Macbook not sending pictures in IMessage anymore

My brand new MacBook Pro is not sending pictures in iMessage. normal text no problem - all up to date.... what can i do?

has anybody found a solution for this long standing problem?

MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID, iOS 12.1

Posted on Nov 27, 2018 8:00 AM

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Posted on Apr 8, 2019 6:24 AM

Here’s how i fixed it.


  1. Sign out from iMessage
  2. Finder, Go > Library (Hold option)
  3. Locate Messages folder
  4. delete everything ends with .db
  5. restart the computer
  6. open iMessage and sign in again


Hopefully they fix this issue soon :-/

174 replies

Jun 8, 2020 2:07 PM in response to EnoughWithTheNamesAlreaduy

I totally agree. I have a partitioned hard drive with maverick on one, and High Sierra on the other. IM was working on both systems fine until I downloaded a bunch of pictures in March and tried to send a picture on IM in High Sierra to myself or others....I get file transfer message " Waiting for me to accept " and it never sends/goes through. I spend 4hrs on the phone with an apple supervisor and got no place....Very frustrating! Seems to me one should be able to give the experts a list of symptoms and they should be able to diagnose the area that's causing the problem. But Apple pretends there's no issue or just upgrade, etc...My old Maverick OS works perfect!...I can send pictures from my iPhone, but not from my iMac ...This is so wrong and EVEN if some of the solutions suggested here worked ( Which they haven't for me! ) I shouldn't have to go through all of this. Apple never wants to admit an issue or gives me an answer " We are working on it" APPLE...FIX YOUR PRODUCT!

Jul 3, 2020 11:40 AM in response to JHZR2

I was okay with losing my local message archives on my iMac, since they're still in iCloud, on my iPhone etc.


That said, if you are backing up Messages to iCloud, there's an option in Messages Preferences on the Mac to "sync now" which I would expect to restore the archives. I can't say for sure because I did not do the sync. I was concerned that re-syncing would re-introduce the issue.


Jul 19, 2020 2:51 PM in response to Raydegroat

I've tried most of the suggestions on this discussion site. I've spent hours on the phone with Apple technicians. Perhaps something that most of us, including Apple technicians, tend to forget when one of these miracle workarounds helps is that the problem is often intermittent and recurring. So just because it doesn't happen now, doesn't mean it won't happen again. If anyone has an idea on how to catch Apple's attention so that they fix the problem, it'd be helpful if you shared.

Sep 23, 2020 8:56 AM in response to MoonJ.

Those are steps that we already use, and are set in place. The problem is iMessage had its own mind, decided to stop sending out images when it was working previously without any problem. What is the next step to get this fixed? Who can I contact with to get this thing fixed? It is interfering my business, having to find other way around to send images to customers, which is time consuming.


Thanks!

Sep 24, 2020 11:06 PM in response to S4Ducati

Sorry, But as I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm ONLY using an internal drive. And no one should have to go through all of these work arounds anyway....It is suppose to work as advertised! This is not a mojave problem, nor a catalina problem, nor a high sierra problem....this has not been working right for a long time, It's an APPLE problem that they refuse to acknowledge ....

thx anyway for the suggestion

Sep 25, 2020 2:15 AM in response to sparky2u

Send your message with your wallet (or lack thereof) in the future. That's the ONLY message they're going to take any notice of anymore. I'd spent close to $50K over approx 12 years with Apple and I'm walking away now piece by piece. Their "Ecosystem" is no longer unique, doesn't work as advertised, in fact it's falling apart before our eyes. There are perfectly good alternatives now for EVERYTHING that pulled me over from Windows 12 years ago. Apple TV, expensive junk now. MacBooks expensive aluminium cans. iMacs barely a skeleton of their ancestors, in fact much less useful after losing targeted display for no good reason. Operating system and updates, buggier and buggier by the year. If you have an iPhone, get rid of it and the rest will follow. Once you recognise that it's the only thing tying you down to the Ecosystem you'll be free of expensive upgrades every few years.

Dec 18, 2020 8:03 AM in response to Comcat70

I've about had it w/ Apple now. Windows 10 certainly works very well now. Between something so basic as being able to send images and I'm guessing most everyone using a Mac now has this problem and it's been present FOR YEARS now. Between this, and losing the wonderful MagSafe connector, I have lost the desire to buy another MacBook Pro, and I'm on my 2nd one now. I bought #2 in order to get the last year MagSafe was happening. No more they've lost there way.

Jan 24, 2021 11:11 AM in response to jp3743

Thanks for the confirmation.


I wanted to send another update that now, after deleting the DB files, image messages I send go through to the person I am messaging.


HOWEVER,


now, I DO NOT receive image messages on my computer, only on my phone (I get the question mark instead of a picture), and I did used to receive them.


I may try adding the db files back to the library and deleting them 1 by 1.


this is definitely something apple should fix, esp for us running the old OS systems.

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Macbook not sending pictures in IMessage anymore

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