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fountaineer

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 22, 2008
79
5
I'm wondering how the current messages on the phone will be treated once icloud imessages is activated.
does anyone have some experience with ios 11.4 beta 1 and that feature?

Ideally I would like to keep all of my past imessages/messages and be able to activate icloud. That way if i restore as new device and turn on icloud they come back as before. Hope it works this way.
 

gwang73

macrumors 68030
Jun 14, 2009
2,593
2,118
California
So far, it only syncs new messages that come in after iCloud messages is activated. Been like this on all the betas so far that supported iCloud messages.
 

redpandadev

macrumors 6502
Jun 3, 2014
352
316
Think iCloud Photo Library for Messages. When you turn on iMessage in iCloud, the messages on your device get merged with any messages currently in iCloud, which also means merging with any messages on other devices that have the feature turned on.

For me, this feature has been working flawlessly since it was first introduced in the early 11.0 betas, as well as all of the other betas that have had the features. My messages have survived through all of the betas, and the repeated removal and return of the feature without losing a single message that I'm aware of (approx 20GB of messages dating back as far as 2008).
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So far, it only syncs new messages that come in after iCloud messages is activated. Been like this on all the betas so far that supported iCloud messages.
This has not been my experience at all. It has synced all of my messages going as far back as they go. I am sure of this because I set up a new user on my computer with no messages. Turning on Messages in the Cloud resulted in all of the messages from my iPhone coming down, both new and old.

I'm guessing that the inconsistent experience across the beta testers that have used it is exactly why it still hasn't seen the light of day for the public.
 

fountaineer

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 22, 2008
79
5
I guess it might be different/buggy for some.

Redpandadev i hope it's your case scenario. I'm a tad nervous to try 11.4 at such early beta maybe a bit later on and after some more feedback from more people here about their experience with this.
 

Fatyank

macrumors 6502
Jan 20, 2008
350
142
Chandler, Arizona
I don't keep messages older than a year. That said, all my messages for the past year are synced between phone and ipad, and deleting from one deletes from the other.

Messages in iCloud is working fine here.
Digitalexpir, maybe you can help me with iMessages. I have been trying to set up my iphone 7Plus and my iPad Pro 12.9 2nd gen both running iOs 11.3 to synce messages. I’ve read how to do it but my messages still don’t sync. I end up with some messages on both devices and some on one or the other device. I dont know what i’m missinf in setup! Thanks
 

digitalexplr

macrumors 65816
Dec 13, 2016
1,335
876
Central Missouri
Digitalexpir, maybe you can help me with iMessages. I have been trying to set up my iphone 7Plus and my iPad Pro 12.9 2nd gen both running iOs 11.3 to synce messages. I’ve read how to do it but my messages still don’t sync. I end up with some messages on both devices and some on one or the other device. I dont know what i’m missinf in setup! Thanks
I had that issue until they put iCloud Messages back in 11.4 b1. Now both my devices are in sync most of the time. There still seems to a bit of delay between receiving a message on my phone, 8+, and the iPad. Both are running 11.4 b1.

Have you tried signing out of messages on both devices and signing back in?
 

Fatyank

macrumors 6502
Jan 20, 2008
350
142
Chandler, Arizona
I tried the sign out/sign in on both devices and no change. In messages i have my phone number and iCloud ID selected for where i can be reached at. Should i deselect iCloud ID and just use phone number? Start new conversations is set to use my phone number. Should i change this?
 

Mlrollin91

macrumors G5
Nov 20, 2008
14,172
10,181
I tried the sign out/sign in on both devices and no change. In messages i have my phone number and iCloud ID selected for where i can be reached at. Should i deselect iCloud ID and just use phone number? Start new conversations is set to use my phone number. Should i change this?
iMessage in the cloud is not currently available in 11.3, thus, your devices cannot sync with each other.
 

fountaineer

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 22, 2008
79
5
Both devices will get all new messages but past won’t sync up.
in your experience the past messages don't sync but do they at least comeback on the same device?

just curious about your update process. when you updated to ios 11.4b1 which ios version did you use prior to that?
 

Mlrollin91

macrumors G5
Nov 20, 2008
14,172
10,181
in your experience the past messages don't sync but do they at least comeback on the same device?

just curious about your update process. when you updated to ios 11.4b1 which ios version did you use prior to that?
I’m not running iOS 11.4. I was merely responding to the previous poster. I guess the quote didn’t go through.
 

TheSkywalker77

macrumors 68030
Sep 9, 2017
2,890
2,760
I personally turned this off. I have 5 GB of iCloud storage since I don't use the cloud too much, but I don't want iMessage to eat that up. I can live if I don't have the past messages on my new devices.

