How do you sync imessage on iphone and mac

iMessages sent from my iPhone don’t appear on my Mac, and vice versa. How can I sync the Messages apps on iPhone and Mac?

One of the pleasures of Apple’s increasingly joined-up macOS/iOS approach (a strategy which Apple calls Continuity) is being able to start a task on a mobile device and then continue it on desktop when you arrive at work, say. And one of the neatest ways this can work is in Messages. The matching Messages apps on iOS and Mac should allow you to easily and conveniently carry on iMessage conversations across the two platforms. No longer do you have to keep look down from your Mac and pick up your phone to reply to messages; you can do it all on the Mac.

Except that sometimes the synchronisation between Mac and iPad or iPhone isn’t quite right: some people have found that iMessages sent from the iPhone don’t appear in the conversation in Messages on the Mac, and vice versa. In this article we explain how to make iMessage sync between iPhone, iPad and Mac. Don’t worry – it’s dead easy.

Read next: How to use Messages in iOS 10 | iOS 10 tips

1. Pick up your iPhone and launch the Settings app. Swipe down to the fifth group of categories (the one starting with Mail) and tap Messages. The fifth option down is labelled Send & Receive, with a phone number or email address, or something like “3 Addresses”, next to it: tap this.

2. You’ll now see all the phone numbers and email addresses on which you can be contacted via iMessage. Tick any numbers or addresses that you want to use but which aren’t currently ticked.

When we looked at this, incidentally, we saw only the iPhone’s number, so had to tap ‘Use your Apple ID for iMessage’. This unlocked the long list of email addresses registered to our Apple ID. We then ticked and ticked the addresses as appropriate. (If you want to remove an address from the list entirely, tap the i button and tap Remove This Email.)

3. Now go to your Mac and open the Messages app. Click Messages in the top menu bar, then select Preferences. (You can jump straight to the settings from Messages, or from most other Mac apps, by hitting Cmd-comma.) Click Accounts.

4. As on the iPhone, you need to tick all the email addresses that you want to be associated with iMessage on this machine. If your Apple ID account says Inactive, click on it and enter the required details, then tick or uptick the numbers/addresses you want to use.

5. And that should be it. Restart Messages on each device and see if everything is now working the way it should.

iOS (6 and later) combines your phone number with your Apple ID email address, which makes it possible for others to iMessage your phone number and have those Messages sync across your devices.

First, you need to make sure all your devices are on the same Apple ID.

On each iOS device (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, iPad Mini):

1. Open Settings.app
2. Go to "Messages" and make sure iMessage is On.
3. If iMessage is on, "Send & Receive" will appear below it. Tap on it.
4. Make note of the Apple ID at the top of the page.
5. Select your phone number and email address(es) that you want to sync to that device.

On each Mac: (Mountain Lion or later)

1. Open Messages
2. Click Messages -> Preferences
3. Click the "Accounts" tab in the top.
4. Select your iMessage/Apple ID account, and make sure "Enable this account" is checked.
5. Select your phone number and any email address(es) that you would like synced.

The most important part is that everything is consistent across all devices that are necessary.

Message History

The steps described previously will not automatically cause old iMessages to sync across all devices. However, iOS and macOS now support "Messages in iCloud": Apple Support Document. Enabling Messages in iCloud will sync historical messages across all of your devices. Make sure you are running the latest version of macOS or iOS.

To turn on Messages in iCloud on your iOS device:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap your Apple ID profile at the top of the list.
3. Select iCloud.
4. Enable Messages.

To enable on your Mac:

1. Open the Messages app.
2. In the menu bar, select Messages -> Preferences.
3. Open the iMessage tab.
4. Select the checkbox to Enable Messages in iCloud.

Additional Troubleshooting steps

If you are still having trouble getting new iMessages to sync across the devices try:

1. Disabling then re-enabling iMessage on each device that isn't being synced to.
2. Delete all your previous conversations: Some people have reported that they had to delete all of their conversations before things would sync up.
3. Make sure you have your phone number added to your Apple ID account online.

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