Why are my husband and I receiving each other’s voicemails?
After the last update 17 on our iPhone 14 we have been receiving each other’s voicemails. Call forwarding is off and live voicemail is off on both phones.
[Edited by Moderator]
iPhone 14
There's one and only one solution to this. Stop sharing an Apple ID. Apple specifically says two people should have their own unique Apple ID. Then you can use family sharing to share content, such as photos, storage, etc.
If you don't want to separate your Apple ID's, your call logs and messages will be shared between the two of you as Apple sees the two phones as one phone.
See the following articles:
Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support
There's one and only one solution to this. Stop sharing an Apple ID. Apple specifically says two people should have their own unique Apple ID. Then you can use family sharing to share content, such as photos, storage, etc.
If you don't want to separate your Apple ID's, your call logs and messages will be shared between the two of you as Apple sees the two phones as one phone.
See the following articles:
Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support
No one here on this user to user only forum can fix anything. You and your husband need to stop sharing the same Apple ID as that is the ONLY way to fix this. Apple has maintained for years that two people should NEVER share the same Apple ID. Either undo that or accept that your call logs and voicemail messages will now be merged.
Read this from Apple --> Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support
You can then use Family Sharing to share apps, storage, photos, etc. --> Family Sharing - Apple
You don't. You either accept merged call lists/voicemails or you finally do what Apple has recommended for more than a decade now and separate the two IDs.
Here is a simple and excellent support article written by one of the top members of this forum on how to do that --> How to “unshare” an Apple ID - Apple Community
The only way to stop the sharing of call logs and voicemail message is to stop sharing the same Apple ID.
Your husband should not lose his music doing so. I would suggests following the directions in this link written by one of the forums senior members and have your husband become the Family Organizer:
The only - really ONLY - solution is to follow the advice that Apple has provided for the past 10 years, and not share an Apple ID→Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support
But…What if you are already sharing an Apple ID with someone? How do you separate from this relationship?
It’s actually pretty easy to stop sharing, and switch to Family Sharing:
Contacts, Calendars, Notes, and Reminders sync to email accounts, so if you are logged in you will still have all of them. You will also still have all photos.
Next, decide who will be the family “organizer” and have that person set up Family Sharing→Set up Family Sharing - Apple Support
You can share all previous and future purchases; here is more information on that→Share with your family - Apple Support
There's no need to issue a warning when you've been ignoring their advice all along; the note below was created in 2022 and Apple has made similar statements since at least 2017:
Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support
Feel free to complain to Apple below, but this is something Apple has explicitly told users not to do for at least seven years:
Asking Apple to warn you is like being pulled over for going 50 MPH in a 25 MPH zone and telling the police officer that they should have publicized they were going to be ticketing people because you've always driven 50 MPH there.
There's nothing anyone can do about your mixed voicemail now, but going forward:
Use unique AppleIDs.
Apple considers each and every device signed into a particular AppleID to be a device used by one person and one person only and data is interchangeable with each of those devices and they've long been working to actively sync data between each of those devices.
Over the past few years, it's included Safari history, SMS/iMessage Messages, and now call history and voicemail.
What is sad is you refusing to use your iPhones as they were designed to be used, but you expect that using your phones in ways that violate Apple’s intended usage should somehow work. Apple IDs are personal; they shouldn’t be shared any more than you would share a toothbrush. If you share an Apple ID with someone else many bad things will happen. Each user should have their own Apple ID, then you can create Family Sharing→What is Family Sharing? - Apple Support. That way you can share what you want to share and not share what you don’t want to share.
It is OK to share an Apple ID among devices used by one person, such as an iPhone, an iPad and a Mac; in fact, it is a very useful thing to do. But not between devices used by different people.
Here is Apple’s FAQ: https://appleid.apple.com/faq/#!&page=faq. See the 4th bullet item.
And here is Apple's expansion of what I've posted→Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support
Tom73NM wrote:
Most of this discussion has been about voice mails showing up on another phone, apparently due to a shared Apple ID. So a slightly different take. My understanding is that my carrier, not Apple, provides cell service, text messages, and voice mail. I would assume that when I check my VMs that I am going to my carrier for those messages. So how could the VMs for one number show up under another number even with a shared Apple ID.
Because the two phones which use the same Apple ID are seen as one, by Apple. Apple has said for a decade now, that sharing the same Apple ID between people on two iPhones makes ALL the data available on all phones using the same Apple ID. Your carrier has nothing to do with this. It's all built into iOS.
