Why does iMessage/Messages for Mac Say 'Maybe?'

[Ace2617]

Hey everyone,

I'm having a weird issue with iMessage (Messages in macOS 10.12)

When I send a message to one of my friends from my MacBook, they receive the message as "Maybe (my name)" Instead of just having my name as the sender, it has a "maybe" prefix.

Does anyone know what this is about? I tried to sign out of Messages and sign back in, but it didn't fix the issue. This doesn't happen when sending from my iPhone - which I do about 95 percent of the time - but when I send from my Mac it happens.

Has anyone come across this issue?

Thanks for any help, I appreciate it.

 

[Ritsuka]

Probably your friend does not have your contact saved, or its missing the name or some other info.

 

[dcarr_99]

Old thread but I just had this issue myself so I'll add my experience.

One of my iMessage group member's name was "Maybe: [name]". As Ritsuka suggested, in my Contacts, this member's contact phone# had no area code, whereas his iMessage phone# did. I added the AC to his contact phone and the "Maybe:" went away.

 

[Ace2617]

Since this thread resurfaced, I should note what I did and how it fixed the issue. About a year ago, I enabled a different email address of mine under Accounts in the preference pane of Messages. That fixed the problem, and it's been working great since. But as DCarr_99 said, there are other ways to fix this problem if anyone experiences it, such as adding an area code if it's missing.

 

[russell_jt]

Since this thread resurfaced, I should note what I did and how it fixed the issue. About a year ago, I enabled a different email address of mine under Accounts in the preference pane of Messages. That fixed the problem, and it's been working great since. But as DCarr_99 said, there are other ways to fix this problem if anyone experiences it, such as adding an area code if it's missing.

Please can you elaborate on how you resolved this? I don't think it is feasible to add a country code to each contact, especially as for me this problem has only occurred since I changed my Apple ID from being an @gmail.com account to my @icloud.com account. Prior to this I did not have any issues.

Additionally, Messages still does recognise the numbers as belonging to certain contacts because it displays the correct photo, therefore on some level it does recognise who the number belongs to.

Many thanks
Russell

 

[almlof]

Did anyone actually figure this one out? I'm still getting iMessage notification on my mac that says "maybe" on basically every user. But when I fire Messages up, every contact has both the correct name and picture in an orderly fashion. I've tried a whole bunch of guides on how to resolve this issue but nothing... The only thing left is probably to reset the entire HDD.

 

[pstevem]

I just had this happen with a friend, and it was right after I updated to iOS 16.4, though it was on my iMac which hasn't been upgraded. Turned out the message was somehow sent from a user's "@iCloud.com" account, and that email address wasn't in my contact card for that person. I added that email address, and the "maybe" went away. And it was this thread that showed me the way...

Thanks to others@!

 

[asterizk]

Did anyone actually figure this one out? I'm still getting iMessage notification on my mac that says "maybe" on basically every user. But when I fire Messages up, every contact has both the correct name and picture in an orderly fashion. I've tried a whole bunch of guides on how to resolve this issue but nothing... The only thing left is probably to reset the entire HDD.

It's happening to me with every notification I get for anyone in macOS Messages in macOS Ventura 13.6.4/Messages 14.0 (6000) right now. Like you, the Messages app shows everyone's name just fine. It's just the notifications that don't have it right. It's just a hunch, but I am guessing there may be a pending software update I need to install, and once I install it, maybe it will work normally again. The hunch is based on the fact that similar weirdness occurs to the 1Password extension when I have a pending app update for Microsoft Edge. The extension just stops working until I let the browser update itself. And I've also seen Windows get into special states when there's a pending system update. If I get to the bottom of it I'll try to post an update.

Update, a few moments later -- well, there was no pending software update (besides macOS Sonoma), so, back to the drawing board. For what it's worth I haven't tried restarting my computer yet, that is also frequently the solution to weirdnesses.