User level: Level 1 (4 points)After updating to macOS 27, Messages showed phone numbers instead of names even though the contacts were present in Contacts. Photos still showed correctly, and Messages even offered “Add to Contacts” for existing contacts.
Eventually this fixed it for me:
tccutil reset AddressBook com.apple.MobileSMS
Then quit and reopen Messages and allow Contacts access if prompted.
Likely a broken/stale macOS privacy permission between Messages and Contacts, not an iCloud sync issue.
Posted on Sep 26, 2026 9:06 AM
User level: Level 10 (208,430 points)Sep 26, 2026 10:51 AM in response to HumbleMacUser
HumbleMacUser wrote:
After updating to macOS 27, Messages showed phone numbers instead of names even though the contacts were present in Contacts. Photos still showed correctly, and Messages even offered “Add to Contacts” for existing contacts.
Eventually this fixed it for me:
tccutil reset AddressBook com.apple.MobileSMS
Then quit and reopen Messages and allow Contacts access if prompted.
Likely a broken/stale macOS privacy permission between Messages and Contacts, not an iCloud sync issue.
Good computing HumbleMacUser ! Appreciate your post.
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256365473