Why is iMessage combining two contacts into one thread. I can only text back the last one that messaged me. This started with iOS 12

Neither my son, my husband or me share an Apple ID and have never shared an Apple ID and I’m having the same problem. My husband and sons messages are merging together on my phone. Only began to happen when we all updated to IOS 12.

My young daughter is getting the iMessages that I send to my wife. I have found no way to text my wife with my iPhone 6+. This foulup did not start till we upgraded to iOS 12. Apple needs to hire some better people at writing code, in my opinion. This is a “SNAFU” that is all to common lately with Apple.

NOT true. We have been using shared AppleID’s since we bought our first IPhones. Those were IPhone 4 phones, which we purchased when they were first released years ago.

Did I touch a nerve about inept coding?

Allowing it and supporting it are two very different things.

Pay attention to this part of what you quoted:

certain services will treat you as the same person. You may see these and other issues:

In other words, Apple didn't try to stop you but, they didn't recommend it either and they warned that there would be consequences.

Actually, if they had warned people, we may not have a forum full of people complaining about the same thing. My point is they have supported it by allowing us to dictate through settings how we "send and receive" our iMessages.

I understand that shared Apple ID's are not a good thing, but Apple should have put this on the official feature list and warned people who share Apple ID's that this practice should stop before updating to IOS 12.

Hi goponchogo,

You can share a Calendar with anyone you choose. Open your calendar, click calendars on the bottom middle, select the calendar you want to share by clicking the "i" and select the person you would like to share with.

I would recommend splitting up your Apple ID's and utilizing Family Sharing, as I don't see the message issue being resolved any other way. Apple is sure to add features in the future, so you might as well embrace it.

This just worked for me I read it on another thread

Step 1: go into settings then messages. Make sure your number is the only one with a check mark receiving messages on your phone (on the other phones only their phone number should be checked)

Step 2: delete any group texts and individual texts with all your phones

Step 3: Restart your iPhone

This is BS - many of those that are affected are families that cannot text family members. Yes - you can call but anyone with teenagers knows they don’t answer calls. I see a lawsuit brewing given the issue that contact couldn’t be made with a family member due to the back handed approach of making a substantial change to iMessager and hiding it in a IOS12 update with no notice. Apple - do the right thing and fix the iMessage issue. It wasn’t broke.
[Edited by Host]

This just worked for me I read it on another thread

Step 1: go into settings then messages. Make sure your number is the only one with a check mark receiving messages on your phone (on the other phones only their phone number should be checked)

Step 2: delete any group texts and individual texts with all your phones

Step 3: Restart your iPhone

I didn’t have to do anything on iCloud. So far is working.

I have seen similar in WatchOS 5

Does everyone having this issue with multiple contacts have a shared phone number across all those contacts; like a home phone number that’s the same on them all?

If so; could you try remove that shared contact information?

Do you all have iMessage in iCloud too?

I saw this in MacOS High Sierra where I can switch between the different contact numbers in a single thread of a single contact.

I saw on watch that when I walkie talkie to wife; it also invited “home” as they shared a phone number

Please check and try. This might work around the issue until Apple resolves it; if it is indeed causing the issue.

i have gone thru and deleted any/all messages with the 2 contacts that i have sent in the past which i had the above issue . To do that you go into messages and search under messages, the messages you had an issue with and must make sure you delete all messages. once i have this done it seems to be working. i also had previously created the Apple ID for each user that evidently did nothing.

its working so far!

If we accept the fact that this isn't a bug, but how iOS 12 is supposed to act, then there should be no problem if we switch to separate Apple ID's.....but this is not the case, even to some who have never shared an ID.

Can Philly_Phan address this please.

Better yet, can Apple address this?

For everyone who keeps claiming this isn’t a bug, here’s a Forbes article listing this iOS 12 iMessage “break” among several faults that Apple JS failed to acknowledge:

https://apple.news/Ae7PcTed0TDCq80SU0aSp3Q

Wesley Walls wrote:

For everyone who keeps claiming this isn’t a bug, here’s a Forbes article listing this iOS 12 iMessage “break” among several faults that Apple JS failed to acknowledge:

https://apple.news/Ae7PcTed0TDCq80SU0aSp3Q

I look at this as a feature, with undesirable effects on some users who were sharing IDs. I know "it's not a bug, it's a feature" LOL, but I do believe that's the case here.

What is the feature? The intent of the change appears to be to unite split threads into one, where the Apple ID is squarely put as the unifying element, not phone numbers.

Split threads occur for various reasons, primarily because sometimes someone initiates an iMessage to someone's email, other times their phone number. As a result, the recipient will likely have two separate iMessage threads that involve the same people. By designating the Apple ID as the unifying element, phone numbers and non-ID emails are taken out of the equation.

This new behavior may also have something to do with the upcoming dual SIM functionality, i.e. to unite a user's iMessages regardless of which phone number (i.e. SIM) the iMessage was received as the point of contact.

You may not like the effect, but I suspect that it is intentional and here to stay.

You guys keep ignoring the fact that even under this supposed “feature,” it isn’t working properly. There are literally hundreds of examples posted in this very forum about that fact. Forbes points this out, along with numerous other outlets. It isn’t working correctly, and I imagine that not only will they fix the bug, the outcry of the numerous DRAWBACKS of this change will likely result in the addition of an option in system preferences to opt in our out of “merged threads.”