Merged Voicemails after IOS 17 Update

Juliew1116 wrote:

Unfortunately, this didn’t work for us. It appeared to at first, then the sharing resumed.

It hasn't worked for ANYONE who has tried it. There is ONLY ONE cure for merged call logs/voicemail messages. STOP SHARING AN APPLE ID.

Jennifer Omaha wrote:

Thank you to Rich Feitelberg for your response on a possible solution. So many people taking time to scold those who share an Appleid. When we set up our phones for our kids we all shared the same applied. They did not have family sharing then. Also it made it really easy to monitor the kids and usage. Now they are older but we are all so intertwined with our contacts, music, notes, calendar, find my iPhone, etc.... that there is a huge concern of starting over or not being able to truly share/sync. This worked flawlessly before. No reason to not continue. And yes, I already sent feedback directly to Apple.

When is “then”? Family Sharing was first offered 10 years ago. And sharing has never worked “flawlessly”. It has always intermixed texts (you can see your kids texts, but they can also see yours), contacts, photos (you mean you have NO photos you wouldn’t want your kids to see?). And so intertwined with our contacts, music, notes, calendar, find my iPhone, is not in the slightest “flawless” - it’s a major inconvenience.

Yes, it happened with the iOS 17 upgrade, because Recent Calls and Voicemails were moved to iCloud. And it will most likely be that way forever more. See the post from elongfellow above for a solution that might work.

You do realize that your employer “owns” all content on your work phone, so if you use your personal Apple ID on that phone then all of your personal content is accessible and controlled by your employer.

Same thing here… voicemails go to both phones using the same Apple ID… I see a lot of divorces and domestic violence coming from this… they better fix this pronto…

After spending four hours chatting and then talking to ATT with no solution, I called my local ATT Store and chatted with a worker there. After spending some time thinking about it, she suggested both phones turn off Live Voicemail (Under Phone in Settings). So far, I believe this did the trick. If it was that easy, I wasted five hours today online, and chatting, and calling. I really hope this is the solution.

*This worked for about two hours and then it started all over again. Fix this please!

T_Acquilano wrote:

My wife and I have the same problem and we have different carriers! This is on Apple 100% and is a huge problem for us. Come on Apple, FIX IT!

No one has suggested this is on anyone but Apple. But it's really on YOU, because you and your wife share the same Apple ID. Apple has never suggested that's a good thing to do and even has a support document explaining why each family member needs their own unique Apple ID --> Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support

The carrier has nothing to do with this.

Also, you must be under the impression you are writing anyone from Apple here? You're not. This is a user to user only forum, which Apple doesn't monitor for feedback. You can provide feedback here --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Many have used the link and many have contacted Apple directly and Apple doesn't see this as an issue, so waiting for them to fix what they don't see as an issue, for people who have ignored their advice isn't likely going to get you much.

The ONLY fix is to stop sharing the same Apple ID. Or accept merged call logs. Your choice.

Lnewsome1975 wrote:

Yes it’s so annoying people assuming that what works for them works for everyone. Our point is the system doesn’t work for us anymore and it’s an excessive amount of people with the exact same 1 complaint. If that’s not your complaint then why are you here. It’s a simple fix. We should be able to keep it the way it was if that’s what we choose. Children, families or business needs. We had it working for us. Respect that.

Maybe you should respect that this is a user to user only forum and not one person here works for Apple or had anything to do with this change. Getting annoyed at a user who is simply telling you the truth that Apple does NOT support sharing Apple IDs is kind of pointless. Apple does NOT support sharing Apple IDs. We can't change that. You either have to adapt and do what Apple recommends or accept the consequences of sharing an Apple ID.

Admonishing someone on this forum for not sharing your view is just plain wrong. Anyone is welcome to post and in fact Lawrence has done more to help people understand how to separate users from sharing the same Apple ID more than Apple has. Maybe respect that. Or you can buy the forum, then you can tell people what and when they can post.

Otherwise, if you want to express your annoyance at someone, express it to Apple. You can use this link --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Because Apple made a change in iOS 17. Why? We can't speak for Apple on this user to user only forum.

