Pesky iMessage delay bug persists for some in Apple's macOS High Sierra

Posted:
in macOS
A bug affecting a number of macOS High Sierra users can result in significant delays for receipt of iMessages and text messages, as well as a lack of notifications from an iPhone or Apple Watch for the same messages. At the moment, the only fixes appear to be disabling messages, or rolling back to macOS Sierra.




A number of users have detailed the issue in a growing thread on Apple's support forums. In addition, one AppleInsider staff member also continues to have problems with the bug.

After updating to High Sierra, some users found that iMessages are significantly delayed in arriving on a Mac. In addition, while the Mac is active, notifications are silenced on other iCloud-connected devices like iPhones and Apple Watches.

The result means users may not receive texts and iMessages for hours after they are actually delivered.

Users posting in Apple's forums found that certain actions can temporarily fix the problem, including disabling and re-enabling messages, or sending a message via the Mac. But the problems appear to return in time.

The only persistent fix users found was either disabling the receipt of messages on a Mac entirely, or rolling back the macOS install to the previous-generation version, Sierra.




In the interim, a community bug report for the problem has been created. But recent beta updates to macOS High Sierra do not appear to address the issues.

It has been speculated that the bug could be related to changes in High Sierra that will pave the way for iCloud syncing of messages. Messages in iCloud were featured in earlier betas of High Sierra and iOS 11, but the feature was removed at launch and is scheduled to debut in an update later this fall.

Messages in iCloud will seamlessly synchronize a user's messages between devices. For example, deleting a message from one device would strike it from all other iCloud-connected devices.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    Apple's QA just keeps looking worse and worse. 
    michaelahlerskestraldeepinsidersnapplefan
  • Reply 2 of 13
    Oh good, I thought i was alone. Hopefully there'll be a fix soon. Not sure how the iCloud messages gonna turn out for me since I'm still on iOS 10 which, afaik, doesn't support iCloud messages. 
    kestral
  • Reply 3 of 13
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Bugs? Did you say bugs?  I am not sure if it is related to Messages but i have had more complete lock ups and other temporary freezes in both HS and IOS since upgrading. Peculiar lags and odd bugs abound.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    iCloud seems to be ruining everything lately. Since Sierra was released, calendar notifications have been popping up hours after they were supposed to. Now instead of fixing existing bugs, Apple are introducing more. ☹️
  • Reply 5 of 13
    I had the same problem but after performing a clean install on my 2009 (4,1-5,1) Mac Pro and restoring my devices, everything is smooth sailing. Every year when the new iOS and OSX arrive, I usually upgrade, work with it for a week or so then once comfortable I do a clean install of OSX and clean reset on my iphone/ipad.  I noticed once I gave all my items their fall rebirth the problem went away.

    As always, YMMV
  • Reply 6 of 13
    Omg, my mid-2012 MacBook Air with Sierra has done this forever it’s so annoying. I thought it was just me cuz I tried searching everywhere for a solution but couldn’t find anything, I eventually just disabled iMessage on my MacBook. 
  • Reply 7 of 13
    dysamoria said:
    Apple's QA just keeps looking worse and worse. 
    got a friend there and they said the messages engineering and qa teams are having unusually high turnover. bad mgmt :/
  • Reply 8 of 13
    Like others, I've had this problem for years. iMessage is completely unreliable. 
  • Reply 9 of 13
    No virus on the latest iOS devices will steal your iMessage data, but it can be stolen if you leave a Mac or an old iOS device enabled on your AppleID.
    edited October 2017
  • Reply 10 of 13
    <sarcasm>Ok, wait a minute.  I've been seeing these problems since MAVERICKS and iOS 7.  Are you telling me they made it *worse*?</sarcasm>

    Man, if they would stop adding new crap to these applications and maybe fix the problems the applications have had since forever these things would stop getting worse and worse.

    I really wish I could find the QA people responsible for this horrific testing and hit them on the side of the head with a board.




    deepinsider
  • Reply 11 of 13
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 13,111member
    dysamoria said:
    Apple's QA just keeps looking worse and worse. 
    Only if you’re ignorant about software and believe nothing else has issues except the company you spend your time reading and bitching about. 
  • Reply 12 of 13
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 13,111member

    iCloud seems to be ruining everything lately. Since Sierra was released, calendar notifications have been popping up hours after they were supposed to. Now instead of fixing existing bugs, Apple are introducing more. ☹️
    I’m a software developer. There has never been a time when releases exclusively fixed bugs or introduced bugs. Apple/google/MS could spend 100 years working on eliminating all bugs and there’d still be bugs. Meanwhile you’d be complaining about how stale the platform has become. 

    Until humans are perfect, software bugs will exist. welcome to real life. 
    edited October 2017
  • Reply 13 of 13
    deckertdeckert Posts: 2unconfirmed, member
    I have a late 2012 iMac - and I'm having this problem. 

    I do like the idea of just doing a clean install - because I haven't done that for like 3 or 4 years on this Mac. I'm not surprised that the problem would go away if you did that - as I'm sure their QA people are just using clean install images to do their testing. 

    I get my messages on my iPad or phone and respond their. I only use my iMac for music, random surfing, and video editing. So for me - not a big deal. If it was your only machine - then I can understand why some people are constipated. 
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