“Waiting for iCloud” in Messages with iOS 17.4?

[Cmd+Q]

This morning I had a warning in the Messages app just below the pinned contacts (forgot to take a screenshot) that said “Waiting for iCloud” with some text about the possible loss of messaging as a result plus a link that took me to Contact Key Verification settings. However, no more information could be gleaned from that screen.

The warning message changed to something about not being logged in to iCloud before disappearing. I am on iOS 17.4 (and matching versions on iPad, Watch and Mac), I have contact key verification enable but I am not using messages on iCloud. So I’m not sure what exactly the phone was waiting on iCloud for - any explanation?

I did actually miss a few messages on my phone and watch between 9:50am and 10:20am ET that were delivered to my iPad and Mac; and had no problems responding to from the iPad.

Over the last days, I had a few popups across my devices that an iPhone and Apple Watch have now access to Messages and FaceTime. I thought this was related to iOS 17.4 updates. Could that be related?

Curious if anybody else has seen this.

 

[RayVra]

Same thing happened to me today on my phone. Not sure why yet or what to do. Attached are some screenshots and link to Apple support: https://support.apple.com/en-us/118246

Ray in San Diego 😎🌴⛱😎

 

[Cmd+Q]

How did you get it resolved? Did you have to de-activate/activate iMessage as well?

I ask because this problem reoccured for me about two weeks later. And that time, I tried to deactivate Contact Key Verification first and that failed with a nondescript error message (see attachments). I closely looked at my iMessage settings and realized it said "Waiting for iCloud" there as well, plus "No addresses". So, I went ahead and de-/re-activated iMessage to get rid of this error. I am still unclear what is causing this.

After the problem reappeared, I also had a brief interaction with Apple Support about it (submitted screenshots using chat and the senior advisor on the phone couldn't see apparently any of that; but that's a complaint for another day). During the call, they checked my iMessage configuration and had me ensure that only one email address is associated with iMessage settings. They also questioned my use of two Apple IDs (one for iCloud, the other one for iTunes/Media) but we didn't change anything there. Anyway, the problem has not resurfaced since.

 

[appleincognito]

Same thing happened to me today. Seems to go away when you restart the phone - hope it doesn’t return!

How did you get it resolved? Did you have to de-activate/activate iMessage as well?

I ask because this problem reoccured for me about two weeks later. And that time, I tried to deactivate Contact Key Verification first and that failed with a nondescript error message (see attachments). I closely looked at my iMessage settings and realized it said "Waiting for iCloud" there as well, plus "No addresses". So, I went ahead and de-/re-activated iMessage to get rid of this error. I am still unclear what is causing this.

After the problem reappeared, I also had a brief interaction with Apple Support about it (submitted screenshots using chat and the senior advisor on the phone couldn't see apparently any of that; but that's a complaint for another day). During the call, they checked my iMessage configuration and had me ensure that only one email address is associated with iMessage settings. They also questioned my use of two Apple IDs (one for iCloud, the other one for iTunes/Media) but we didn't change anything there. Anyway, the problem has not resurfaced since.

 

[iConzo]

Just had this issue on my and my husband’s phones almost in unison this morning. Restarting did not resolve. Really strange, because not only would our iMessages not go though, but we couldn’t call each other either! It would just say “call failed”, both directions. But the internet worked. We could message through Instagram. Eventually we started getting each other’s iMessages on our watches, but not our phones. Decided to try turning off contact key verification on both and restarted both again. Seems to have resolved.

Both iPhone 15 pro max, running 17.4.1

 

[valynor]

Same thing here, 13 Pro Max, iOS 17.4.1

Happened 2x about a week apart directly after I rebooted. Waited for ~30 mins to see if it would sort itself out but it did not.
A second reboot fixed it but I got system notifications on all devices that a new iPhone and Apple Watch had been added to my iMessage devices.

Seems to me like Apple added a little buggy something to iCloud, possibly related to contact key verification.

 

[DeanGL]

Just had this issue on my and my husband’s phones almost in unison this morning. Restarting did not resolve. Really strange, because not only would our iMessages not go though, but we couldn’t call each other either! It would just say “call failed”, both directions. But the internet worked. We could message through Instagram. Eventually we started getting each other’s iMessages on our watches, but not our phones. Decided to try turning off contact key verification on both and restarted both again. Seems to have resolved.

Both iPhone 15 pro max, running 17.4.1

View attachment 2369171

The below the message there are 2 buttons one button to ignore the error, the other button is go to settings. I pressed the Go to Settings Button, (I believe it took me directly to Contack Key Verification). I then Disabled Verification in Messages and then reenabled it. We will see if that fixes the problem long term.

 

[valynor]

Did the 1st reboot after the 17.5 update, again iMessage wasn't working after booting up.
Went to settings > messages and turned off iMessage and re-enabled it after a couple seconds and it connected immediately.

@DeanGL
Please let us know if that fixed it for you.

 

[DarkSorrow82]

Same thing here as well yesterday. I rebooted the phone and then everything worked like normal.