Messages (app) on Mac

[pedzsan]

The issue is that messaging from my Mac sometimes works and other times does not work. The rest of this message are things I currently believe but an not sure. The hope of this post is to get more definite answers.

It appears that I could not text one particular person from my Mac but it would work from my iPhone. Previously, I think it was a more general problem texting (Messaging) from my Mac but I'm not trusting those older memories and beliefs. I don't recall ever any issues text / messaging from my iPhone.

All devices are set to store messages in iCloud.

The particular person is not on an iPhone so the text messages I assume are being converted to SMS messages. What is curious is that the "not working" is intermittent. In the past, I've tried logging out of my iCloud account in Messages and back in and various other reboot / reset / reconfigure things but nothing really seemed to work.

What has appeared to have resolved the issue is I changed the contact information from "1+ (xxx) yyy-zzzz" to just "(xxx) yyy-zzzz" and now it seems to be working. The contact info is in iCloud so it is synced with my iPhone. Messaging / texting with the person has always worked from my iPhone but was intermittent from the Mac. My current theory is this is two things: 1) the target is not an Apple user so the Message is being converted to SMS and 2) the Mac doesn't know what to do with a target number of "1+ ..." while the iPhone does.

Can anyone help me to understand this better? Do my conclusions seem valid?

Also, related but separate: Somehow, the "1+ ..." entries are not something that I've created because I would never add the 1+ when I am typing in a number. What is best to do? Add the "1+" or not? My experience so far is that adding them causes problems for messaging from a Mac.

 

[xnsys]

Check your local in settings, make sure that both are where you're located.

 

[pedzsan]

Check your local in settings, make sure that both are where you're located.

Good idea... On my Mac, System Preferences => Language & Region has Region set to United States. I can't find a similar setting on my iPhone.

 

[xnsys]

Settings > General > Language & Region.

 

[pedzsan]

Settings > General > Language & Region.

Thanks ... everything says United States (I have an iPhone as well as an iPad so all three say United States).

 

[xnsys]

And on the Mac in Contacts App and FaceTime - under preferences - does that show as where you are?

 

[pedzsan]

Yes (so far but) ... FaceTime: I'm glad you brought that up. I'd like FaceTime to be off on my Mac and perhaps that is part of the problem? Right now, I have logged out of my iCloud account on FaceTime but I have logged into it in Messages (and this is the state where it appears to be working). In the past, I've tried different combinations.

Contacts => Preferences => General => Address Format says United States. And "My Card" and the contact I was trying to send to both say "United States" in the address field.
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On my iPhone in Settings => Phone I have "Dial Assist" checked. I mention this because this appears to add in the "1+" if necessary but... it may just add in the area code.

 

[xnsys]

You have got +1 rather than 1+ as in your first post?

 

[pedzsan]

You have got +1 rather than 1+ as in your first post?

In other entries in Contacts, I have +1 and no entries with 1+ (according to search). Now... what did I have before with the entry that I changed? I can't remember ☹️ I really thought it was 1+

 

[xnsys]

Should be +1 for the US and Canada, and +44 for UK..

 

[pedzsan]

By the way... Thank you for all your help and replies.

So... I've done some more testing and something has changed and its not the Contacts phone entry. Probably at this point I won't be able to figure it out.

I've edited that particular contact to have +1 ... and it is working. When its working, as soon as I send it on the Mac, I see it on the iPhone and vice versa. When its not working, what I send on the iPhone is received by the other side but not what I send from the Mac and in both cases, I can't see anything from the other device.

At this point, I tried the mistaken 1+... entry and the iPhone rejects it immediately. So, that isn't what I had before.

TL;DR ... Something in my logging in, logging out, etc must have "fixed" it but I have no clue as to what it was.