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Unread messages badge on MBP is "stuck"

sixxmum

sixxmum

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 15, 2010
606
58
I've tried opening and closing the app, deleting the whole conversations from the individuals it says there are unread messages from, turning off the message notification badge and turning it back on, and combinations of that. But, I still have "3" unread messages on the MacBook (but none on the phone or iPad).

This is a new issue since Yosemite.

Thoughts?
 
If this is on the Messages icon on the Dock, open Terminal and try killall Dock

I've found this helped me clear off 'wrong' badge counts on Mail and Messages in the past. Dock not updating correctly seems to be an issue. Someone else reported that the "Downloads" folder still has a progress bar under it after a download completes on theirs. That's something I had on Mavericks, not yet on Yosemite.
 
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sixxmum said:
I've tried opening and closing the app, deleting the whole conversations from the individuals it says there are unread messages from, turning off the message notification badge and turning it back on, and combinations of that. But, I still have "3" unread messages on the MacBook (but none on the phone or iPad).

This is a new issue since Yosemite.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Same here. I have 34 unread from one person. Won't go away.
 
GrumpyTrucker said:
If this is on the Messages icon on the Dock, open Terminal and try killall Dock

I've found this helped me clear off 'wrong' badge counts on Mail and Messages in the past. Dock not updating correctly seems to be an issue. Someone else reported that the "Downloads" folder still has a progress bar under it after a download completes on theirs. That's something I had on Mavericks, not yet on Yosemite.
Click to expand...

You have to quit the app first, then run the command.

It's been 5 minutes and it's gone...but it's disappeared for some time before and then reappeared, so we'll see if it sticks.

http://formattc.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/fix-incorrect-mac-dock-icon-badge-count/
 
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I'm getting this as well. I'm stuck at 3 phantom new messages.

Also, in one message thread, it shows the blue dot signifying a new message. I opened that thread, the blue dot goes away. I move to another thread, and the blue dot reappears. Very strange. It's been happening since I got yosemite about a week ago.

edit: I have an 2013 11" MBA.
 
ToomeyND said:
I'm getting this as well. I'm stuck at 3 phantom new messages.

Also, in one message thread, it shows the blue dot signifying a new message. I opened that thread, the blue dot goes away. I move to another thread, and the blue dot reappears. Very strange. It's been happening since I got yosemite about a week ago.

edit: I have an 2013 11" MBA.
Click to expand...

Follow the instructions above. Quit app > Terminal killall Dock

I have been phantom message free for 5 days
 
themack22 said:
Follow the instructions above. Quit app > Terminal killall Dock

I have been phantom message free for 5 days
Click to expand...

I understand that this temporarily fixes the issue, but it doesn't address the problem. I'm just posting this here to see if there are more that have this issue, and if it can/should be resolved in a future 10.x update.
 
I tried the killall function and it worked, but temporarily. This is not a long term fix. Hopefully Apple will come out with an update that addresses this.
 
Restarting helped

If only temporarily. So far so good. By the way, my went from 3, to 5, to restarting, now back at 0.
 
same problem

I have a count of "1" stuck in the Messages app. Never had this until today. Installed Yosemite about a month ago.
 
I think the issue is with the processing of read receipts across the iMessage syncing process, might be worth checking you have read receipts turned on on all your devices? I'm sure they will tidy it up in time...
 
Unread Msgs on MBP stuck

I tried all the other suggestions, i.e. using activity monitor and a command in Terminal. Nothing worked. Until I went into my IOS device and deleted the messages that the MBP listed as unread. This solved the problem.
 
i noticed the same thing. for me it appears to be related to people with android phones sending sms texts that my computer is also now able to receive. even when i check the thread on my computer it was not registering the message as seen. and the counts stayed. even if i delete the thread on the computer it stayed.
i just deleted the threads from all devices and restarted the computer. that now cleared it. but there must be something apple can do with this.
 
Fix

I had the "1" stuck in my Messages App on my MackBook Air running Yosemite for a week. The message has been read, and the "1" does not appear on my iPhone... as if the "1" is truly stuck on my MacBook and not syncing. As instructed above, I closed the app (you have to do this), ran Terminal and did "killall Dock" (note: case sensitive), and this worked... at least for the past two minutes. Thanks!
 
Just found this old thread, I'm having the same issues, today is horrible, have had to run the terminal script about 6 times int he last hour.,. keeps hanging up... I assume they haven't came out with a fix for this yet? :mad:
 
This problem keeps coming back and it's only related to one person/contact. It doesn't happen with messages from anyone else, just this one guy.

:mad:
 
Happens for me as well.

First time for me on a 2013 MBP 13" retina, just last week.

Used the killall, and the badge is gone. Hope it stays away.
 
darelldd said:
Happens for me as well.

First time for me on a 2013 MBP 13" retina, just last week.

Used the killall, and the badge is gone. Hope it stays away.
Click to expand...

I know you don't want it to come back, but maybe you could try and replicate the problem by messaging that same person to get them to respond and see if it comes back. :)
 
The thing is, I have no idea which conversation is causing it. I'll start paying more attention to it now though, to see if there is some consistency. The only new "conversation" going on these days is my new car sending me texts when it is fully charged. My money is on that being the problem now...
 
How to find the problem conversation and get rid of the badge

Click and hold down the mouse button on the Messages icon in the Dock. The popup menu will list the conversation/person with the unread message. Open Messages, select that conversation, right-click it and choose Delete Conversation in that popup menu (the Delete command is also available in the File Menu at the top of the screen).

That got rid of the pesky badge for me!

In my case, I didn't need to save the conversation that was causing the problem. If you need to save your conversation before deleting it, follow the instructions here:
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH20163...S&locale=en_US

Hope this helps!
 
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That sounds super if it works for messages that simply don't exist. But that's the problem right? The message is not there. Only the badge. Still, I haven't had the problem yet today, so I'll wait until it happens next and give this a try with my fingers crossed!
 
All my messages were showing as "read" (no blue dot) when I looked at them in the Messages main window.

It wasn't until I clicked and held down the mouse on the Dock icon that the popup menu identified an unread message.

When I then went to the conversation that the popup claimed had an unread message, all the conversation messages were still displaying as read in the Messages main window. But when I deleted that conversation, the badge in the icon disappeared.

Are you saying you deleted all your conversations in Messages, and you still see the badge?
 
Huh. Interesting! In my case, I can delete ALL conversations. Nothing exists. Yet I still have the badge showing one unread message. So I'm not sure this will be a work-around for me, but I'm looking forward to trying! If nothing else, I learned what's in that "hold down" menu that I hadn't seen before.

I appreciate you sharing this with your fellow sufferers. :)
 
Unread messages badge on MBP is "stuck"

darelldd said:
Huh. Interesting! In my case, I can delete ALL conversations. Nothing exists. Yet I still have the badge showing one unread message. So I'm not sure this will be a work-around for me, but I'm looking forward to trying! If nothing else, I learned what's in that "hold down" menu that I hadn't seen before.



I appreciate you sharing this with your fellow sufferers. :)
Click to expand...


To clear the badge icon open terminal and type:

killall dock
 
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