Level 1

15 points

Messages not syncing/downloading all Messages from iCloud - bug? ios 26.0

Hello all,

This is an interesting bug/issue I have noticed since upgrading to iOS26 and getting a new iPhone. This issue is occurring across all my devices as well.

Devices affected:

iPad Pro M2 2022

Macbook Pro 16" M2

iPhone 17 Pro Max

Apple Watch Ultra

All are running OS 26.0 public release.

icloud sync is turned on for all 3 devices

message history is set to forever

The issue: When I got my new iPhone, I did a full backup to iCloud of my old device, then I did the set up new iPhone from old iPhone (15 pro max) - it took several hours to transfer everything and seemed to be good. I got the phone setup and let it do its thing for the next few days.

Then I got a notice I was near my iCloud storage limit (200gb). 66.5Gb are messages. So i started to clear things, removed large attachments, etc. But then i figured, ill just go and delete old conversations as well. Only problem is - i cant see them. iCloud says there are 570,573 messages in icloud. Well, where are they? when I scroll back i only see messages from June 2025.

Interestingly, if I try to start a conversation to someone from a year ago, the message history is right there.

I can search for the old messages if I know who/what I am looking for.

But scrolling the list of conversations and they dont populate.

During the icloud sync i did see some of them briefly, but by the end of the sync they were gone.

theyre not in recently deleted, that is empty.

i have tried the following steps already

First i tried just manually forcing the sync from each device and letting it complete - did not solve it

Then I tried toggling icloud sync off and on on each device - did not solve it

Then I tried logging out of imessage on each device rebooting and logged back in and re enabled sync - did not solve it

Then I tried logging out of icloud completely from each device rebooting and logging back in and re enabling sync - did not fix it.

I know the conversations are there...all 66gb of them. but whatever indexing is happening in the background or whatever is happening in the message app is not showing these conversations in the list of conversations.

Has anyone else had this issue? Is there anything else I can try. I have already followed all the relevent apple support articles regarding this (as above) and has not solved the issue. Im not too keen on repeating these steps again (ive already done them twice) so is this just a 26.0 bug that will get fixed or am I missing something else to try?

Thank you

A

iPhone 17 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Sep 29, 2025 6:26 AM

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17 replies

Dec 4, 2025 7:24 AM in response to axforts

SOLVED: All you have to do is go to settings>Apps> Messages and leave Screen Unknown Senders and Filter Spam to ON. Sync iMessage angain under iCloud and all your messages will sync properly now on all your devices.

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Dec 4, 2025 7:24 AM in response to jnussb9328

SOLVED: All you have to do is go to settings>Apps> Messages and leave Screen Unknown Senders and Filter Spam to ON. Sync iMessage angain under iCloud and all your messages will sync properly now on all your devices.

Reply

Dec 4, 2025 7:25 AM in response to axforts

SOLVED: All you have to do is go to settings>Apps> Messages and leave Screen Unknown Senders and Filter Spam to ON. Sync iMessage angain under iCloud and all your messages will sync properly now on all your devices.

Reply

Dec 4, 2025 9:19 AM in response to ROBNDIEGO73

SOLVED: All you have to do is go to settings>Apps> Messages and leave Screen Unknown Senders and Filter Spam to ON. Sync iMessage angain under iCloud and all your messages will sync properly now on all your devices.

Reply

Dec 4, 2025 9:20 AM in response to prbarbour

SOLVED: All you have to do is go to settings>Apps> Messages and leave Screen Unknown Senders and Filter Spam to ON. Sync iMessage angain under iCloud and all your messages will sync properly now on all your devices.

Reply

Level 1

15 points

Sep 29, 2025 8:31 AM in response to axforts

also it says review large attachments. When I click the the attachments don’t add up to 50gb. So where are these? Seems like there’s a fundamental issue with iCloud/imessage indexing these conversations and attachments and displaying them.

[Edited by Moderator]

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Level 1

15 points

Oct 2, 2025 4:35 PM in response to techie323

I've given up fixing it for now. I filed a bug report with apple at https://feedbackassistant.apple.com

i encourage others to do the same and hopefully itll get fixed in the next update/. its still broken in 26.0.1

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Oct 2, 2025 5:31 PM in response to axforts

Been having this exact issue. Was trying to upgrade from my 13 Mini running iOS 18 to 17 Pro on iOS 26 (now 26.0.1).

I’ve tried setting up the 17 Pro using phone to phone transfer from the 13 Mini and a Mac backup restore. The Mac restore is better at starting the new iOS 26 device with your full message history, but after completing the iCloud sync, it results in this issue.

debating returning the phone bc I don’t want to “lose” my threads just to upgrade. And idk how much confidence I have in Apple to identify and fix this soon.

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Oct 26, 2025 8:59 PM in response to axforts

Happening with me as well. I've had messages set to keep forever and auto delete off since 2015. So everything from 2015 up to Jan 2024 is gone. I recovered all deleted messages and they reappeared. This morning, they are all gone again except this time, there's nothing in the deleted tab to recover so they're just gone. I've logged out of my apple account, changed password, turned off sync/back on, logged out of iTunes/back in, reset password, restarted all devices and no luck. Also, my attachments size vs what's really there does not compute. I understand there are glitches with new iOS's, iPhone's etc, but something of this porportion and not a word from Apple is very disappointing. Thankful for the community though!

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Level 1

15 points

Nov 4, 2025 11:36 AM in response to axforts

I encourage everyone to send a report to apple. This is still occurring in the update released today. Radio silence so far. i have submitted feedback with no response yet

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Oct 2, 2025 4:17 PM in response to axforts

I have almost the identical issue!!

All my messages from 2015-2018 were missing on my iOS 26 devices but still visible on my iPhone 16 Pro Max that was still on the old iOS. Apple suggested today that I upgrade that phone, so it is running the same iOS as the other phones, but now that I did that now the older messages are also missing on that phone. And similar to you if I search for something they will show up, but then they end up disappearing from the message list. I don’t know what to do.

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Nov 1, 2025 4:25 AM in response to axforts

I have the exact same issue. I figured this out probably a month ago and I did the iOS 26 update. I called Apple. I’ve been on the phone with Apple multiple times for hours doing things that they have requested me to do and nothing works. They acted like I was crazy and no one else had this issue. Now I might be one of the first ones that had reported it I’m not sure. I was told that it has been advanced to the next level for them to work on a solution. But I guess we’ll see how long that takes. At least now that other people are finally starting to report it. Hopefully they will take it seriously because this is definitely a huge issue.

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Dec 4, 2025 6:05 PM in response to Vinnymallow

Wow, this worked! Thank you! But now how do I get the messages to download onto my new MacBook? I am having the same issue -- got it 2 weeks ago and the messages won't download anything older than 2024 and no attachments. Plenty of room on MacBook, and it's definitely been long enough...

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Dec 3, 2025 7:36 AM in response to axforts

I am having the exact same issue

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Dec 4, 2025 7:37 AM in response to Vinnymallow

Wow. This actually seems to have worked. Very bizzare considering many of the affected threads were with people in my contact list. Apple should fix this.

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Messages not syncing/downloading all Messages from iCloud - bug? ios 26.0

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