Within the iMessages app on OS X 10.8.2 all of my iMessage conversations have switched to Bonjour. So instead of showing the usual blue bubble it's red and people's phone numbers are shown instead of their contact name.
If I go to an individual conversation and click on the down arrow I have the option to change the messaging service from Bonjour to iMessage.
If I click iMessage the phone number is replaced with the contact name and photo from my contacts, but any previous conversation is gone. If the person then subsequently sends me a message the conversation history comes back.
This method does not work for group chats. If I click on a group chat that includes the same phone number I do not get the iMessage option.
- Is there a way to mass change all of my iMessage conversations from Bonjour back to iMessage so I don't have to do it one-by-one?
- Is there any way to change the group chat back to iMessage?
- Is there a way to recover conversation history without waiting for a contact to send me a new message?
This happened after I took my Mac to the Genius bar to get some hardware fixed. When I got it back everything was fine except for iMessage being messed up as described above.
Update: There's a similar question on the Apples Support boards, but the solution did not work for me: com.apple.ichat.Subnet.plist did not exist.
Best Answer
In addition to unselecting Bonjour, which I agree was insufficient, I found that under Messages > Preferences, my Apple ID had been deselected. Once I re-selected it, I could then identify the phone numbers and email addresses I wanted to use with messaging.
I suspect my original cause was my daughter's wanting me to turn off messaging for her email address (she is young and so her stuff is under my Apple ID) and somehow that turned off the MacBook's messaging entirely, not just her address. Curiously, my iPhone was affected.
I also suspect I selected Bonjour in a futile attempt to fix messaging on the MacBook. Hope this is helpful.