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You are here: Home / Not working? / Cannot Send or Receive Messages on Your Mac? Fix

Cannot Send or Receive Messages on Your Mac? Fix

Last updated on November 11, 2018 By Serhat Kurt 74 Comments

Several users have reported that they are unable to send and /or receive text messages and iMessages on Mac. This article explains how you can troubleshoot this issue.

See also: iMessage Won’t Send Pictures

Users report that when they attempt to send a message, they see a little red exclamation mark symbol next to my message, and they cannot resent it.

Using the Messages app on the Mac, you can easily send and/or receive SMS text messages (normal text messages) and iMessages (Apple’s messaging service).

If you are having this issue as well (not sending or not receiving), here is how you can fix it:

1- Force quit Messages app and then reopen it. To do this, choose Force Quit from the Apple menu () in the upper-left corner of your screen.And then select Messages and click Force Quit. The re-open the Messages app.

Mac OS force quit

Force Quit Mac OS

2- Restart your Mac. Simply click the Apple menu and select Restart.

restart mac os

3- Sign out and then sign back in. Open Messages, then select Messages and Preferences from the Menu bar. The click Sign out. Then open the Messages app and sign in with your Apple ID.

4- Open the Messages preferences window and select the Accounts tab (Messages > Preferences), select iMessage (left list), make sure that the checkbox “Enable this account” is checked, if not checked, check the box.

Messages Mac OS sign out

5- Make sure that your Mac is connected to the Internet. Try to load a web site to check your Internet connection. If you do not have an Internet connection, you may try some basic troubleshooting tips like restarting your Mac, Router, Wi-Fi spot etc.

6- Your problem may be because of your date and time settings. Lets resolve this. Click Apple menu > System Preferences > and then Date & Time; select the Time Zone tab and the “Set date and time automatically” checkbox, if it is already selected, unselect and wait a few seconds and reselect again. You may need to enter the admin password if the checkbox is dimmed.

macOS date and time settings

7- On your Mac, Messages > Preferences > Accounts > iMessages Account; and on your iOS device, iPhone or iPad > Settings > Messages > Send and Receive the account should be same.

8- The issue may be because of Keychain problem. Here is how you can resolve this issue:

  • Launch Keychain Access (Launchpad > Keychain Access) then click File and Lock Keychain “Login” and then again go to File > Unlock Keychain “Login”, enter your admin password when you are asked. This will rebuild your Keychain Access which may fix this problem.

If you are still having this problem, please contact Apple support.

See also: Change Mac Screenshot Locations

Filed Under: Not working? Tagged With: macOS, Messages

Comments

  1. Peggy says

    August 20, 2020 at 6:28 pm

    My Keychain certicate for T-mobile expired. Nothing has worked so do you think this is the cause?

    Reply
  2. Catalin Baciu says

    July 21, 2020 at 1:14 pm

    No steps solved the issue for me, but I found the cause and I thought it might be useful to include it in this guide as well.

    Looks like text message forwarding was disabled on my iPhone.
    On your iPhone, go to Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding and make sure your Mac is an enabled device in this list.

    Restarting the Messages app on your Mac might be required for this fix to work.

    Reply
    • Aaron Ramirez says

      August 16, 2020 at 7:02 am

      Dude you helped me so much thanks!

      Reply
    • Andrew says

      August 22, 2020 at 2:57 pm

      Thank you!! Same issue for me. All the other suggestions failed.

      Reply
    • Colin Bottle says

      August 31, 2020 at 9:08 am

      thanks! that worked.

      Reply
    • Pamela Weinstein says

      September 16, 2020 at 2:06 am

      YES! Thanks so much – this fix totally worked!! Appreciate your assistance.

      Reply
    • josh says

      September 30, 2020 at 10:41 am

      You’re the best Thanks! Huge help been trying to solve this for weeks.

      Reply
    • Patty says

      October 11, 2020 at 3:21 pm

      How do you add Mac to the list if it’s not there?

      Reply
    • Christine Hagerty says

      December 9, 2020 at 4:28 am

      Perfect! Simple! Thank you, thank you!

      Reply
    • koisok says

      December 13, 2020 at 4:17 pm

      Catalin,
      Perfect, thanks!

      Reply
    • Jewels says

      December 30, 2020 at 3:07 pm

      You’re a GENIUS! That was an easy fix. None of the solutions above worked for me either, until I scrolled down and saw your post! Awesome! Thanks so much! Happy New Year!

      Reply
  3. Paula Metz says

    July 19, 2020 at 1:29 am

    Does Start New conversations from have to be the same as on the iPhone?

    Reply
  4. Mapoung Yakan says

    July 9, 2020 at 7:04 am

    THANKS OG IT WORKS THANKS TO THE 7TH STEP THAAAAAAAANKS BROOOOOOOOO AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH

    Reply
  5. steph says

    July 5, 2020 at 5:04 pm

    THANK YOU SO MUCH !! WORKED LIKE A CHARM – every step was so clear, really appreciate the screen shots – thank you thank you.

    Reply
  6. Radu says

    June 25, 2020 at 10:15 pm

    Nr. 6 solved my problems! It was very annoying, thank you!

    6- Your problem may be because of your date and time settings. Lets resolve this. Click Apple menu > System Preferences > and then Date & Time; select the Time Zone tab and the “Set date and time automatically” checkbox, if it is already selected, unselect and wait a few seconds and reselect again. You may need to enter the admin password if the checkbox is dimmed.

    Reply
  7. Bengt says

    June 16, 2020 at 8:00 pm

    Tim. You’re the man. The keychain process worked. This was driving me nuts. Thank you very much.

    Reply
  8. Sydney says

    April 8, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    Thank you so much for posting! The keychain reset #8 fixed my issue. You are wonderful.

    Reply
  9. Renee says

    April 5, 2020 at 4:15 am

    Thank you! The keychain reset worked.

    Reply
  10. JD says

    March 28, 2020 at 2:28 am

    Thank you Tim! I’ve been looking to fix this for ages and the forwarding worked. Check out Tim’s solution above. thx!

    Reply
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Stacey Butler is a tech writer at macReports covering news, how-tos, and user guides. She is a longtime Mac and iPhone user and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

 

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