Then choose to add a New Account under Other and select Messages then Jabber.

I used Automatically find Server and Port and used SSL

Then an Account for Google can be added normally.

It have no Messages option to tick as the Mail and other servers are separate from the GoogleTalk ones.

NOTE

I have never relied on Google Oauth Tokens and have the SSL for "Less Secure Apps", as Google deems them, to to Allow those using SSL.

9:50 pm Friday; January 5, 2018

Hi,

Sorry for the delay but I am packing up my house to have the floor repaired having flooded it with a DIY mishap.

The issue is with how OS X 10.12 handles the two servers at Google.

The Google Talk server is called talk.google.com and the mail one depends on whether you have an @googlemail.com ID or an @gmail.com one, although essentially they are linked at Google's end.

The System Preferences > Internet Accounts for the Mail server overrides anything you had set up in Messages.

Go to System Preferences > Internet Accounts > Google and delete the account.

Now go to Messages and set up your Google ID there.

Where as Mail is not fussy if your have an @gmail.com account or an @googlemail.com it is important you use the correct one here.

Once that is set up you can go back to System Preferences > Internet Accounts and you will find a new Google set up.

You now can enable the Mail option and the Mail App will login.

It will not do this the other way round.

9:28 pm Friday; July 7, 2017

tried this but doesn't seem to want to connect, also it indicates that imessage is inactive when you enable the gtalk account :/

Thanks Ralph! my hero again today! 🙂