iMessage not working on Mac? 12 Ways to fix it!

While we usually ship our messages through our telephones, there’s an added comfort in being able to proceed ongoing convos and even begin new ones straight out of your Mac. This is among the key advantages of utilizing iMessage within the Apple ecosystem.

If you’re experiencing difficulties sending or receiving iMessage on your Mac, don’t fear! I’ve some useful options that may fix the issue and get your iMessage working easily once more.

1. Check if the recipient has iMessage

Before you get all flustered about why iMessage isn’t working on your Mac, examine if the recipient you’re making an attempt to ship a message to has iMessage. The app solely works with different Apple gadgets which have iMessage enabled.

Try sending messages to a couple of individuals you’ve already communicated with through iMessage to see in case your messages will cross by. If the problem is restricted to a single contact, the issue could also be on their finish and not yours. But if you happen to can’t ship a message to your connections, the problem is together with your system.

You may additionally examine if the problem is restricted to your Mac or impacts your different Apple gadgets.

2. Check your web connection

It could seem apparent, however it’s surprisingly widespread for customers to overlook checking their web connection when iMessage isn’t working correctly on their Mac. Sometimes, a poor or unstable web connection is the basic trigger of those issues.

So earlier than diving into extra intricate troubleshooting steps on how to fix iMessage not working on Mac, guarantee your web connection is dependable and sturdy.

If you’re utilizing your iPhone’s hotspot, keep away from alternating between your iPhone and Mac. In my expertise, utilizing your iPhone for a number of minutes causes your Mac to disconnect out of your iPhone’s hotspot, which can have an effect on the efficiency of iMessage.

3. Check if iMessage is down

A brief outage also can forestall Apple Messages from working correctly. You can head to Apple System Status to see whether or not iMessage is down for everybody else. Check if there’s a inexperienced circle beside iMessage. If you see one thing else, Apple could also be experiencing technical points, and you might want to wait till Apple’s technicians fix it.

4. Sign in to the identical Apple ID

If the messages out of your iPhone aren’t showing on your Mac or the opposite method round, the everyday challenge lies together with your Apple ID and iCloud. This is a typical downside amongst individuals with a number of Apple ID accounts and people sharing gadgets.

1. To examine which Apple ID account is signed in on a tool, click on the Apple menu → System Settings.
2. At the highest of the sidebar, examine whose Apple ID is signed in.
   Ensure that the Apple ID signed in on your Mac is similar as your iPhone or one other Apple system you’re utilizing to ship messages.

To add, if you happen to’re utilizing an iPhone and a Mac, be certain that Message Forwarding is enabled so your Mac can obtain and ship messages by Messages.

To allow it, do the next on your iPhone:

1. Go to the Settings app → Messages.
2. Select Text Message Forwarding.
3. Find your Mac’s identify and toggle it on.

5. Check if iMessage is enabled

It’s additionally doable that there aren’t any points with Messages, however you merely haven’t configured your Mac to obtain your iMessages. To allow iMessage on your Mac:

1. Launch the Messages app on your Mac.
2. While the window is lively, choose Messages within the menu bar.
3. Click Settings → select the iMessage tab.
4. Make certain that the Enable Messages in iCloud is ticked. This makes certain that your messages are synced to iCloud. If that is disabled, all of your messages are downloaded to your system, however messages throughout your Apple gadgets received’t be synced.

6. Check Time Zone settings

Your Mac organizes messages in your chat historical past primarily based on their time stamps. Consequently, if it perceives {that a} message is from an earlier time, it’d place it additional again in your dialog historical past, even when it was meant for the current second. This could lead on to lacking latest messages.

This challenge typically occurs when the time zone isn’t set to replace routinely. So if you happen to’re seeing notifications of recent messages however don’t see them showing in your convo thread, then this may be the trigger. Here’s how one can right it:

1. On your Mac, go to the Apple menu.
2. Select General from the sidebar → Select Date & Time.
3. Make certain to tick set time and date routinely.

7. Restart your Mac

It’s not unusual for Mac’s Messages app to get clunky, and everyone knows a fast restart is all it wants. First, stop all of your opened apps, together with Messages. Then do the next:

1. Go to the Apple menu → Restart.

Once your Mac reboots, restart Messages and see if this solves the issue.

8. Update your OS

If restarting didn’t clear the problems, the following step could be to examine in case your system is due for a system software program replace. Updating to the latest OS not solely ensures that your Mac runs easily, however updates additionally fix glitches and bugs.

1. To do this, go to Apple Menu → System Settings.
2. Select General → Software Update.
3. Click Update Now if there’s an replace accessible.

9. Try a unique method of sending and receiving messages

If iMessage nonetheless isn’t working, examine which cellphone quantity or electronic mail linked to your Apple ID account you’re at the moment utilizing and take a look at a unique possibility.

1. On your Mac, go to Messages → Settings → choose the iMessage tab.
2. Enable or disable your electronic mail or cellphone quantity and see if it will get iMessage to begin working once more.

10. Clear Messages cache

Like some other app, Messages additionally retailer knowledge and recordsdata known as caches. Over time, this will construct up and make the app sluggish. Deleting the cache could assist the app run easily once more and eradicate current points.

Note that for iMessage, clearing the cache means dropping your message historical past throughout all of your gadgets. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open Finder on your Mac.
2. Press Cmd + Shift + G.
3. Enter ~/Library/Messages/ within the textbox that seems.
4. Delete recordsdata within the following Messages folders: chat.db-wal, chat.db, and chat.db-shm.
5. Empty your Trash.

11. Sign out and signal again in on iMessage

It’s additionally price signing out and signing again in on iMessage to get the app working correctly once more. To accomplish that:

1. Launch the Messages app on your Mac.
2. Select Messages within the menu bar.
3. Select Preferences from the dropdown menu → go to the iMessage tab.
4. Press Sign out subsequent to your Apple ID.
5. Once you’ve signed out, register again once more utilizing your Apple ID credentials.

12. Create a brand new admin account

A couple of customers on boards recommended creating a brand new admin account and deleting the previous one. There’s no hurt in making an attempt.

1. Just click on the Apple brand within the menu bar → click on Settings.
2. Choose User & Groups within the sidebar → choose Add Account.
3. Enter your password to unlock and make modifications.
4. Make certain that the brand new account you’re creating is an administrator.

Contact Apple Support

If not one of the strategies work, you might have considered trying to ask for assist from Apple Support. Alternatively, you might have considered trying to strive some iMessage different apps to assist you transfer ahead.

Wrapping up…

Sending iMessage through your Mac is a really helpful characteristic, so it’s understandably irritating when it doesn’t work. Did any of the strategies above be just right for you?  Share them under!