IOS 12 combining text messages

A Phone number is not an account or Apple ID

Sharing an Apple ID is what is causing messages to merge. Sharing Apple IDs is not supported by Apple, it not supposed to be done, and things like this will happen unless you separate them.

When an Apple ID is shared, the system, automatically thinks the devices belong to the same person and will merge things since to the system and the way Apple designed in an Apple ID uniquely identifies a single person.

Apple has always expected people to have their own Apple Id and not share it. So any updates and software changes depart from that assumption. Sharing an Apple ID can lead to many unintended consequences.

Unless you wish to continue to have issues every time something changes in iOS, its best to get them separate Apple IDs.

I downloaded iOS 12 when it was first available in September. For a week, I had the same frustrating problem with myself and my teenage daughter. Our iMessage threads were merged into one under my Apple ID with my Apple ID icon. So everything I had texted to myself was showing up in that conversation. It was extremely annoying and I thought about setting up family sharing with an Apple ID for my daughter, but she did not want to do that because she did not want to lose her data with her apps. So, after many different ways to try to solve this including generating a new text message & typing her contact name in, which would show her in the contact and then as soon as I sent the message it would merge it again, I found a solution. I started a new text message & typed in her phone number with the area code, and ever since then, I was able to retrieve her thread by itself with all of our pre-existing iMessages intact. Now I can go to iMessages and click on her thread as usual, and it will only sent it to her phone.

My family of 3 had the same problem. We had one apple id that we shared in addition to family sharing. We all made our own apple id's now, still have family sharing. None of that helped. Finally I read somewhere on here to delete any texts that were group texts to all of us or between the three of us. That broke the "infected" link and now it's all fixed. Hope this helps.

My family of 3 had the same problem. We had one apple id that we shared in addition to family sharing. We all made our own apple id's now, still have family sharing. None of that helped. Finally I read somewhere on here to delete any texts that were group texts to all of us or between the three of us. That broke the "infected" link and now it's all fixed. Hope this helps.

Stop sharing an ID. Each person needs their own.

Make sure, the new accounts are properly signed in in Settings->Messages and Settings->Facetime and Settings->Account->iCloud to complete the separation

Signing in to to just the iTunes Store will not change anything, and signing in to just iCloud or just Facetime will not affect Messages.

And now all seems to be okay again. My sister (who’s phone was one that was merging) said she got a notification saying “Use Apple ID” and she hit “don’t allow” and all of a sudden the two merged messages were separate again.. super frustrating!!!

There's nothing for Apple to resolve. It's not a problem with their system its a problem with how people use Apple IDs.

Apple never intended for anyone to share Apple IDs. Why would they fix something so it works in a particular way when used in a fashion that they do not intend for it be used in, do not recommend it be used in that fashion, do not in any way support, and actively discourage and recommend against doing?

What you are saying is Apple should make their system work they way you want it to work. Not they way it was intended by them to work.

Apple is not about to change how their system works just because people did not understand from the beginning that Apple IDs should not, must not, and cannot be shared, regardless of what benefit sharing them may bring.

And no, if done correctly, there should be little or no loss of data when giving everyone their own Apple ID, for all Apple services. iCloud, Messages, Facetime and iTunes & App Stores.

Years ago I shared an Apple ID and hated it from the beginning. Shared contacts, calendars, etc. It was a mess and was so thankful when they released Family Sharing. As soon as I could I got everyone their own Apple IDs and haven’t had a problem since.

I don’t experience this issue with any of my contacts that have upgraded to iOS 12 as well so I guess I have to assume they aren’t sharing Apple IDs either.

This worked for me, so far. I had to delete all prior texts of those who were combined before I manually typed in the phone number. For each person, after putting in the phone number, I hit return which took me to the text field. I did not click their name, to be safe. I then sent each a test message and they stayed separate.

dwaynefromAL wrote:

Totally incorrect...this is only true since family sharing was added as a feature. Before that Apple allowed/permitted/suggested shared Apple ID's to share apps, music, etc.

While it was common for people to use a shared Apple ID for using the App Store or iTunes Store, it was always recommended to have a separate one for messages, FaceTime, calendars, contacts, etc. Family Sharing was introduced so that everyone can have a unique Apple ID and share the purchases between family members and not have the need to share Apple IDs anymore.

I went into a store affiliated w/ apple. They did a restore on my phone...didn’t fix it. Then I went home and created individual Apple ID’s for all my family members...didn’t fix it. I finally called apple support and they were very helpful. It took two hours and we had to do a factory reset, but it finally fixed the problem. I do think having each of my family members get their own apple id’s helped resolve the issue in the long run. Both individuals who helped me at apple customer support are very patient and determined to get the issue resolved.

This worked for me, so far. But I had to delete all prior texts of those who were combined before I manually typed in the phone number. For each person, after putting in the phone number, I hit return whixh took me to the text field. I did not click their name, to be safe. I then sent each a test message and they stayed separate.

When i helped a friend with this issue we had the same issue. I suggest you signout of all of your Appleid accounts on your phone. Then turn off your phone. Then start it up and sign in again. If you also have a Mac or iPad, also do those at the same time. I know it is a pain but it may work.

Lawdog35 wrote:

Deleting conversations from all 5 of our phones is not something I would like to do because all the memorable things from pictures to the conversation itself. This has not been a problem for the past, gosh ever since I’ve had a iPhone 4, I have just kept adding devices for my family. Why is it just now a problem. We have always made sure the settings is set to only send and receive from the phone number attached to that phone. It’s been a really simple process until now and I’m sending messages to 3 of my other phones back and forth they are getting the history of other devices. It’s really crazy and pretty risky thinking that my children may see some of the things that is for my wife’s eyes only. If it was going to be forced on us to make individual Apple IDs for each device then apple should have gotten the word out prior

You've been ignoring Apple's design for years and you finally got bit. Apple has ALWAYS stated that an Apple ID identifies ONE person and to do otherwise is to invite problems. Kinda like multiple persons sharing the same Social Security number. They might not see problems for years but sooner or later they'll all get bit.