Unintended Message Recipient

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4 points

Unintended Message Recipient

For the past couple weeks when I send my son an iMessage or text message, he receives it. My screen shows the message going out only to him. His phone screen shows the message from me, but it also shows the contact number of one of his friends as a recipient, as if I were sending a group message to both of them. The friends contact information is not stored as one of my contacts. The friend does not receive the message I sent, but when my son replies back to my message, I do not receive his reply, but the friend who did not receive my original message receives his reply back to me.

We’ve deleted each other as contacts and re-entered them. My son deleted the friend as a contact and my messages to my son still show the digits of the friends number as if I’m sending a group message.

Any ideas how to get this straightened out?

Posted on Mar 7, 2023 8:56 AM

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Answer 1

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Vilas_S

Community Specialist

Mar 8, 2023 12:21 PM in response to Beckstrology

Hello Beckstrology,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities and for sharing these details. Sounds like you're experiencing a very unique issue when receiving messages from your son. They appear to route to another contact/phone number. There's a few steps we can try to further isolate this issue. First, let's try these basic steps below to see if we notice any change with this behavior:

1.) Close the Messages app.

2.) Restart the affected devices. This a great step to help refresh things.

3.) Install any pending updates available for both devices. This can usually help with unique issues, since updates include fixes. Just in case, this link can guide you through the update process: Update your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

1.)Back up your device using iCloud or your computer.

2.)Plug your device into power and connect to the internet with Wi-Fi.

3.)Go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update.

4.) If you see more than one software update option available, choose the one that you want to install.

5.) Tap Install Now. If you see Download and Install instead, tap it to download the update, enter your passcode, then tap Install Now. If you don't know your passcode, learn what to do.

Another step you can try is to delete the conversation thread and message each other off a fresh new thread. This step will delete the entire conversation history but it could potentially help resolve this issue.

Feel free to keep us posted on your results. Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Best of luck.

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