iCloud macOS Ventura Messages Search

[Jony Mac]

I noticed something odd on the messages app specifically on macOS Ventura. If I have messages opened and click the search bar I see suggestions of numbers to interact with. All of them are text numbers and not those tied to iMessages. Most of them are from those spam text messages that have been going around for quite some time.

What's odd is I don't see the same behavior on my iPhone.

I've tried signing out of Messages on my Mac and back in, but they seem to come back again.

Anyone else notice this?

 

[chabig]

I'm not sure what you're talking about. Can you post a screenshot?

 

[Jony Mac]

I found a screenshot online since I’m not near my Mac.

In messages you can see the search box. If I click on it, I will see names and numbers similar to the screenshot below.

The odd part is the names and numbers that the search bar suggests are from conversations or texts I’ve long deleted.

I would expect to only see search suggestions for those I’m actively taking too.

I hope this helps describe my situation.

 

[Jony Mac]

What I also noticed is if I am in messages and hit the search box it appears that it randomly suggests different names and numbers. I wouldn’t mind it if it suggested contacts of mine, but the fact the random scam text numbers that are there is annoying.

I have tried turning off iCloud messages on my Mac, as well as deleting the messages files in ~library.

That didn’t seem to help.

Edit: I decided to ask Apple they had me try this in safe mode to see if it still happened. It did any they said to reinstall the OS! Gotta be kidding me.

 

[Jony Mac]

My apologies for bumping this thread, but this is still going on.

Also, I’m wondering if this is the right spot on the forums for the post. Should I try another location for this type of problem.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Jony Mac]

So for S*its and giggles, I humored the person at the Apple Store. We did a wipe on my Mac and after getting back up in running the same symptoms came back. At this point I have to believe there is something with Messages in the Cloud that is tied to devices.

I had 3 Apple Genius' look at this and they all said they've never seen this before.

I find it hard to believe that someone else isn't seeing this as well.

 

[Jony Mac]

Continuing my issue, I took my Mac to the Apple Store. Explained my issue, and they person there didn’t even look at it. He said I hate to tell you this but you’ll have to call Apple Care back and tell them the problem is still there.

I said why, I’m here. They’ll just tell my to reformat and reinstall.

He said they’ll escalate to a senior advisor next, to which I responded then why didn’t they do that in the first place before having me reinstall.

 

[Jony Mac]

So I suppose I’ll give my final update on this.

I called Apple this morning and went through 3 levels of support. The last being one of Apple’s engineers.

I was told this behavior is normal for messages as it acts differently than Siri suggestions.

Apparently within messages if someone has sent you a message, or you’ve reported it to Apple “aka using the delete option in messages and selecting report to Apple and your carrier” that will cause the search results to appear.

The Apple engineer informed me messages is working as designed. Seems silly to me given the number of scam texts that happen all the time.