How to Uninstall Messages and Restore iChat to Mac OS X
Alright so you downloaded iMessages for Mac beta and decided it was a little too beta for every day use, and now you want to use iChat again right? As you probably noticed, when you install Messages it replaces iChat, but that doesn’t mean that iChat is gone for good, and uninstalling Messages Beta is actually extremely simple.
- Launch Messages from the Applications folder
- Pull down the “Messages” menu up top and select “Uninstall Messages Beta”
- Confirm that you want to uninstall Messages and reinstall iChat by clicking “Install”
- Let the process finish and reboot the Mac to complete the restoration of iChat to OS X
Messages for Mac is a bit rough around the edges, which isn’t too surprising given that it is beta software. With how easy it is to remove though, it’s worth trying out. If you haven’t installed Messages beta yet, it’s best when it has another iOS device with iMessage configured to use alongside of it, otherwise it’s just a generic chat client with a new user interface
Messages Crashes Before I Can Uninstall, Help!
If Messages app continues to crash on launch, navigate to /Applications/ and right-click on Messages.app, choose “Get Info” and uncheck the option to open in 32-bit mode. Messages should now open and you can uninstall as usual.
Here is a quick way to get rid of iMessages and get iChat back if you need it but keep getting the ‘not connected to the internet’ error.
Go here
Grab a proxy server from there an copy it.
Go to your network settings (this is for wifi) and go to advanced settings.
Once in advanced go to Proxies and go to Automatic Proxy Configuration and past the URL of one of the proxies into the URL space.
Push OK then Apply and you should be good to go. Worked for me.
When I open messages and click on messages in the tool bar it does not show Uninstall Messages Beta. If anyone knows the reason behind this can you please give me an answer
Jacob I am having the same problem. I’m not a computer genius, but I’m guessing that Apple updated Messages and removed that option. It used to be the Beta version and now it is not.
I have been trying to find the answer for hours as to how to uninstall Messages even though the option is gone. I want to install IChat because it is much simpler and easier. If anyone could give me a step-by-step on how to uninstall it with the new update and install IChat, I would be grateful.
Please Help!! I’m begging you!
Same issue here: says I’m not on internet. If you’re outside the USA, try connecting via a USA based VPN/proxy if that’s available. Works after that.
I tried this approach….however i keep getting the message that i am not connected to the internet….however i clearly am.
I would love to get ride of this but looks like i’m stuck.
I have the same problem where it says I’m not connected to the internet. Any ideas?
If you’re connecting via Wi-Fi, try a hardwire ethernet connection. Messages does not seem to cooperate well with Wi-Fi due to various bugs.
“No connection” here as well, while I’m able to use the application “chatting around”.
I have iChat on another Mac so is there a way to replace the application? My TimeMachine-Backup crashes a little after installing messages, so there is no way to replace my application folder :-(
Tried to use puplic DNS of Google (8.8.8.8) but with no result (fixes my problem when I wasn’t able to download iOS 5.1)…
Messages crashes when I launch the app. So cannot get to the menu to uninstall. Any other way to uninstall?
I have the exactly same problem and i cant solve!
Exact same problem here. I tried to delete every file connected to Messages/iChat, even deleted the app and reinstalled it, but it still crashes on launch.
Had the same issue and found a solution right there: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3741969?start=0&tstart=0
It doesn’t seem to have screen sharing. Please correct me if I am wrong about this, I really like screen sharing through iChat.
I installed this yesterday…worked like a charm!
Today can’t get any messages to send!
Any ideas?!
So, what are the “rough edges”? I haven’t encountered any yet.
Most complaints have to do with the constant alerting to other iOS devices when you’re using Messages on a Mac to have a conversation. I’m sure it’ll be wind up being an option.
Apple posted troubleshooting tips today if you can’t figure it out http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4196
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