Unread message counter not working on iMessage

I have been having this problem for months. I have done a restore three times, I have done the reset all settings and still nothing. I’m using an iPad Pro 9.7. There was a time when little things like this didn‘t happen. Apple stuff was bulletproof, there weren’t little screw ups or bugs that caused patches being sent out weekly. Everything just worked. I know things are more complicated now and software is extremely difficult to manage with all it does but this is why we pay a premium for Apple, and it seems like we are now just paying for a logo.

Rant over, anyone have any ideas on how to get this counter to start to show the unread messages? I’ve moved the icon, changes the notification settings, turned restrictions on and off, took it to a holistic healer but nothing has worked.