Are you aware that whoever you share your Apple ID with, can also turn on your text messages without your knowledge or permission. If you don't want someone to have access to your data, including locking you out of your phone if they wanted to do so, DON'T share an Apple ID with anyone else.
Your iPhone syncs your messages from your carrier’s voicemail server. If you don’t want your voicemails to be mixed and won’t stop using the same Apple ID the simple solution is to turn off Visual Voicemail and call in to your carrier’s voicemail server to retrieve your messages. You can do this by holding the “1” button for 2 seconds, by calling your own number from your phone, or using your carrier’s remote call-in to their voicemail server. You won’t get live voicemail or automatic transcriptions, but your VMs will not be intermixed.
diddy224 wrote:
My husband and I are getting each others voice mails and caller records How do I stop this without getting separate user ids
That will happen with the same Apple ID. That is why Apple recommends each family member have their own Apple ID. This document cannot be ignored.
Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support
Tom73NM wrote:
Lawrence Finch wrote:
“And as long as you use your Apple devices the way Apple’s designers intended them to be used you won’t have any problems. Staring in 2014, 10 years ago, Apple made the design decision that an Apple ID should be used by one person only, and publicized that in all of their support literature. Over those 10 years they have advanced with each version to implement additional features of this design.“ (have not learned how to quote in this forum)
I have to disagree, do not believe that it is a design feature. The programmers messed up and are now trying to pass it off as a design feature. Everything works as it did prior to 17 except for voice mail and recent calls. Voice mail should work the same as text messages and FaceTime. For those you go to (for text) Settings —>Messages —>Send & Receive and then select the phone number you want to receive text messages from. For FaceTime you go to Settings —>FaceTime and select the number you “can be reached by FaceTime at”. We just need the same functionality under Phone. For Phone you can go to Settings —>Phone and then you can enter “My Number”. Also why does Apple allow you to login and use another number for these other features?
Allowing you to select from multiple numbers for FaceTime and messages but not Phone is a programing error and not a feature.
No mater how many times it is repeated that it is a feature will not make it one. It is a programing error.
You can disagree all you want. You can also tell Apple they wrote their own Support Article about this incorrectly, but that won't get you anywhere. This was quite intentional from Apple and they even recently updated this article to include phone calls and voicemail --> Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support
You can tell Apple how wrong they are here --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple
ineedhelphappy wrote:
If this were the first time we had this issue with Apple then maybe I’d agree, but it’s not. It’s very much an Apple issue, but I can’t remember how to fix it.
It is not an issue for Apple, it is an issue for you if you share Apple IDs between different people. Apple added it as a FEATURE in iOS 17 so people who use their Apple ID correctly, that is, one person-one Apple ID, can see their calls and voicemails on all of their devices. This is spelled out in detail by Apple→Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support
HoopSTB wrote:
LISTEN TO YOUR CLIENTS APPLE!!!
Apple has been telling you for years to make sure each family member has their own Apple ID. With each update the data across these ID's has been gradually merging. It is clear that the goal is to have multiple devices with the same Apple ID to act as if they are exactly the same. This seamless integration allows you to start an email on one device and continue it on another and the feature now includes the ability to receive voicemails on your other device. Multiple people on these forums have said that you need to not share your Apple ID. Who is refusing to listen?
Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple ID - Apple Support
Chokchai15 wrote:
We are experiencing this too. My wife is only on the shared family plan. She has my voice mails from my dad from 2013!!! Not all of my voicemails are syncing over to her phone, but many are.
Are y’all sharing an Apple ID? If so, this is the expected and intended behavior.
That same Apple ID used means these iPhones are all used by the same person, hence the sharing if everything.
Here is: How to “unshare” an Apple ID - Apple Community
JeffCJC wrote:
your response is, do not share Apple IDs.
that is inconsistent with how all other forms of communication are handled among multiple devices.
why are you ok with that?
in my case, because I followed the directions and don’t share. I do use the iCloud sharing features to great advantage, though, as do many folks with more than one device. The sharing you are objecting to is the advantage for each person using their own Apple ID across their own (not-shared) devices, too.
I do get that nobody sharing your same Apple ID here has had a maybe a half hour to fix this in the last seven or so years. But maybe now is the time to fix this? Set up Apple IDs and set up Family Sharing. Since y’all are already sharing everything, splitting this up can give everybody a copy of the same shared data, meaning little effort there.
You might be able to make an appointment at an Apple Store or online, and get Apple to help untangle this Apple ID, too.
After iOS 17 update we are receiving each other’s voicemails on our iPhone
