iMessages Out of Order on iPhone? Try This Solution

iMessages Out of Order on iPhone? Try This Solution

Have you ever opened an iMessage conversation on iPhone to discover that the messages are out of order? If so, youre not alone. While it can be annoying to have the iMessages appear out of order in the Messages app of iOS, its usually a simple fix to get them to be in proper sequential order. And yes, this applies to the Messages app on iPad as well, so while our focus is primarily on iPhone the techniques to resolve messages appearing in the wrong order is the same. First things first; realize that though the iMessages may appear out of order or as the wrong time, they arent actually sent that way and of sent/received has not changed you did not accidentally discover a time machine or warp the space-time continuum. The reason the messages can sometimes appear out of order in iOS is likely a bug, and it can typically be resolved rather quickly using the methods below. There are also a few other reasons that iMessages conversations can appear out of order, usually as a result of a settings adjustment that was made. Lets dig in: Here are the primary troubleshooting steps to resolve iMessages appearing out of order on any iPhone or iPad running iOS. The most common resolution for getting Messages to appear sequentially and in order again is to simply forcibly quit the Messages app, then reboot the iPhone or iPad. The process of both force quitting and rebooting varies per device as Apple has changed it several times, but the end effect is the same. If you already know how to force exit apps and force reboot, go ahead and do that with the Messages app and then restart your device, otherwise follow instructions below: Using the guides below, target the Messages app to force quit it: After Messages has been forcibly closed, go ahead and initiate a forced reboot of the device using the guides below appropriate to your device: Once the Messages app has been forcibly quit, and the iPhone or iPad rebooted, open the Messages app again. The Messages should be back in order as intended. Sometimes people may manually set date and time, roll back their iOS device clock to use a particular app or game, or disable automatic time setting, and having the improper date and time set on an iPhone or iPad can lead to messages appearing out of order or non-sequentially. This is easy to check, and to fix: Return to the Messages app and check if your iMessages are back in order as intended again. Do note that if an iPhone or iPad has no internet connection, the automatic time setting may not work precisely, and if the iOS device has never been connected to an internet connection then you may want to use the manual time setting adjustment. Some users have reported various issues with Messages appearing out of order after installing a particular software update, or while running an older software version. Back up your iPhone or iPad first, and then install any available software updates. There are some versions of iOS that appear to be more prone to message syncing errors than others, so if at all possible try to run the latest version you can. Regardless, after you update iOS, go ahead and relaunch Messages app. If theyre back in order as intended, youre good to go. Another trick that can work is to turn iMessages off and back on again. Another alternative option is to turn imessage off, then reboot the iOS device, then turn iMessages back on again. That can work sometimes too. Did the above tricks work to fix your iMessages from appearing out of order? Are your imessages now back in order on the iPhone or iPad? Let us know what worked for you in the comments!