Troubleshooting iPhone Text Message Synchronization Issues with Mac

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Recently, I got a new MBA but found that text messages were not syncing to the new Mac, so I started troubleshooting. This issue is quite common, so I’m documenting it here.

Troubleshooting Steps

  1. Open iMessage on Mac, verify that iCloud message sync is enabled
    https://static.1991421.cn/2025/2025-04-06-180249.jpeg

  2. On iPhone, go to Settings-Apps-Messages, verify that Messages is enabled, and enable the corresponding device in Text Message Forwarding.
    https://static.1991421.cn/2025/2025-04-06-180830.jpeg

Fixed

During the troubleshooting, I found that my issue was because I hadn’t selected to forward text messages to this Mac on the iPhone. After enabling it and sending a new text message, everything worked fine.

At the end

Text message synchronization is a feature I use frequently. For example, when logging into websites, I can directly invoke Alfred on Mac to read SMS verification codes and paste them into web pages with just one enter key - very convenient. You should give it a try.