iMessage doing nothing - Yosemite upgrade

sarkozy · 22-10-2014 9:32pm #1

I don't understand this. I have an iPhone 5S, upgraded to iOS 8.1 and I figured this Continuity and Handoff thing would be great. I've never used iMessage before, but having set up my phone correctly, any time I run iMessage, all I get is a blank, grey window. I can't even go into iMessage preferences or anything. This whole Continuity thing seems pretty useless.

DubDJ · 23-10-2014 1:18am

So you have both your phone and Mac setup with the latest software updates? Have you enabled sms relay in the iMessage settings? Your Mac will be prompted to enter a passcode to activate it. Then it should work as advertised.

sarkozy · 23-10-2014 11:10am

As I said, I've updated the phone to iOS 8.1 but in Settings > Messages, I cannot see 'Text Message Forwarding' as I'm told I should. The phone is logged into iCloud and my phone number and two email addresses, one @icloud.com.

No window pops up with a verification code or anything. iMessage literally does nothing, I can do nothing with it.

miralize · 23-10-2014 11:24am

What iMac/Macbook do you have. Only newer ones which support BTLE will support handoff/continuity IIRC.

Sad Professor · 23-10-2014 11:26am

You need to be logged into iMessage/iCloud on your Mac as well. Check that you are logged into iCloud in System Prefs > iCloud. If the Messages app isn’t working, try restarting, deleting the Messages plist file in /Library/Preferences, logging out and back into iCloud, etc. If none of that works and the app is still broken you might need to do a clean install.

Sad Professor · 23-10-2014 11:27am

miralize wrote: »

What iMac/Macbook do you have. Only newer ones which support BTLE will support handoff/continuity IIRC.

Handoff, yes. But Continuity (SMS and phone calls) only requires WiFi.

sarkozy · 23-10-2014 1:02pm

I'm logged into iCloud on both machines. My MBP is from 2011, which I believe can handle Handoff and Continuity. I just recently upgraded to Yosemite, so I can't understand why I'd need to go deleting any plists. And if a clean install is what I need, I'm confused about this. I wanted to go erase install with the Yosemite update, but it didn't let me. What do I have to do here? Erase Install back to Snow Leopard off the drive partition and then up to Mavericks and then up to Yosemite?

DubDJ · 23-10-2014 1:17pm

The 2011 model won't support handoff or some of the continuity stuff because it uses old Bluetooth. But it should support the SMS and phone parts of continuity.

If you haven't got the option of text message forwarding then it sounds like something's not setup properly on the MacBook. Have a look at the Messages preference on your Mac and make sure your signed in. Also I believe you need an email address logged in so double check everything's setup as it should be.

sarkozy · 23-10-2014 1:18pm

Have a look at the Messages preference on your Mac and make sure your signed in.

I can't go into Preferences...! It's greyed out!

Sad Professor · 23-10-2014 1:19pm

There’s a few different guides for doing clean install. Here’s one:

http://osxdaily.com/2014/10/18/clean-install-os-x-yosemite/

What happens when you open Messages or try to go into preferences? Can you post a screenshot?

Sad Professor · 23-10-2014 1:24pm

sarkozy wrote: »

I can't go into Preferences...! It's greyed out!

Deleting the plist should fix this. If it doesn’t, then you may have a bigger issue requiring a clean install. Have you run any maintenance apps since upgrading to Yosemite? Anything that might have messed with system files?

Is FaceTime working?

sarkozy · 23-10-2014 1:41pm

I'll try the plist delete first. I'm sorry I can't post a screenshot right now. As I described, Messages opens up, the main window is blank grey, nothing on it except the red, amber and green buttons at the top. The Messages menu has Preferences greyed out - I can't do anything with it. I haven't checked Facetime.

Perhaps I'll have to go clean install. I have everything backed up to Time Machine, and even then I wouldn't want to migrate everything back necessarily.

It could very well be a legacy issue. My Mac was running fine until Mavericks, then I got hit with a lot of what became known problems to do with Finder and registry. My computer would act really slow, even with very light use. Upgrading to Yosemite seemed to improve that hugely, but now I've this glitch.

That's a good tutorial for clean install. Would you recommend replacing the old Snow Leopard install partition with a similar Yosemite install partition? (Not that I know how to do that particularly well.)

sarkozy · 23-10-2014 11:47pm

Hmm, can't find the plist file. Either it doesn't exist, it's somewhere else or I can't spot the name, e.g. 'com.apple.ichat' or 'com.apple.imessage'.

iMessage doing nothing - Yosemite upgrade

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