Yes, the merged call lists is new. But every person you share an Apple ID with has had the ability to read your text messages, change your Apple ID Password, get access to your Apple Wallet, delete photos, notes, files, etc. View your browsing history, delete your account altogether. So many things people can do by sharing the same Apple ID.

You seemingly weren't bothered by this, so why would you be bothered by someone having the ability to see the phone numbers you've called or received calls from?

But Apple has maintained for over a decade now that Sharing an Apple is NOT recommended and has advised that each family member needs to have their own unique Apple ID --> Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support

See the following support articles, which may address some of the things you'd like to share:

How to use Shared Albums in Photos on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac - Apple Support

Share notes and collaborate on iPhone - Apple Support

Share iCloud calendars on iPhone - Apple Support

For Find My, you can add anyone you want as a friend and see their location, just like you could do if they are a device tied to your Apple ID. You just look in a different place in the Find My app.

Using Family Sharing the books app would be accessible, so books would be available to whomever you choose in your family share plan.

For contacts, if you have a Mac, you can see different Apple IDs and share that way or you can simply use air drop to drop contacts between anyone you wan to share or receive contacts from.

Gloredo wrote:

Super late to the party here, but I would like to make a couple of comments. First, who told Apple that they own the right to my calls, messages and voicemails made on my phone that I purchased, on a carrier that I am paying for and that they don’t own either. Way out of line. Second, Apple just recently started this practice with IOS 16, there were no issues before that. I had Simeón at Apple fix this issue for me before. Now I have updated again and got screwed again. I might be forced to switch to Android.

Point of correction. Apple doesn't own your calls. Nor do they track them. Apple doesn't own your voicemail messages. Nor do they track or listen to them. Apple owns iOS and they can do whatever they want with iOS and as far as Apple is concerned, the fact you share the same Apple ID with yourself or someone else, means data is shared among all devices using the same Apple ID. This is your choice if you share an Apple ID with someone. Apple didn't encourage you to share an Apple ID. In fact, for more than a decade, Apple has strongly discouraged sharing an Apple ID. Your choice of course, but if you continue to share an Apple ID, your data will be accessible on all devices using the same Apple ID. That's on you, NOT Apple.

I'd recommend you read this link from Apple itself --> Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support

prusso3995 wrote:

I'll disagree. I had 1 acct/2# for 25 years no problem. ios17 and now it's an issue.

That's remarkable. iPhone was originally released on June 29th 2007. That was as Lawrence correctly points out 16 1/2 years ago.

I get that you don't appreciate the fact Apple has strongly recommended NOT sharing an Apple ID. And I get that until iOS 17 was released, people who did share an Apple ID did not have merged call logs/Voicemail, but Apple made this change when iOS was released. Because Apple owns iOS, they do as they deem best with iOS. Getting annoyed with other users on a user to user only forum, none of whom are associated with Apple in any way and none of whom can change what Apple has chosen to do, makes no sense.

You are more than welcome to complain to Apple using the feedback link which has been posted over and over throughout this thread. But you can also expect that to get you not very much as iOS 17 was released in September 2023 and lot's of people have told Apple they are not happy with this and here we are 6 months later and it hasn't been changed.

Your choices are:

1. Accept the merged call logs/voicemail (which surprises me anyone has an issue with, since at any time whoever you share an Apple ID with can, without your knowledge or permission read your text messages) OR
2. Finally unmerge the Apple IDs as Apple has been recommending for more than a decade

Yeah, we had the whole family on the same ID at one point. Five of us! Glad that's over...

Then explain to me why this has not been a problem since the beginning of the iPhone and now it is?

We are having the same issue. My wife and I share an Apple ID to share a calendar and to share contacts automatically. I'm pretty sure the calendar piece is doable with Family Sharing but from what I have found sharing contacts automatically is not. If there were an easy solution for automatically sharing contacts, that would solve it for us but probably not other folks. Thanks.

Pappys5 wrote:

My source was direct in the reply above. eelsswimmer38 said he was going to use Spotify instead of Apple Music if he had to create a separate appleID.

Realistically, a company that is worth billions is not going to be much concerned about one or even a couple of thousand people switching to Spotify. Unless/until enough people do to affect the bottom line, Apple doesn't have a financial incentive to make changes. They may have other reasons to do so, especially if they get enough complaints.