Messages in iCloud returns in Apple's iOS 11.3 beta 1

First announced last June at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Messages in iCloud have not yet launched, but could be coming to this spring's iOS 11.3 update, based on the first developer beta issued.

In detailing the features of iOS 11.3 on Wednesday, Apple made no mention of Messages in iCloud. But the company surprised later in the day with the release of iOS 11.3 beta 1, which includes Messages in iCloud "for testing and evaluation purposes."

Apple has notified developers that they will be asked to turn on Messages in iCloud on first launch after updating to iOS 11.3 beta 1. The feature is automatically enabled for users who have two-factor authentication and iCloud Backup enabled.

The Messages in iCloud feature synchronizes a user's Messages "stack" between devices seamlessly. Deleting a message on one logged-in device strikes it from all connected to the same iCloud account. In addition, only the newest messages would be stored on-device, with the rest held in iCloud and loaded only when needed.

Messages in iCloud was available to developers to test in early betas of iOS 11 last summer, but the feature was pulled from the update before release.

Other features were not present in the final public release of iOS 11, including Apple Pay Cash and AirPlay 2. Apple Pay Cash ultimately launched in iOS 11.2 last year, but AirPlay 2 has been delayed and will not ship with the HomePod smart speaker, instead arriving later this year.

14 Comments

mike1 10 Years · 3437 comments

About 6 years ago

While I can see it's value for some, I probably won't enable this. I delete complete message stacks from my iPad (personal use only) that I keep on my phone (personal and work use).

Eric_WVGG 8 Years · 969 comments

As a lifelong family-and-friends tech support representative, one of the most common things i have to deal with is "why is this conversation on my phone, but not on my computer," or "why do I have two different threads with Bill on one device, but they're unified on another." Very much looking forward to this.

mavemufc 8 Years · 326 comments

Gonna be useful for a lot of people, especially those who still buy the lowest capacity available for their phones.

paxman 17 Years · 4729 comments

Eric_WVGG said:

As a lifelong family-and-friends tech support representative, one of the most common things i have to deal with is "why is this conversation on my phone, but not on my computer," or "why do I have two different threads with Bill on one device, but they're unified on another." Very much looking forward to this.

I understand these issues will be resolved (hopefully) once the iCloud Messages is implemented, I am curious how you deal with this at the moment. I have just resigned myself to live with this annoyance. I am tech capable but but not always willing, meaning that in cases like this I just have accepted it and have never bothered to delve deeper.
Thanks :)

rob53 13 Years · 3312 comments

paxman said:

Eric_WVGG said:

As a lifelong family-and-friends tech support representative, one of the most common things i have to deal with is "why is this conversation on my phone, but not on my computer," or "why do I have two different threads with Bill on one device, but they're unified on another." Very much looking forward to this.

I understand these issues will be resolved (hopefully) once the iCloud Messages is implemented, I am curious how you deal with this at the moment. I have just resigned myself to live with this annoyance. I am tech capable but but not always willing, meaning that in cases like this I just have accepted it and have never bothered to delve deeper.
Thanks :)

This is supposed to work semi-well right now as long as you have compatible hardware and software among all your devices. I still can't get group messages that include someone NOT on iOS devices to show up on my Mac in Messages (at least not all the time) but that could be a configuration error on my part.

https://www.apple.com/macos/continuity/