A frustrating bug in macOS High Sierra is causing significant iMessage delivery delays for some users. It is also causing notification issues on iPhone and Apple Watch, and as things stand, there is no real fix.

A growing number of users are flocking to Apple’s support forum to report the problem. They have found there is a significant delay in receiving some iMessages on a Mac since upgrading to High Sierra, while others are delivered immediately.

When delayed messages are delivered to their iPhone or Apple Watch, they often arrive without a notification, so users don’t know about them until they open the Messages app.

High Sierra is the culprit

“Receiving messages on my Mac are now extremely delayed since installing High Sierra,” writes one user. “They will show up on my iPhone, but without a notification so I can’t see or hear it.  Then several minutes later it will pop up on the Mac.”

“I didn’t have this issue with Sierra, and would rather not downgrade.”

Messages do not appear on a Mac until hours after they are sent in many cases. Those with a registered developer account say that Apple’s most recent High Sierra betas do not come with a fix for this problem.

There are workarounds

There is no real fix for this problem just yet, but there are some workarounds.

Some users report that disabling iMessage on their Mac, then re-enabling it again, fixes the problem. Sending an iMessage from the Mac can also restore normal service. However, these are only temporary solutions, and in most cases the problem returns.

The only other fixes are to disable iMessage on the problematic Mac, or to downgrade back to macOS Sierra.

An upcoming iCloud syncing feature for iMessage could be the root cause of the problem. It made a brief appearance in earlier betas of iOS 11 and High Sierra, but Apple removed it before the updates were made available to the public.

Source: cult of mac