Step 0: if you’ve never launched Messages on your Mac, launch it now. That’s just the way it goes– nothing for us to do about it. There can be a little bit of a lag sometimes so you may notice messages appearing on one of your devices before the others. Note: your devices don’t really sync with each other. So how do we get the phone company’s text messages (sent to your phone number, on your iPhone) onto your Mac and iPad etc.? That’s what this article is about.

The goal here is to tie these two systems together, and to show all of the messages, whether “text” or “iMessage,” all in the same Messages app. So you have two systems going at once: the phone company’s (green) text message system, and Apple’s (blue) iMessage system. But text messages– the green ones– by default belong to your iPhone only, and they will not appear on your other devices, because text messages are tied to a phone number, which only your iPhone has. IMessages will sync across all of your devices as long as they’re all signed into the same Apple ID. iMessages appear in blue on your devices. Apple’s “iMessage” service provides something that looks a lot like text messages, but with two important differences: iMessages are handled by Apple’s servers, so they don’t go through the phone company (which means the phone company can’t charge you for them), and they’re available on any device signed into your Apple ID. Real text messages appear in green on your iPhone in the Messages app. “Real” text messages are handled by the phone company, and they are sent to devices with phone numbers (for example, to your iPhone). Technically, iMessages are not text messages, and text messages are not iMessages. If you’re getting some, but not all, of your text messages on your Mac or iPad, this article is also for you! iMessages are not text messages! If you’re not getting any of your text messages on your Mac or iPad, this article is for you. This article tells you everything you need to know. In that case you’ll need to check on the settings again. Setting it up takes a couple of steps, and occasionally things stop working. Each device will have the complete conversation, and the other party will not know that you aren’t doing it all on your iPhone. Start a texting conversation on your iPhone when you’re out, then continue it at home or work when you’re able to use your Mac (or iPad).

It’s really handy to have your iPhone’s text messages show up on your Mac (and/or iPad). But now things really sync, both when messages are coming in, and when you are deleting them.īelow: the original article. You still need to do the things in the rest of this article, so keep reading. The bottom arrow points to your phone number.

The top arrow points to the Messages in iCloud checkbox.

How to link messages to mac