iOS

Do you have an iPhone and you prefer to send text messages over calls? Then you may want to use iPhone’s cool iMessage profile feature. It was introduced with iOS 13 and is carried forward to iOS 14 as well. Using this feature, you can create a profile for your iMessages and share your name and photo on it. So, whenever you send a message to someone, they will be able to see your avatar along with your name.  

Creating your profile is a clean way to share messages. This profile feature usually works best with iPhones and Apple devices. Even if your phone doesn’t support Animoji avatar images you can add your own picture and it will be sent along with your messages.

If you are new to this iPhone feature and haven’t yet setup you iMessage profile than I have mentioned below how you can do that? But if you know how to create a profile and are struggling with “Sharing Name and Photo Not Available” error, then let’s first discuss that.

How to resolve Sharing Name and Photo Not Available on iOS?

This error could occur due to multiple issues. Issues like you are not signed in with your Apple ID or you might have not enabled Apple ID for iMessage. Your signed account needs to be refreshed. Or you may not have enables Facetime for Apple ID. You will see the description of the problem along with the error message. Like in the above image it says:

Sharing name and photo is not available because iCloud and iMessage accounts are different or are not signed in

Hence, you get an idea that you need to sync your iCloud and iMessage accounts. We have discussed how to do it below. But if the error is different then you can try our other solutions. Let discuss these solutions one by one and see if it resolves your problem.

Make sure your Apple ID email matches the iMessage activation email

Apple provides you options to register different email addresses for your Apple account and for sending and receiving messages. But if both of them are different then it will not let you set up your iMessage profile. So, make sure both of them are identical. Here is how you can check that:

Go to the “Settings” option on your iPhone and tap on your Apple ID (your name below the search bar). Now you will see an email below your name. It may be your iCloud email address. Something like “xyz@icloud.com” or your personal email.

Now go back to “Settings” option and select “Messages” option by scrolling down. Tap on “Send and Receive” option which will be the second option below “iMessage”. Check the email address mentioned here. This email should be the same as the one you checked above in your iCloud profile.

If both are different then your iOS will not let you setup an iMessage profile and you will get the sharing name and photo not available error.

This is the most common issue and should probably fix your problem. If it doesn’t then let’s move forward for other fixes.

Also see – How to fix webpage not available error?

Check if you are signed into iCloud

If you are unable to complete the above steps, then there is a possibility that you may not be signed in. Do you have a quick look at your settings to see if you are logged into your iCloud account? You can do that by checking the status of your iCloud. Similar to how we did it above. Below are the steps.

Open the “Settings” option. Then tap on your profile where your name is mentioned. Now select the iCloud option. If you are not logged in, it will ask you to do so. Else you will see your iCloud storage metrics and apps installed on your iPhone.

Check if you have enabled Apple ID for iMessages

This looks like a basic thing. But you may have forgotten to enable your Apple ID for iMessages. If it is not enabled, then you will get a Sharing name and photo not available error on your iPhone. Below are the steps you can follow to enable Apple ID for iMessages.

1. Go to the “Settings” option on your iPhone’s home screen.
2. Select “Messages” by scrolling down.
3. Check if the first option, “iMessages” is enabled (button should be green), else enable it.
4. Tap on “Send and Receive”.
5. Check if you see the same email as the one mentioned in your Apple ID.

Now your iMessage are using your Apple ID. So, you should be able to turn on the photo and name sharing on your iOS.

Check if Facetime is enabled for your Apple ID

You may not be able to create your iMessage profile if the Facetime feature on your iPhone is not enabled. Make sure that you enable your Facetime feature and try again. Below are the steps to enable Facetime on your iPhone.

1. Like always, go to “Settings”.
2. Scroll down and select “Facetime”.
3. You will see the “Facetime” option at the top of your screen. Tap on the slider button to enable it.
4. If it asks for sign in, sign in with the same email ID that you have in the settings. Your primary email used in your Apple account.

That’s it. You should now be able to create your iMessage profile and share your name and profile picture while sending messages to others.

Above fixes should resolve your problem. But it may happen that you might not be using the right approach to setup your name and photo sharing on iMessages. Below I have discussed the steps on how you can enable name and photo sharing on iPhone?

Also see – How to fix video TDR failure error on Windows?

Steps to share name and photo on iOS

This is simple. Just follow the steps below to add or change your iMessage profile.

1. Go to Messages.
2. On the top left corner, you’ll see an “Edit” option. Tap it.
3. Now it will show you three options, “Select Messages”, “Edit Pins” and “Edit Name and Photo”. Tap on “Edit Name and Photo”.
4. It will take you to the edit screen. You can change your name and photo here. And make sure you enable the “Name and Photo Sharing” option in the middle of your iPhone’s screen.

These steps should help you to fix sharing name and photo not available problem. If you used some other way that is not mentioned here, then do let us know in the comments below. We will try to update our post and include your fixes as well.