Resolved I Reset iPhone Settings, now phone doesn't forward Messages to Mac

[Solomani]

Hi all,

iPhone XS, currently using the latest 12.1.3 Mojave. I just did a "Reset Settings" on the iPhone. Not a data wipe, no data erase, just a settings reset.

After the reset, of course I had to spend time tweaking the Settings again like I want things, for example choosing my preferred wallpaper and ringtones, Allow notifications settings, etc.

Everything else seemed to work fine like it did before the Reset…. except one thing: text messages on iPhone no longer forward to my Mac. Both iPhone and Mac share the same AppleID (iCloud) account. They had worked seamlessly before the Reset. Now the Mac doesn't receive any of the text Messages.

I tried the usual suspects. Made sure iCloud is "signed on" on both devices. Made sure that Use "iMessage" button is turned ON. Made sure that Handoff is turned ON. Enable Massages in iCloud is also enabled on both the Mac and iPhone.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[chscag]

Sign out of iCloud on both devices and then sign in again. Sometimes iCloud "forgets" its settings and you have to jog its memory.

 

[Solomani]

Sign out of iCloud on both devices and then sign in again. Sometimes iCloud "forgets" its settings and you have to jog its memory.

Thanks for advice, but I figured it out. It was a simpler fix than signing out of iCloud, but was not readily intuitive to me at the time.

iPhone —> Settings —> Messages ::> Send & Receive


Apparently, the iPhone Reset "disabled" the option of "Use Apple ID for all iMessages" (or something like that).

Once I clicked on THAT option… after a few seconds, my iPhone/iCloud account suddenly re-populated on this screen, the iPhone cell number, as well as every email (and alias ID) that I ever associated with that iCloud account. And now it makes sense, since the iMac is never considered a telephone device (as far as the iOS is concerned), so it's "receiving address" must be some email address like my AppleID email. So this section of the Message Settings once again recognized my AppleID email as a valid send-and-receive address for text forwarding. This was the key thing. And it also enabled a new Settings Submenu to appear called Text Message Forwarding.