You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

MacOS Messages not showing contact's pictures

My contacts have pictures attached to them on my Mac and iPhone and those are synced fine. On iPhone Messages I can see those pictures but on MacOS Messages, I only see some of the pictures. The rest just have their initials.

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 17, 2020 7:53 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 18, 2020 1:53 PM

Hello troyfromFW,


I understand photos assigned to some of your contacts do not appear in Messages on your Mac. I'd like to see if I can help you get this working as expected.


Regarding the contacts whose photos do not appear, did you manually add those photos to Contacts on your Mac or did they sync there automatically? Open one of those contacts in the Contacts app and then click on the photo. Underneath the photo it should tell you which type of account it's syncing with. Do they say 'iCloud' underneath them, or do they list another type of account?


Compare this with a contact card for someone whose photo does appear in Messages. Does it show the same account name under the photo? If there are multiple photos with different account names underneath them in the contact cards you're experiencing issues with, select the photo for one of the other account types and then select Done. Close out of Messages and Contacts and then reopen Messages and see if the photo now appears.


If all of your contact card photos have the same account type under them, even the contacts that aren't syncing a photo to Messages, try changing the photo on one of the contacts you're having issues with: Add or change contact pictures in Contacts on Mac. Close out of Messages and Contacts and then reopen Messages and check to see if the photo synced. Respond back if you continue to experience the same thing.


Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.


Take care.

Similar questions

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 18, 2020 1:53 PM in response to troyfromFW

Hello troyfromFW,


I understand photos assigned to some of your contacts do not appear in Messages on your Mac. I'd like to see if I can help you get this working as expected.


Regarding the contacts whose photos do not appear, did you manually add those photos to Contacts on your Mac or did they sync there automatically? Open one of those contacts in the Contacts app and then click on the photo. Underneath the photo it should tell you which type of account it's syncing with. Do they say 'iCloud' underneath them, or do they list another type of account?


Compare this with a contact card for someone whose photo does appear in Messages. Does it show the same account name under the photo? If there are multiple photos with different account names underneath them in the contact cards you're experiencing issues with, select the photo for one of the other account types and then select Done. Close out of Messages and Contacts and then reopen Messages and see if the photo now appears.


If all of your contact card photos have the same account type under them, even the contacts that aren't syncing a photo to Messages, try changing the photo on one of the contacts you're having issues with: Add or change contact pictures in Contacts on Mac. Close out of Messages and Contacts and then reopen Messages and check to see if the photo synced. Respond back if you continue to experience the same thing.


Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.


Take care.

MacOS Messages not showing contact's pictures

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.