Continuity, Handoff, Instant Hotspot and iMessage stop working

[shenan1982]

Here's a rundown of what the issues are and what I've done to attempt to resolve, but (hint) to no avail....

- iPhone 6 #1
- iPhone 6 #2
- iPhone 6+
- iMac
- iPad
- Macbook Air

Symptoms: My iPhones, Macbook Air, and iPad all perform to spec, all being able to connect to each other and connect to iCloud just fine, send\receive\sync messages between them all. My Macbook Air can create a new iMessage and when I type in the contact it immediately recognizes the contact and can send an iMessage to them. The odd-man out is the iMac. When I add a device to iCloud, I don't get the "A new device has been added, yes\no?" or any visual indication. When I attempt to send an iMessage to a new contact, it says "iMessage" but doesn't have the blue icon, and when I try to send the message it states "Contact is not registered with iMessage service" ... if I send a message to an existing contact, it says it went through, and says it was delivered, but it wasn't. I tested sending a message to my own phone number, and it said delivered, then popped up on the iMac, but no other devices, even though it was sent to my phone number. Of note, when I go to any iOS device under Text Forwarding, all the other devices show up EXCEPT the iMac.

Troubleshooting: I logged out of iMessage, FaceTime, and removed iCloud from ALL 6 devices, rebooted each at the same time, and re-logged in one at a time. I confirmed all are logged into the same Apple ID, all are on the same WiFi network.

Result: Absolutely no change. The symptoms that existed before still are identical to before the reset of the iCloud services. Nothing has changed.

 

[loxxol]

@Demeeder: Unlikely Apple store folks will be able to help.

@Sheenan1982: exactly same symptoms i had between iPhone 6+, nMP, cMBP, cMBA. All running 10.10.2. Oddball system was always the nMP.

You will also notice that on your iPhones, the affected mac won't be listed in 'Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding'

You both sound like you have exactly the same issues as i had.

If you have a case open with Apple support, follow up on it, if not, open one.... its the only advice i can give.

After spending a number of hours on the phone with tier 3 support, and the case escalated to the back-end engineering team over the weekend, something changed around 9am yesterday morning on the Apple end.

All of the support guides / googling / re-installation of OS X / disabling / enabling logging out of or into iCloud will make 100% no difference to the device that has been locked out of SOME iCloud services on the Apple identity management servers.

Sorry folks - wish i could provide some 'trick' to getting this working....

 

[shenan1982]

@Demeeder: Unlikely Apple store folks will be able to help.

@Sheenan1982: exactly same symptoms i had between iPhone 6+, nMP, cMBP, cMBA. All running 10.10.2. Oddball system was always the nMP.

You will also notice that on your iPhones, the affected mac won't be listed in 'Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding'

You both sound like you have exactly the same issues as i had.

If you have a case open with Apple support, follow up on it, if not, open one.... its the only advice i can give.

After spending a number of hours on the phone with tier 3 support, and the case escalated to the back-end engineering team over the weekend, something changed around 9am yesterday morning on the Apple end.

All of the support guides / googling / re-installation of OS X / disabling / enabling logging out of or into iCloud will make 100% no difference to the device that has been locked out of SOME iCloud services on the Apple identity management servers.

Sorry folks - wish i could provide some 'trick' to getting this working....

Just finished with tier 1 going to tier 2. Ugh. They all act like they've never seen anything like this haha.

 

[loxxol]

hehe isn't that the truth.

you will lose count of how many times you run through the process of enabling / disabling all the configuration items / logging in and out etc.

 

[shenan1982]

you will lose count of how many times you run through the process of enabling / disabling all the configuration items / logging in and out etc.

It's clear this isn't device specific ... aside from potentially being that Apple is blocking out a specific device ID... since with a clean restore it's still doing the same thing, it would seem either to be an issue with Apple's server refusing a specific device... or a problem within the Apple ID where it doesn't properly connect the device... seems like everyones' issue is the same... all devices except for 1 work... ugh.

These are the types of issues I don't feel like Apple puts enough manpower into resolving ... there seems to be a point where you get tier 1\tier 2 tech, and then it just goes into space until so many people report it that they realize it really is an issue.

