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In recent times handoff/continuity stopped working for messages on my iMac & iPhone. Messages coming into my iPhone no longer appear on my iMac, & I can no longer send messages via my iMac.

It has stopped working since updating to iOS 11 & High Sierra, however it still worked while I was using the developer betas of both.

I've checked the following...

  • Both are on the same wi-fi network.
  • Both have Bluetooth turned on.
  • Both are logged into the same (my only) iCloud account.
  • Both have handoff turned on.

Messages is the single biggest area where I use handoff & I'd really like it to be working again.

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As a starting point, my suggestion would be to sign out of your account on the iMac, but not from the iCloud preference pane. Instead, sign out of Messages as follows:

  1. Open the Messages app on your iMac
  2. Go to Messages > Preferences...
  3. Select the Accounts tab
  4. Select your Apple ID/iCloud account
  5. Click on the Sign Out button
  6. At the next prompt, click on the blue Sign Out button
  7. Once you're signed out, Quit Messages
  8. Wait a couple of minutes repeat Steps 1 to 3
  9. Go through the process of re-adding your account

Once you've done this you should get a notification on your iPhone saying that your account is now being used on an iMac. Once this happens, test to see if everything is working okay.

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  • I'd seen an article that suggested signing out of my iCloud on both Mac & iPhone. I signed out on my iPhone but not on my Mac because I use iCloude Drive for my documents which would have made signing out fully a huge headache. As it is signing out on my iPhone has left the contacts on my iPhone a mess.
    – Pedro
    Nov 5, 2017 at 3:44
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    Hmmm, I can't comment on what happened with your Contacts on your iPhone (not enough info), but in my steps I'm not suggesting you sign out of iCloud on your Mac. Instead, I'm referring to just signing out within your Messages app. This is different to signing out of iCloud at System Preferences > iCloud (which is where iCloud Drive is enabled/disabled).
    – Monomeeth ♦
    Nov 5, 2017 at 3:55
  • I understood what you meant & did that sign out. I'm now trying to sign back in & it's seeming to take an eternity. I'm hoping an explicit sync (or 3) of my iPhone using iTunes will fix the contacts.
    – Pedro
    Nov 5, 2017 at 5:05
  • Finally I got logged back in on Messages, & it's working again. Thank you! 😊
    – Pedro
    Nov 5, 2017 at 7:14
  • The Handoff dock icon appears on my Macbook when typing a message in the Message app on my iPhone but when clicking on it, it just opens the Messages app on my Macbook without the message I was just typing. Tried the above procedure, but it didn't resolve the issue. Other things like shared Pasteboard or message history synchronization work fine.
    – Stefan Schmidt
    Oct 19, 2022 at 15:42

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