Deleting the com.apple.apsd.plist file helped on the MacBook Pro! THANK YOU!
I will have to wait until tomorrow when I get to the office and try the same on my Mac Mini.

Thanks a TON!!!

NVRAM reset did it for me, also – after having tried almost everything else (both above and below NVRAM reset) on the list.

BTW, the problem began after I firmware-upgraded my 2009 MacPro 4,1 to the 5,1 firmware. I’d say maybe anyone else who does this same firmware upgrade should just go ahead and reset the NVRAM after successfully doing this procedure – I mean, why not?

Click on the launchpad and type keychain.
Then type IDS on the search bar

1. Delete IDS with apple user id from keychain that is used to sign in with iCloud. IDS:user.name@domainname.com (as in your post)
2. Rename Mac’s Push Notification for iMessage and FaceTime from : Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/com.apple.apsd.plist to com.apple.apsd.plist.sav (may require sudo or admin password)
3. Copy an OLD com.apple.apsd.plist from backup to the Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/ folder (essential replacing the previous non-working one with one that worked from a backup.)
4. Shutdown the computer.
5. Clearn the NVRAM on restart CMD-OPT-P-R then reboot
6. Open iMessage (immediately connected and logged in.)
7. Open Facetime (put in user ID and pw for iCLoud, connects and logs in.)

In the end, this process took 5 minutes and worked perfectly. It also saved me from the Apple store technician costs! Many thanks!

where can i find the ids files?

same here, NVRAM reset works for me. Thank you.

Hi Andrea,

This is an iMessage encryption key to keep your messages private and unreadable. Frankly, we recommend leaving this as is since it is not harming your system or its performance.

If you choose to delete these keys, follow this process:

1) Quit Messages app
2) Open Keychain
3) Delete the key(s)
4) Restart your Mac

When you restart, macOS will automatically generate new keys if needed for iMessage encryption

Is it okay to delete this and all other IDS – the only other ones appear from an entry in 2015 and say rsa public, private, etc.

Liz,

Thanks again for your awesome guide! I’ve spent more time than I like to think about trying to solve this issue. Now it seems to be working again, after I deleted the apsd plist. Yessss..

For anyone else reading this: My symptoms started with unstable iMessage transactions: iMessages would sometimes revert to sms, other times iMessage was back to normal. This went on for about one week, before iMessage firmly went down. Tried “everything” else, but this was the fix..

Morten

Haha!

Thanks. The search didn’t find it and I evidently don’t qualify for the title “thorough”. Thanks again – let’s see what happens..

Morten

Hi Morten,

This file is in your main library, not your user library so check this location: Macintosh HD > Library folder > Preferences folder > com.apple.apsd.plist

See if it’s there!

We use macOS Catalina 10.15.5 (Beta) and it’s there!

Thanks for a great post. I’ve tried everything short of calling apple, which is next on my list. However, I was not able to locate the apsd plist. I’m running 10.15.4 with the latest security update. Did the push service get renamed with Catalina?

Morten

Thanks a Million !!

Im using Mac Pro (2009) with High Sierra

Update – calling Apple support was what worked for me – they had to reset or something. Thanks for your help.