Following recent reports that Apple pulled the Messages for Mac beta from their website ahead of next month’s Mountain Lion launch, it now appears that Apple has gone even further, and (as we suggested) is now forcibly disabling the Messages beta, leaving users entirely unable to use the service.
After being tipped off by MacTrast reader Richard Dominguez, I looked into the matter, and was able to replicate the issue – but only one one of my two Macs, both of which are running the latest release of Lion and the Messages for Mac beta.
When disabled, Messages clears out your entire contact list, as well as all of your messages, and leaves the user unable to send new messages or add contacts. The above shots taken from the Dock show the disabled Messages beta (left), compared to a still functional version of the app (right).
The additional shots below show the application window itself, with the image on the left depicting the disabled Messages app, and the image on the right depicting a fully functional Messages app (with my personal contacts blurred out). Click the images to expand.
It’s unclear why Apple is disabling this for some Macs/users and not others. Perhaps they are disabling it over time, or some Macs just haven’t “refreshed” yet. While the exact reasoning is unclear, those of you that are using the Messages beta would be advised to revert back to iChat.
Messages for Mac can be reverted back to iChat by opening the app, tapping “Messages” in the menu bar, the tapping “Uninstall Messages Beta…”
