Two contacts, same person, one for iPad and one for iPhone?

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Two contacts, same person, one for iPad and one for iPhone?

I realize the title is confusion so here goes.

My gf and I both have iPhone 5s and latest gen iPads. We both use iMessaging like fiends. Being that we both often do not have mobile data on our iPads but we do on our iPhones, when we text eachother from those devices (or a mac), it comes up as a different "contact" in the messages app on the iPhone. I'm hoping that someone can tell me that I'm just overlooking something but is there a way to combine these different accounts so that when we text eachother, it all goes under the same message regardless of which device it's coming from?

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 3.4GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM

Posted on Jul 15, 2013 7:40 AM

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Answer 1

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ckuan

Level 10

120,680 points

Jul 15, 2013 8:20 AM in response to Zathrak

Check Settings > Messages > Send & Receive > your phone number, your email address.

Do the same for iPhone and iPad.

Your GF should have a different Apple ID and as above use her phone number & her e-mail address.

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Answer 2

Zathrak Author

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23 points

Jul 15, 2013 8:28 AM in response to ckuan

I'm not sure I understand. I do see my phone number, my email, and my icloud email. I also see that my "start conversations from" is currently set to my phone number. What should I be doing with these?

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Answer 3

ckuan

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120,680 points

Jul 15, 2013 8:39 AM in response to Zathrak

Use the same e-mail address for iPhone and iPad.

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Answer 4

Zathrak Author

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23 points

Jul 15, 2013 8:46 AM in response to ckuan

Still not following. Do you mean to uncheck my number and make everything sent/receive at my email instead? Does this mean texts won't come through to my cell number anymore?

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Answer 5

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,293 points

Jul 15, 2013 8:46 AM in response to Zathrak

If you are using the phone number for the iPhone, and the email address/Apple ID for the iPad, then this is the way it will happen. My son just bought an iPad, and when it is connected to wifi and he sends an iMessage (Apple ID/email), it shows one way. If he sends it from his iPhone (phone number) it shows differently. They are two different threads. Not sure that is exactly how it is supposed to work, but that is what it does for us.

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Answer 6

ckuan

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120,680 points

Jul 15, 2013 8:48 AM in response to Zathrak

iPad do not have cell number.

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Answer 7

Zathrak Author

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23 points

Jul 15, 2013 8:52 AM in response to Zathrak

Right, that's exactly what I'm experiencing Chris. I think what Ckuan is trying to suggest is to maybe swap the default check off from the cell phone number and on to the email address. I'm just not sure how this will affect the messages. Hmmm...

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Answer 8

Zathrak Author

Level 1

23 points

Jul 15, 2013 1:26 PM in response to Zathrak

By adjusting those settings it to fit our scenario, things worked out. In our case, we wanted both our iPads and iPhones to carry on the same "thread" in iMessage. For future users...we both changed our settings to the following on both our iPhones and iPads (minus the cell phone aspect of it on the iPad):

Settings > Messages > Send & Receive

To be reached at: I checked my Apple ID / email (in addition to my cell phone number).

To start new conversations from: I unchecked my cell phone number and checked my Apple ID / email.

The only thing to note is that you may want to send a new message to the other person after making this change. Otherwise, you'll still be sending it to a cell phone.

Thanks!

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