IOS 12 combining text messages

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.

The issue is that once an extant conversation notes the connection between the AppleIDs, the Messaging servers on the back end seem to cache the result.

It seems that you need to delete the conversation from all devices and then things seem to work properly.

I did set up individual icloud accounts for everyone in my family and made sure that is what they are signed into their individual accounts for iMessage, but the problem has not gone away. Anyone have any other suggestions? How do we file a complaint to apple to get this fixed?

Great advice. Our family has shared an iTunes account for 6 years. Haven't had a problem until we upgraded to ios 12. Maybe apple should fix whatever they broke in this update? This problem persists even when turning off imessage, there is more to it than just the shared iTunes account.

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.

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.

Deleting the conversations on all family devices seems to have worked for us. Everyone being pedantic about how you’re not all supposed to use the same Apple ID— it may have caused the problem but it had nothing do with fixing it.

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

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.

Xenos8 wrote:

I deleted all the text history on my phone before and after creating new Apple ids. It didn’t help. I also deleted the contacts of my family and recreated them. Did not help either

Once you make that mistake, it's not a simple matter to fix the iPhone. Someone posted a link here (or on another similar thread) with the proper procedures for getting out of this mess. Search the thread and the other threads.

So this problem just arose for me after sharing a family account for over 10 years, again due to this update. After a lot of reading and trial and error, I seem to have solved this solution for my family (somehow we figured this out being hundreds of miles apart across 6 devices).

First, we made sure that all accounts were not directly connected to the apple id for contact purposes. This means going into Settings>Messages>Send & Receive> and making sure the apple Id was logged out and only the phone number of the device was selected. This process was also done for FaceTime. I also turned off iMessage to avoid any more problems from here, although this did not solve the problem and texts were still merging.

Second, I deleted any trace of the numbers/contact information from the contacts whose messages were merging into one thread. Again, because of a shared account, iCloud and apps were picking up their contact information even after simply deleting all traces of them in the contacts app. Also, the individual text message thread (of the merging contacts) was deleted (all group chats did not seem to have an issue).

Last, I restarted my phone by pressing the power and menu buttons. Once turned on, I individually messaged each contact, again, with iMessage off just to be safe, and it worked. Finally two separate threads.

Hopefully this can help other people, not sure if its a perfect solutions, but as the "tech-y" family member, I played around and solved it for us. Good luck!

Alyssa

Wow, perhaps Apple could take some "how to clearly state something" lessons from you. I checked the appleid info and it does not clearly state each individual person in your family should have there own Apple ID, as far as I could see. I set ours up when my kids were under 18. Yes, Apple now uses the words, you, yours etc... but as head of the family and owner of all, including the credit card, it still reads as meaning your family. And, if you think I wanted to deal with 4 or 5 separate IDs and passwords every time my childern wanted to download something you’re crazy, Apple's crazy! Anyway, thank you for sharing Apple's policy on the ID and how we're suppose to be using it since apparently they couldn't, (at least as clearly as you).

Phil,

This is not limited to iMessages. I was having this issue, so I turned iMessage off. I continue to have my text thread with my wife combined with my younger daughter's. I have confirmed iMessage is not being used on my phone, by the green bubbles in the text thread. I believe this is an issue with IOS 12.

MrBVan wrote:

my problem is other people who i know sharing ID.

Not my fault.

suggestions? (other than rampaging around the world forcing everyone to create separate apple IDs?)

No one is being forced to create separate IDs. If there are persons that don't care if their systems function properly, they are free to do as they wish.

fournierfamily wrote:

Update from this morning: I'm stuck again and messages are merged. Going to keep playing around and get this sorted out today! Sorry for the false hope 😟

You might wish to try doing things the right way.