 

[loxxol]

Yup.

The number of hours spent troubleshooting this prior to calling AppleCare, along with the time spent on the calls with them is a little crazy. Dependent on the number of folks that either have seen this as an issue and decided it's not important, or just plainly hasn't affected them... case aggregation and management might not have caught up with the front-line support teams.

I agree that it has to be a DeviceID lock-out - although what would trigger that on an upgrade of 10.10.2 on some platforms and not others ... who knows.

Logging into an Apple iCloud test account on the affected machine doesn't replicate the issue, just highlights that the DeviceID associated to your own iCloud account i locked out.

Yep definitely not device specific and not hardware related either. very odd issue i must say.

Fingers crossed you get some traction with support - i should be getting a call back later this week to be updated on progress.

 

[shenan1982]

Yup.

The number of hours spent troubleshooting this prior to calling AppleCare, along with the time spent on the calls with them is a little crazy. Dependent on the number of folks that either have seen this as an issue and decided it's not important, or just plainly hasn't affected them... case aggregation and management might not have caught up with the front-line support teams.

I agree that it has to be a DeviceID lock-out - although what would trigger that on an upgrade of 10.10.2 on some platforms and not others ... who knows.

Logging into an Apple iCloud test account on the affected machine doesn't replicate the issue, just highlights that the DeviceID associated to your own iCloud account i locked out.

Yep definitely not device specific and not hardware related either. very odd issue i must say.

Fingers crossed you get some traction with support - i should be getting a call back later this week to be updated on progress.

I'm always told I'll get a call back but I never do... I end up having to push the issue myself... kinda annoying, but it's the new Apple... the way they do things is they wait until something is either so severe the media runs with it, or they have to address something because it affects so many people it's not worth their support time to tell people it's their own problem. Disappointing to say the least. It frustrates me that the ecosystem I pay a premium to buy into doesn't work, and I feel like a 2 year old calling to say my tummy aches.

 

[loxxol]

It frustrates me that the ecosystem I pay a premium to buy into doesn't work, and I feel like a 2 year old calling to say my tummy aches.

Agreed. Don't get me started - 'we' must not be using it right.

 

[shenan1982]

Agreed. Don't get me started - 'we' must not be using it right.

LOL. That's what the problem is, I'm holding my iMac the wrong way hehe.

 

[demeeder]

At the Apple Store... all of their diagnostics show that hardware is GTG. They are also stumped.

I am now waiting on a call back from the techies on Friday... ughhh.

 

[shenan1982]

At the Apple Store... all of their diagnostics show that hardware is GTG. They are also stumped.

I am now waiting on a call back from the techies on Friday... ughhh.

I love how they always blame these issues on YOUR hardware and YOUR software and never THEIR servers

 

[demeeder]

So, rookie move... I dared to mention this forum in the Apple Store... you could have heard a pin drop. Okay, maybe a bit much, but the Genius that was working with me (nice enough person) wouldn't entertain the idea of me bringing this page up in the store. Only discussions on the Apple page are viewed. Fortunately a couple of you likely have also been there.

Always frustrating to hear "well, it should work". I agree.

Looking forward to Friday's call.

 

[shenan1982]

So, rookie move... I dared to mention this forum in the Apple Store... you could have heard a pin drop. Okay, maybe a bit much, but the Genius that was working with me (nice enough person) wouldn't entertain the idea of me bringing this page up in the store. Only discussions on the Apple page are viewed. Fortunately a couple of you likely have also been there.

Always frustrating to hear "well, it should work". I agree.

Looking forward to Friday's call.

Interesting enough the tier 2 actually asked me for the link to this thread so he can add all the troubleshooting steps people have taken unsuccessfully. Usually they just say oh online people are just unreliable lol

 

[demeeder]

Convinced it is not a hardware or software issue, I am am using TM to get back up and running. Here's hoping I get a black belt engineer to review my case.

 

[simonsi]

Yep definitely a server-side issue.

 

[shenan1982]

Yep definitely a server-side issue.

