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should we change caller ID for iMessage?

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btownguy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 18, 2009
545
19
I have an iPad and an iPhone both with iOS 5. I'm a little disappointed in iMessage in that I cannot tell my iPad to receive iMessages sent to my phone number. I do have my phone set to receive from both phone number & apple ID while my iPad can only be set to receive from apple ID.

So, would it be the most logical thing to set the caller ID for messages on my iPhone to be my apple ID? One would think this would have been the default setting. What happens when I have this wet to my apple ID and I send a message to someone without iOS 5 and iMessage?
 
J

jrhyett05

macrumors newbie
Apr 19, 2010
7
0
The way I understand it is that iMessage ONLY works between iOS 5 users. So if you received a message from someone using iOS5 it would then sync across all devices sharing your AppleID assigned to iMessage. If they don't have iOS5 it will send as an SMS, and therfore only be available on the phone with the phone number it was SMS'd to.
 
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btownguy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 18, 2009
545
19
I understand it a little differently. Let's say both my wife and I have iPhones with iOS 5 on it. I also have an iPad with iOS 5. If she sends me a text to my phone number, it just goes to my phone. if she sends me a text to my apple ID, it goes to both my phone and my iPad. Is this correct? She would theoretically have 2 message streams in her messages app (one to my phone number and one to my apple ID) even though we both have iOS 5 devices.
 
Lucbert

Lucbert

macrumors regular
Dec 8, 2008
208
0
It's super confusing for sure. Just like FaceTime. Absolutely impossible to use.
 
C

chrisfromalbany

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2010
403
19
btownguy said:
I understand it a little differently. Let's say both my wife and I have iPhones with iOS 5 on it. I also have an iPad with iOS 5. If she sends me a text to my phone number, it just goes to my phone. if she sends me a text to my apple ID, it goes to both my phone and my iPad. Is this correct? She would theoretically have 2 message streams in her messages app (one to my phone number and one to my apple ID) even though we both have iOS 5 devices.
Click to expand...

I don't think this works.. I able send to my Apple ID (which ipad) from iphone and then reply back fron iPad. I basically able have conversation between ipad and iphone. But at no time did I get duplicate messages when I was sending messages from my iphone to my apple ID. Unless there edit to not show apple IDs messages on iphone when iphone is sending them (seems unlikely).. I say there are some corks work out.

The question I had is I thought you have a conversation stream (text message stream) with one person and switch to ipad and see the conversation stream and continue it. I having a hard time doing that. Or vice versa..
 
Mike Teezie

Mike Teezie

macrumors 68020
Nov 20, 2002
2,205
1
chrisfromalbany said:
I don't think this works.. I able send to my Apple ID (which ipad) from iphone and then reply back fron iPad. I basically able have conversation between ipad and iphone. But at no time did I get duplicate messages when I was sending messages from my iphone to my apple ID. Unless there edit to not show apple IDs messages on iphone when iphone is sending them (seems unlikely).. I say there are some corks work out.

The question I had is I thought you have a conversation stream (text message stream) with one person and switch to ipad and see the conversation stream and continue it. I having a hard time doing that. Or vice versa..
Click to expand...

That's how I thought iMessage was supposed to function across devices - message from phone, pick up iPad, continue conversation.
 
C

chrisfromalbany

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2010
403
19
Mike Teezie said:
That's how I thought iMessage was supposed to function across devices - message from phone, pick up iPad, continue conversation.
Click to expand...

right and that why I posed the question.. I like it that way.. but doesn't seem be doing that.. Why I'm surprised, I could talk between my iPad and my iPhone. I thought that act as one in the same except that iPhone could have standard text message conversations and iPad could not.
 
B

btownguy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 18, 2009
545
19
one thing that needs to be tested:

set the caller ID on your iphone for iMessages to your Apple ID
send a message to someone who is not on iOS 5.
they reply to that message.

where does that message go?
 
J

Jack Dangers

macrumors regular
Oct 29, 2007
164
0
btownguy said:
I understand it a little differently. Let's say both my wife and I have iPhones with iOS 5 on it. I also have an iPad with iOS 5. If she sends me a text to my phone number, it just goes to my phone. if she sends me a text to my apple ID, it goes to both my phone and my iPad. Is this correct? She would theoretically have 2 message streams in her messages app (one to my phone number and one to my apple ID) even though we both have iOS 5 devices.
Click to expand...

They way I understand it is if both you and your wife have iOS5 then you will never have a use for text messages since they will always default to iMessage. Then in theory you should be able to continue your convo on your iPad with iMessage. One cannot choose what to send, it's all dependent on the connection and what iOS version each person has. I guess it's supposed to be seamless. Now my question is what if my wife is on a plane with the phone off, will my message go out as a text? I assume that is the case...
 
drewcosten

drewcosten

macrumors member
Nov 30, 2007
92
26
Toronto, ON
It's working fine for me.

I set the "Caller ID" on my iPhone to the same email address I used on my iPad and both From and To messages are syncing between the two devices when chatting with other people on iMessage.
 
M

mostlydave

macrumors regular
Aug 5, 2011
150
59
drewcosten said:
It's working fine for me.

I set the "Caller ID" on my iPhone to the same email address I used on my iPad and both From and To messages are syncing between the two devices when chatting with other people on iMessage.
Click to expand...

This is exactly how it's working for me too.
 
B

black743

macrumors 6502
Dec 27, 2010
407
6
Huntington, WV
Only problem with doing this is that it shows up as a separate contact to your friends. If you send a normal text, it shows as a phone number, where iMessage would then show as an email address.....two different text threads.
 
