iMessage Delay High Sierra

I have this issue as well and have done some research as well. I couldn't really find a solution other than downgrading to Sierra. I'm hoping that if this thread does become more popular, maybe Apple will see the problem and address it in a future High Sierra update as I think it is a software issue. I'm hoping it is a server issue because the problem for me is inconsistent as well. Sometimes the messages appear on my phone and computer at the same exact time. And sometimes like now, as I speak, I am receiving messages on my phone that just are not showing up on my computer at all even after several minutes. I hope your troubleshooting goes well and I will let you know if I find a fix.

I'm having the same issue. iMessage on High Sierra will not update for hours and then all the messages will come in. I have done the complete refresh and it works for a short time and then back to the same.

This is clearly a software issue and it is a regression introduced with macOS 10.13 high sierra. The problem is not icloud related.

I hope Apple will be able to fix this known problem (rdar://34832079 10/05/2017).

I discovered this as well. It blows my mind how Apple is so absolutely crappy in the "communication services" category.

This issue is driving me nuts...I hate going backwards but based on how I operate it's causing me to make routine changes that are really distracting.

I would like to point out something I have noticed with this. I am having the same issues, but it only happens to me when I am close to my MacBook Pro. If I leave the general vicinity of my MacBook Pro, then the messages work great. The issue I am having is with both iMessage and traditional text messages. I have read several others talking about server issues, but I am wondering if it is more to do with the the functionality of receiving texts on the Mac. I could be wrong, but it was my understanding this feature originally worked when the iPhone was in close proximity of the Mac since the Mac doesn't have it's own phone number. While iMessages don't rely on the phone number, regular texts do. If I am out and about, texts and iMessages work like they should. I even get the alerts on my Apple Watch. I only run into this issue when sitting at my desk in front of my MacBook Pro. Only then do I miss notifications for text and iMessages. I will pick up my phone and see I have a text from a half hour ago that never popped up or showed up in iMessage on my MacBook Pro and never sent me an alert on my iPhone or Apple Watch.

I'm experiencing the same issue. It's very interment and annoying to say the least... I've thought of reverting back to Sierra but will hold out hope Apple has a patch soon.

I've found that if I get a message on my iPhone like other's have said, I don't get the notification. Not even on my Apple Watch. So I do take advantage of watchOS 4.0 and the messages compilation telling me the number of unread messages. So when I check the time I see I have missed messages. Then I check my Mac and it doesn't have any. So rather than responding from my watch or iPhone I respond with my Mac. After about 10-20 seconds it seems to hang but then finally sends. Along with sending the message it populates with all the incoming messages it missed. Then works for a while. But then all starts over again.

Really odd if you ask me.

I believe the problem is in the audio subsystem on the Mac. Sometimes I get a message on my iPhone and it sounds like rap music. VNC on the Mac and sometimes Firefox now crash dumps at exit AFTER I GET a message. Audio is lagging on movie play for some formats too, and Sling TV has given up altogether with their app. Look to something wedging the audio server...

This issue has now gotten large enough to go public, hopefully that will inspire a fix from our friends at Apple. http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/10/17/pesky-imessage-delay-bug-persists-for- some-in-apples-macos-high-sierra

Yep, having the same problem and was wondering why until some news cover this bug.

My iMessage is randomly delayed, sometimes an hour or more, sometimes half an hour.

Tried to log out of iMessage account but still the same. Currently just relying much on my iPhone.

While I am experiencing the same issue as everyone else here, I want to add that messages on my iMac (Late 2015) running High Sierra Supplemental Update regularly take hours to download messages - not minutes.

For example, I shut down my iMac last night at bedtime; I turned it on several hours ago this morning and the Messages app still hasn't updated to include messages sent last night from my iPhone 7 Plus or iPad Pro (both running iOS 11.0.3).

For many weeks I adopted a new habit:

- restart the Messages app with no luck

- sign out of iCloud and sign back in with no luck

- restart my Mac with no luck

When I stop this idiotic and clearly useless behaviour and accept that Messages is broken, I'll acknowledge that I've reached a new milestone as a Mac user: This is the sort of user experience I have with Windows 10 and Android.

For 25+ years I didn't expect this on a Mac but since 2011 I've become accustomed to it. Being loyal and waiting for something better hasn't paid off!

With my age and lifestyle, I'll probably be dead before the gap grinds shut, but what if I'm not?! Will I spend my final years grappling with a switch to Windows and Android? Kill me now!

Apple still doesn’t have viruses working right, and until they do I’m staying put. Imagine, keeping us from experiencing ransomware, what the heck is Apple thinking?

Anyway, it’s an audio server problem. The various UNIXes have always been awful at sound...

Ok then,

If the Audio server is nothing to do with Messages why did you mention it in this thread ?

I was pointing out that it was unlikely to be the Audio Server that was delaying the iMessages.

The iMessages are Pushed at the registered devices until they Accept them - which tends to mean they have to be On Line and Logged in fully.

The hints about using the High Sierra iMessages accounts and then the iMessages coming through points to it being an issue between the new iMessages client and the Server's interpretation of it being logged in.

I don’t think you are understanding why I think it’s the audio server. The message client has to play a sound, then it updates the screen with the new message. If something else has the audio queue stuck, then “message” APPEARS like it is unresponsive, but it’s just in a resource wait. What I said in my posting is that it may not be message getting stuck, but one or more of the previous aidio requests. That’s all.