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iCloud Messages and Legacy Threads

M

Merackon

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 12, 2013
82
41
I have a question about the iCloud Messages feature that I don't think I have seen answered clearly:

Will this enable legacy messages from early conversations that were lost from local devices (due to theft or bricking) be loaded? Or is it limited to the range of messages that are on the currently 'live' and 'active' devices?

I lost a thread from an old phone in 2015, after a prankster triggered the failed attempts passcode wipe, and the hard drive the backup was on died.
 
Merackon said:
I have a question about the iCloud Messages feature that I don't think I have seen answered clearly:

Will this enable legacy messages from early conversations that were lost from local devices (due to theft or bricking) be loaded? Or is it limited to the range of messages that are on the currently 'live' and 'active' devices?

I lost a thread from an old phone in 2015, after a prankster triggered the failed attempts passcode wipe, and the hard drive the backup was on died.
Click to expand...
It would only apply to devices that has iMessages enabled in the cloud.

There is no way for those messages to sync because that device has been wiped and not connected to iCloud. And you haven’t enabled it.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
It would only apply to devices that has iMessages enabled in the cloud.

There is no way for those messages to sync because that device has been wiped and not connected to iCloud. And you haven’t enabled it.
Click to expand...
Ah alright then. Thanks for the quick reply!
 
For me it does not work on old messages that were on my iPhone before getting / enabling iCloud Messages. I guess it does not take legacy messages and put them in the cloud?
 
Merackon said:
I have a question about the iCloud Messages feature that I don't think I have seen answered clearly:

Will this enable legacy messages from early conversations that were lost from local devices (due to theft or bricking) be loaded? Or is it limited to the range of messages that are on the currently 'live' and 'active' devices?

I lost a thread from an old phone in 2015, after a prankster triggered the failed attempts passcode wipe, and the hard drive the backup was on died.
Click to expand...

Are you speaking about current/past messages sent using iMessage, or the not-yet-arrived ability to archive messages from local devices to iCloud (which is supposed to be a feature of iOS 11.3)?
 
It’s not working for me. Due to yet another syncing issue with iCloud Photo Library, I just wiped my phone, losing all of my iMessages in the process (set up as a new phone) about twelve hours before 11.3 beta hit.

When 11.3 beta hit, I installed it on my iPad Pro, made sure iMessage syncing was enabled (it says ‘syncing complete’) and then installed the beta on my X. Nothing. No legacy messages. Not really sure what the damn point of this is ...
 
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Yeah none of my old messages from my iPhone show up on my iPad. Even when I reset everything and start all over.
 
Am I misunderstanding something? I haven't read anything that suggested that 11.3 was going to magically restore iMessage messages that had been deleted days or years ago.
 
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Merackon said:
I have a question about the iCloud Messages feature that I don't think I have seen answered clearly:

Will this enable legacy messages from early conversations that were lost from local devices (due to theft or bricking) be loaded? Or is it limited to the range of messages that are on the currently 'live' and 'active' devices?

I lost a thread from an old phone in 2015, after a prankster triggered the failed attempts passcode wipe, and the hard drive the backup was on died.
Click to expand...
Before Messages in iCloud, Apple did not store your messages on their servers other than:
  • As part of iCloud backups
  • For a short period of time to allow temporarily-offline devices to catch up when they next connect.
And so as a result Apple doesn't have a copy of messages from lost devices that are not part of the above two scenarios, and so they won't be available.

[Though to be clear, 'legacy' messages from active devices will be synced. Say you have three devices: An iPhone whose messages go way back for many years. An iPad whose messages go back a few months. And a brand new MacBook. With Messages in iCloud, the messages from all these devices will be uploaded and merged into a single stream and kept in sync across all the devices.]
 
newellj said:
Am I misunderstanding something? I haven't read anything that suggested that 11.3 was going to magically restore iMessage messages that had been deleted days or years ago.
Click to expand...
My iPad Pro has six months of iMessages. My iPhone (which I just had to restore) now has two DAYS’ worth. I thought this iCloud thing would allow my iPhone to view/download all of the legacy iMessages which were synced from my iPad, but it’s not working.
 
