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iPhone XS combining two imessage threads into one

I just got a brand new iPhone XS. I noticed an issue yesterday where two iMessage conversations sent to separate phone numbers are combining into one thread. On my iPad, they are still being stored as separate conversations. I think this is a bug.


Here's what I've done so far:


-Deleted the conversations from my iPhone and iPad

-Deleted and re-added the contacts

-Reset my phone to default settings.


After performing the above steps, I started a new conversation thread from my phone to each contact. They stayed separate until both answered, but then the conversations combined again. When I try to send a message to one of the contacts, it sends it to the other on the combined thread. The only thing that these two numbers have in common is that I believe they use the same apple id, but I have had separate threads for them for years and they are still separate on my iPad.


Please help!

iPhone Xs, iOS 12

Posted on Sep 25, 2018 10:17 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 3, 2018 8:56 PM

The issue is appears to be the shared apple IDs. Once one of the phones had a new Apple ID and was signed in under the new Apple ID for iMessage they are in separate threads. Very stupid of apple to do this.

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9 replies

Sep 28, 2018 6:56 PM in response to smarsden81

i’m having the same issue. just got the xs max today. i tried texting 2 separate phone numbers (whom share the same apple account) and my phone automatically combined it into one thread. i could only text one of those people. person #1 would receive all texts despite not all being sent to them, and person #2 wouldn’t get anything. i deleted the contacts and restarted my phone and still have this issue

Oct 3, 2018 6:54 PM in response to smarsden81

This is a terrible problem. I have 4 family members (myself and three kids) on a single icloud account. My wife has a separate icloud account. After upgrading their phones to iOS12, my wife started reporting that the wrong messages were going to the wrong kids. I had not updated my phone yet (work phone) so I seemed unaffected. Did the usual; make sure only configured to send/receive from their respective phone numbers, signed out of icloud. I even created separate icloud accounts for all the kids but it still threads messages or sends them to the wrong phone. All phones do use the same account for iTunes purchases, perhaps this is an issue. After creating new icloud accounts for everyone I deleted all messages from all family members to each other - individual and group - from everyone's phone. Issue persists. I have even seen the header of a text message switch names from "Kid A" to "Kid B" as I watched. Apple needs to fix this problem. There is no justifiable explanation for it to work this way intentionally.

iPhone XS combining two imessage threads into one

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