Dunno how to get the necessary attention to get it resolved.

 

[Davidglenn]

I love how they always blame these issues on YOUR hardware and YOUR software and never THEIR servers

I had an issue with another company and the service tech hung up me as I dared asked 'how can be me when I have done nothing and you have updated your servers'

Eventually I got a message the servers have been updated.

Tech people always blame you it is never THEIR fault

 

[rgeneral]

I had a smilar issue with mine as well.

all devices were working. iphone/imac/macbook.

after upgrading to 10.10.2. the macbook stopped working. at first i thought it was the machine as I haven't rebuild this machine for years and it has been upgraded thru a few OS. Therefore, I decided to rebuild. Surprising, this did not solve the problem.

I tried turning off all imessage and start over all devices. this did not work

finally called applecare support. we spoke for about 1/2 hour and they did something on the keychains and ran an utility to gather the logs. This was on Saturday. They mentioned a callback will be around Tuesday. Magically on Monday, i received an imessage on my macbook. After that everything is working again. iMessage and SMS.

On a separate note, I also have a 2011 macbook air. upgraded to 10.10.2. no issues at all with imessage. no SMS support though.

I hope this helps. I think you need to talk to apple support.

 

[shenan1982]

I had a smilar issue with mine as well.

all devices were working. iphone/imac/macbook.

after upgrading to 10.10.2. the macbook stopped working. at first i thought it was the machine as I haven't rebuild this machine for years and it has been upgraded thru a few OS. Therefore, I decided to rebuild. Surprising, this did not solve the problem.

I tried turning off all imessage and start over all devices. this did not work

finally called applecare support. we spoke for about 1/2 hour and they did something on the keychains and ran an utility to gather the logs. This was on Saturday. They mentioned a callback will be around Tuesday. Magically on Monday, i received an imessage on my macbook. After that everything is working again. iMessage and SMS.

On a separate note, I also have a 2011 macbook air. upgraded to 10.10.2. no issues at all with imessage. no SMS support though.

I hope this helps. I think you need to talk to apple support.

I'm still waiting for my callback.

Now when you go into your phone to enable Text Message Forwarding, does it show the computer that was missing from the club?

 

[rgeneral]

I'm still waiting for my callback.

Now when you go into your phone to enable Text Message Forwarding, does it show the computer that was missing from the club?

At first, it didn't. I turned off iMessage on the phone and enable it again. it showed up after that.

 

[shenan1982]

At first, it didn't. I turned off iMessage on the phone and enable it again. it showed up after that.

It must have been the way you were pushing the iMessage on\off button. LOL

 

[rgeneral]

It must have been the way you were pushing the iMessage on\off button. LOL

perhaps. but this did not initially. this is only after i spoke to applecare support. the attempt was made after i receiving iMessage on the macbook. btw, this is a 15" 2013 macbook pro retina.

 

[shenan1982]

perhaps. but this did not initially. this is only after i spoke to applecare support. the attempt was made after i receiving iMessage on the macbook. btw, this is a 15" 2013 macbook pro retina.

(PS the holding comment was a joke, LOL)

It's weird that is just seems to affect one out of the whole family of products Apple owners have, with no regard to it being a specific model, but it just seems to affect out out of the many products people have.

 

[rgeneral]

(PS the holding comment was a joke, LOL)

It's weird that is just seems to affect one out of the whole family of products Apple owners have, with no regard to it being a specific model, but it just seems to affect out out of the many products people have.

Oh my apologies. I thought you were serious..

yes indeed. The feeling I received from applecare support that I am not the only one. I think they know about this. As usual, they will not acknowledge it. Anyhow, I am just happy it is working now. I cannot live without it. I hope they will resolve your issue soon. Best of luck.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I agree with Simon. I think it is an obnoxious and random Apple server problem.

Most of the time, handoff works fine. There are (what appear to be random) moments where there is a significant delay or it doesn't occur at all. And when it doesn't work, (which doesn't happen often) I go through the process of signing out of iMessage, FaceTime, and iCloud on all devices, sign back in, and everything works as it should.