mavis said:
My iPad Pro has six months of iMessages. My iPhone (which I just had to restore) now has two DAYS’ worth. I thought this iCloud thing would allow my iPhone to view/download all of the legacy iMessages which were synced from my iPad, but it’s not working.
Click to expand...
Your iPad needs iMessage in the cloud turned on so it can sync. If its not turned on, messages aren't just going to magically appear.
[doublepost=1516944598][/doublepost]
newellj said:
Am I misunderstanding something? I haven't read anything that suggested that 11.3 was going to magically restore iMessage messages that had been deleted days or years ago.
Click to expand...
You're not missing anything. I'm not entirely sure how someone could think that messages on a device not running 11.3 nor have iCloud messages turned on would some how get these messages into the cloud.
 
I have iMessages in iCloud enabled on my iPhone and iPad. I don’t see any messages being synced, and I don’t see any storage for iMessages in iCloud. It’s kinda strange... wish it’d sync everything back to day one.

Edit: I take it back, partially... deleting messages from my iPhone delete on my iPad instantly. But, still, would be nice if it synced missed messages too, etc.
 
WolfSnap said:
I have iMessages in iCloud enabled on my iPhone and iPad. I don’t see any messages being synced, and I don’t see any storage for iMessages in iCloud. It’s kinda strange... wish it’d sync everything back to day one.

Edit: I take it back, partially... deleting messages from my iPhone delete on my iPad instantly. But, still, would be nice if it synced missed messages too, etc.
Click to expand...

Yeah I still contend that the feature is there. But it’s not fully implemented. Cause it was working before they pulled it. It was able to sync the messages you had on one phone. And it would show up on let’s say your iPad. It worked great! Everything mirrored fine on my iphone and iPad.

Then something went wrong and they pulled the feature. Now they say it should sync automatically. It it’s obviously not syncing messages that it should. I chalk it up to being a beta 1.
 
I have 11.3 on my iPP.
Enabled iMessage Sync and after having charged the iPad overnight, I see iMessage occupying 323MB in iCloud.
So it seems to be working, but may need some time to sync while being connected to power and possibly WiFi.
 
itsmilo said:
It DOES sync but not the ones you had on your device before enabling iCloud Messages
Click to expand...
it took a couple days, but my pre-11.3 messages history has started syncing to other devices. first from my laptop (10.13.4) and then today from my old iphone 7 (11.3). a few attachments (videos) are missing, but it's more than i had pre-11.3
 
Mlrollin91 said:
Your iPad needs iMessage in the cloud turned on so it can sync. If its not turned on, messages aren't just going to magically appear.
[doublepost=1516944598][/doublepost]
You're not missing anything. I'm not entirely sure how someone could think that messages on a device not running 11.3 nor have iCloud messages turned on would some how get these messages into the cloud.
Click to expand...
Actually, it’s working now in Beta 2. ;)
 
Mlrollin91 said:
Okay? I think you misunderstood my post you are quoting.
Click to expand...
Maybe! Anyway it’s working now, finally. With 11.3b1 running on both my iPad Pro and iPhone, no “legacy” iMessages were synced when I restored the phone and set it up as new (even though the iPad has been running since August and therefore has about six months of iMessages on it). Now, with 11.3b2 on both devices, these legacy messages have synced to the phone. Yay!
 
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0AC874B5-D680-4865-B725-70D28E70AF06.jpeg

“Legacy” messages... I’m going with the princess bride quote and say:
 
Where’s the facepalm Picard gif?

Sorry guys. My interpretation of “legacy” was incorrect. I’ll go now, and let this thread die in peace.
 
Messages in iCloud will sync the oldest message that is still on one of your current device. My iPad have messages dated from 2013 and it was synced to my iPhone who was restored like new last September and legacy messages from current conversations was synced as well.

As long as you have a message currently stored on one of your device it will be synced on all of your devices eventually.
 
SoYoung said:
Messages in iCloud will sync the oldest message that is still on one of your current device. My iPad have messages dated from 2013 and it was synced to my iPhone who was restored like new last September and legacy messages from current conversations was synced as well.

As long as you have a message currently stored on one of your device it will be synced on all of your devices eventually.
Click to expand...
Well missing a key requirement. That device must be on 11.3.
 
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