PS: In your signature the iPhone 5SE is just called the 'iPhone SE" ;)
 

gwang73

macrumors 68030
Jun 14, 2009
2,593
2,118
California
in your experience the past messages don't sync but do they at least comeback on the same device?

just curious about your update process. when you updated to ios 11.4b1 which ios version did you use prior to that?

My experience has been that old messages stay on the device - nothing will get deleted by turning on iCloud messages. I think if I have an existing message on my Mac and not my iPhone, it won't sync. If they're on both devices and you get a new message in that thread after turning on iCloud messages, they will sync.
 

LarryJoe33

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2017
2,641
1,124
Boston
This is a beta feature to be clear. I have been using it on my iPhone X and MBP since they made it available via beta, including the period where they took it away and brought it back.

I’m not sure the answer is the same for everyone on syncing but I know for sure my two devices messages prior to tuning it on are not in sync. After they are both on it syncs from that point forward. For example, if I have a message that was deleted from my MBP but not my phone, turning it on does not result in that deleted message showing back up on my MBP. There’s lots of other scenarios but you should get the point from my example. It definitely does not merge and sync. I am pretty sure the feature is forward looking.
 

mavis

macrumors 601
Jul 30, 2007
4,771
1,541
Tokyo, Japan
Both devices will get all new messages but past won’t sync up.
That's not how it worked for me. I set my iPhone X up as a new device, but when I installed 11.3 betas on both my iPad Pro and the iPhone, all of my old iMessages from the iPad appeared on my iPhone as well. It worked great!
 

Mlrollin91

macrumors G5
Nov 20, 2008
14,172
10,181
That's not how it worked for me. I set my iPhone X up as a new device, but when I installed 11.3 betas on both my iPad Pro and the iPhone, all of my old iMessages from the iPad appeared on my iPhone as well. It worked great!
Not talking about 11.3 beta. Beta had messages in cloud. Final does not.
 

fountaineer

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 22, 2008
79
5
Not talking about 11.3 beta. Beta had messages in cloud. Final does not.
but i think mavis was referring to icloud actually storing and spitting out his old immessages not just new ones going forward. only difference is that it happened to him on 11.3 beta not 11.4 beta or 11.3 final.

Hope people can continue posting their experience how old immesages get treated.
 

Mlrollin91

macrumors G5
Nov 20, 2008
14,172
10,181
but i think mavis was referring to icloud actually storing and spitting out his old immessages not just new ones going forward. only difference is that it happened to him on 11.3 beta not 11.4 beta or 11.3 final.

Hope people can continue posting their experience how old immesages get treated.
What he saw is normal for those running Messages in the cloud. Whether you are on 11.3 beta or 11.4 beta. Those on 11.3 final will not experience this as there is not syncing.
 

itsmilo

Suspended
Sep 15, 2016
3,985
8,731
Berlin, Germany
on iOS 11.4 it finally says "retrieve from cloud" or something like that when i go into the attachments. I wonder if it finally syncs attachments now? have not tried it yet. it is so annoying having to delete every single attached photo from every device manually and individually. that is the biggest reason why i was looking forward to iCloud Messages on iOS 11.3 but it never synced the attachments but only the texts.
 

fountaineer

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 22, 2008
79
5
now that 11.4 is out perhaps more people will be able to chime in and say how the feature behaves with older messages.
 

Kagio

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2008
283
271
Please some one explain this:

I have 5Gb for iCloud storage. Does iMessages on iCloud count towards that 5Gb quota? .. if it does, there is no point on turning it on since it would eat up my remaining 1Gb veru quickly and start bugging me with "iCloud full"

Does iMessage count towards iCloud storage space? (5Gb)

What about my past messages that weight a lot on my local iPhone storage right now? are they on iCloud once I turn iCloud for iMessages on? .. What if I want ZERO 0Gb of local storage used by iMessage, can it be done?


PLEASE HELP GUYS = )
 

macfanboy

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2007
916
163
I’ve been having some issues setting up Messages in the Cloud. My steps:

1: Upgrade iPhone 7 to iOS 11.4 and enable Messages in iCloud
2: Wait for messages to completely upload
3: Upload finishes
4: Send/receive a few messages
5: Erase/Upgrade iPad Pro (10.5 inch) to iOS 11.4 (no backup) and enable Messages in iCloud
6: Once the download completed, my iPad only had the messages from my iPhone at step 3.

I’m essentially missing a few hours worth of messages on my iPad (everything sent in step 4). I’ve tried turning Messages in iCloud on/off a few times, to no avail. Is this happening to anyone else?
 
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