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

janetfromsimpsonville wrote:

The point of this thread is to discuss the problem we are experiencing with the latest update as it pertains to iMessage. The point of this thread is NOT to attack or voice your opinion of another’s parenting choices. That’s distasteful is this type of forum when we are trying to find ways to solve a problem that Apple hasn’t acknowledged or fixed.

I did not attack you. I said that I disagree. Am I not allowed to disagree?

updated to ios12.0.1 and problem solved. I did find that a person on a different phone service was linked to my 3 phones and when we unlinked it in address book the problem stopped . all phones working great now. He was linked because he was family , had to unlink.

So then why is there an option to allow me to pick what phone numbers are allowed to send and receive the messages. Apple knew darn well that millions were set up this way and DID indeed support it for allowing us to control it here.

My instinct is telling me that Apple did not expect the problems which occurred. I suspect a bug, or more likely a few bugs, which took everyone by surprise, and the devs now have to work out how to fix it without breaking anything else. However there is no point ranting about it here, the fix will arrive when the fix is ready - and not before.

Vandy5111 wrote:

So then why is there an option to allow me to pick what phone numbers are allowed to send and receive the messages. Apple knew darn well that millions were set up this way and DID indeed support it for allowing us to control it here.

Exactly, if messages are supposed to automatically go to and from all devices under the same Apple ID, this wouldn't be made an option.

UPDATE: It’s not just sharing AppleIDs that’s causing this!!! Read on...

We had this problem last week with my wife’ phone, merging two contacts together. The two contacts (two of our kids) did share an AppleID. I had just accepted the fact that we need to get the two to get on different IDs. The problem is we have more kids than family sharing allows so we had to double up some kids. I have been running on ios12 since getting my new phone on 9/21. All was well. The two contacts that merged on my wife’s phone were not merging on mine. I can text them individually. Strange that it’s not consistent if sharing IDs is the culprit. Now, I just updated to 12.0.1 this morning and my wife and one of my sons are now merging on my phone. They do NOT and have NOT shared the same AppleID but my phone is now combining them. They have their own, unique IDs! We have always been on family sharing with unique AppleIDs with my wife and this one son. I would accept it if it was my other kids who share an ID. To all the negative commenters on here, this is a bigger problem than sharing AppleIDs. I had to have my wife and son download WhatsApp so I could communicate with them. I can only text the last person that sent me a text. Very frustrating! iMessage is useless now. Apple needs to say something or push out a fix.

I have tried everything mentioned in this forum. Nothing has corrected the problem and Apple will not seem to address it directly. Not sure what I can do at this point other than buying new phones.

I have an iPhone 6S and after the new update it has started doing this to me as well. So frustrating! It does it with my parents contacts. It reverts all my dads texts to my moms thread which in turn makes it where I cannot text my father any more with out starting a new conversation for each reply. So stupid and I hope apple fixes this ASAP. Extremely annoyed

Go to settings>Messages> Scroll down to and select "Send & Receive >"

I am uncertain what all, if any, extra or unwanted options may possibly show up here as my device was only allowing iMessages to be sent/received from my phone number and apple ID, but it sounds as if this option will allow/disallow iMessages to be received on (possibly) more than one apple ID and or device at a time. It seems as if this option may only fix the issue of receiving messages from somebody else mistakenly, and not necessarily redirect sent messages to the intended receiver unless they in turn investigate and possibly deselect the ability to send/receive iMessages from more than one apple ID and/or phone number. As I personally only have an iPhone, I can safely select that iMessages only be sent/received from it via my phone number.

Any of you sharing an apple ID should certainly look into and deselect the common apple ID in:

Settings>Messages>Send & Receive>

Have each device only allow the Send & Receive iMessages from their phone number.

If further issues are still arising, consider disallowing iMessages all together in:

Settings>Messages: Deselect iMessage (I believe this will force all text messages to be handled only by your service provider)

It isn't just iMessage ... When I use Airdrop from my iPhone to Macbook Pro, the alert on my MBP shows it's coming from my wife (or other members of my family) when it's my iphone sending the file. I also noticed that when my iphone "turns into" my wife's phone, Universal Clipboard no longer works. The seemingly random way text messages go (or don't go) to some members of your family seems to be consistent with how AIRDROP and UNIVERSAL CLIPBOARD stops and starts working because your phone turns into someone else in your family's phone. FYI: THE PROBLEM CONTINUES EVEN AFTER YOU HAVE YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS GET APPLE IDs. Apple needs to fix this .. at a minimum they should care about the groundswell of disgust coming from a huge portion of their customer base. Apple is becoming the new Microsoft, Comcast, Optimum, etc. -- Hated brands.

GET THIS FIXED APPLE!!!

I've spent hours trying to separate my family's contact info after creating unique userid's and establishing family sharing.

It just seems that if two contacts had any relationship/links at any point in the past, they are linked forever.

Not sure if this solution will worked everyone but it’s working for me in the short term:

Original setup:

My mother (iPad), spouse (iPhone) and I (multiple devices) all shared an Id when we updated to io12. Like many other people, the texts to my mother (to email) and my spouse (to phone number) merged and I could only send to whoever texted me last.

First attempt:

I created a separate Apple ID account for my spouse and removed all the references I could find on that phone to my account. This didn’t work and the messages still got merged

Current solution:

I started texting to the email address associated with spouse’s account (rather than phone number) and so far it’s working and there has been no merging.

I still want to get the other conversations separated when apple solves this problem they created but this seems workable right now. If things change, I’ll send an update.

This is so frustrating, lots of research and not found any real help yet... I have found the messages aren't combined on my apple watch and I can text family members separately from it, not going to update on it anytime soon! Told the rest of my family not to update their phones.

Having the same problem, right after the update. Based on several threads I’ve seen, it may be planned on the part of Apple in order to force everyone to have their own Apple ID/account. Unfortunately, in our household with younger kids, as a parent, I dont want them having access to certain things and this is our way of having some control over what our kids are doing and what they wish to download/purchase, etc. If this is indeed Apple’s tactic, this pushes things too far in my opinion. Government and big business now want to control all aspects of our lives and my wife and i don’t care or want that kind of intrusion. I‘m hoping Apple comes out with a fix soon for this, or we may look to go the Android route in the near future.