2 message threads for one contact

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Level 1

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2 message threads for one contact

Here's an issue that I haven't been able to resolve:

My husband was issued a cell phone at his new job for work purposes. It's a different number than his personal iphone and it's a newer model. But it has fewer minutes and less data than our family plan. So he uses both.

When I open Messages to have a conversation with him, I now see two message threads. One for his work number and one for his mobile number. The problem is, there is no way to easily tell one from the other. Both threads are identified in bold as his first name and last name, so unless I can remember what the last thing I said to him was at a certain time when I know he was using one phone or the other, I'm always guessing at what number I'm messaging him at.

Is there any easy way to allow my phone to indicate which phone each thread represents, without creating two contacts for the same person (which I shouldn't have to do)? It seems Apple still assumes that people only text via one phone and the rest of the numbers you might have listed in each person's contact are land lines, despite the fact that they are forward thinking enough to enable one message thread from Macbook to iPhone to iPad...

Thanks!

Matt

iPhone 6, iOS 8.4

Posted on Jul 7, 2015 1:37 PM

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Answer 1

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anypats

Level 7

21,283 points

Jul 7, 2015 1:58 PM in response to mathewbrock

When you are in the message, click Details in the top right, click the "i" next to his name and you should see the number used highlighted in blue. If you aren't replying to a specific message, start a new message and start typing his name. You should be able to now select which number to send the message to.

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Answer 2

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,347 points

Jul 7, 2015 2:04 PM in response to mathewbrock

The reason you are seeing two different threads is because he is using two different devices and they are not linked. The reason you see the same listing at the top of each message is based on how you have him entered in your Contacts list. Because you have both phone numbers listed under the same contact, they will display the same name. The first happened to me in the older versions of iOS when my son would send me an iMessage from his phone and then maybe one from his iPad while at home. Since I had his phone number for the iPhone and the Apple ID email listed in the same contact, the both appeared to be the same. This has changed now with continuity. But, as anypats indicates, you can tell by going to the details section to see exactly what and where the messages are coming from.

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