C

chrisfromalbany

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2010
403
19
black743 said:
Only problem with doing this is that it shows up as a separate contact to your friends. If you send a normal text, it shows as a phone number, where iMessage would then show as an email address.....two different text threads.
Click to expand...

right not that way it was shown to be.. I can't see how you keep the same conversation stream if one is driven my phone number and one is driven by email addy..
 
chrismac2

chrismac2

macrumors regular
Jan 14, 2008
196
167
Seattle, WA
btownguy said:
I understand it a little differently. Let's say both my wife and I have iPhones with iOS 5 on it. I also have an iPad with iOS 5. If she sends me a text to my phone number, it just goes to my phone. if she sends me a text to my apple ID, it goes to both my phone and my iPad. Is this correct? She would theoretically have 2 message streams in her messages app (one to my phone number and one to my apple ID) even though we both have iOS 5 devices.
Click to expand...

This is correct, this is how it works.

I have an iPad and iPhone and if another IOS5 user sends to my email address associated with iMessage, it goes to both devices. I can use either device to continue the conversation.

iMessages sent to the phone number ONLY appear on the iPhone. Looks like the best and only way to get it on all devices is if you use your email as the "caller-id" so replies will go to both devices.

As far as people who had difficulties getting the same email address on more than one device......double check that you're logged into iMessage with the same Apple ID account on both devices. Once a "contact" address is linked to a specific Apple ID, it can't be used as a "contact" address for another Apple ID.

That's why I wish Apple had not pushed people to use email addresses AS the name of their Apple ID....it just confuses things.

Because my Apple ID: xyz@me.com, can be setup so that the primary contact is a non me.com email, for example xyz@comcast.net.

AND if I happen to have another Apple ID, for example an old iTunes store account, the xyz@me.com address can be listed as the PRIMARY contact email for the old iTunes store Apple ID.

So now, I can't link my xyz@me.com email address with the xyz@me.com Apple ID!!!

You can use appleid.apple.com to manage the email addresses linked to Apple ID's, but the changes don't really seem to take. I deleted my @me.com address from my old iTunes account, but it still won't let me link it back to my me.com Apple ID. Now I can't use that email address with any Apple ID, always says "already in use".

Ridiculous.....and so confusing....
 
MarlboroLite

MarlboroLite

macrumors 6502a
Oct 29, 2007
582
5
the 13 colonies
Can an iPod Touch or iPad send an iMessage to an iPhone by inputting the phone number, or can they only send a message by inputing the apple ID? And I guess conversely if I want to send an iMessage to an iPod Touch, must the caller ID be set to the Apple ID? Will it not work if the caller ID is your phone number?
 
J

Jcoz

macrumors 6502
Mar 25, 2008
349
0
I am struggling with the same issue as some here.

My wife and friend get my imessages in one stream, and I am getting two streams from each of them, one from thier phone and one from thier ipad.

Its really ticking me off to be honest. I'm looking through my wife's settings trying to find the difference but I can't.

Anyone who knows why I would get a different message stream from the same contact because of the device they were using (ipad or iphone), I'd appreciate the insight.
 
S

shorn

macrumors regular
Jun 29, 2010
206
16
Jcoz said:
I am struggling with the same issue as some here.

My wife and friend get my imessages in one stream, and I am getting two streams from each of them, one from thier phone and one from thier ipad.

Its really ticking me off to be honest. I'm looking through my wife's settings trying to find the difference but I can't.

Anyone who knows why I would get a different message stream from the same contact because of the device they were using (ipad or iphone), I'd appreciate the insight.
Click to expand...

Same here. Driving me mad!
I have an iPhone and iPad, both on iOS5. Both are set to use the same Apple ID. (My old MobileMe address.) And the caller ID is set to my email address as well.

MY wife/friend, send me a text from their phone to my phone, and it shows up as an iMessage, but theres nothing coming through on the iPad. If I send a message to my wife/friend from my iPad, it shows as a new thread on their phone.

Update:
Just played with it further. If my wife sends it to my email address, then it all works as advertised. But sending to phone number remains phone only!
 
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K

kicko

macrumors 65816
Aug 26, 2008
1,095
0
seems it needs some type of login in place so it knows which device your using (logged into)
 
S

sieeegel

macrumors newbie
Jul 30, 2008
13
0
Lets say a friend (on ios5) who is flicking thru their phone decides to send me a text to my phone via my telephone number. If I have my callerID on my phone set up as my appleid, will it automatically send that message to my appleid, or will it send it to my phone number?

To me this is a huge problem: people on phones tend to text phone numbers and not email addresses. The problem with imessage is that if someone imessages your phone number, you get stuck in a convo that only involves ur phone and not ur ipad (ie, when people text you in the future, they often just continue previous text conversations.)
 
B

BruiserB

macrumors 68000
Aug 9, 2008
1,752
755
It would be nice if you could add your phone number id to your iPad so that you could receive messages from anyone who iMessaged to your phone. If you can associate the other e-mail addresses with your AppleID, why not your phone number? Would be great to associate my Google voice number as well, since few know my real number. Right now I set up my caller ID as my gmail address, since nobody knows my me.com address either.
 
S

shorn

macrumors regular
Jun 29, 2010
206
16
Its definitely a case of what contact detail someone actually sends the initial iMessage to.
When the contact selected is the email address, then it works fine, but when its the phone number, it will only come through to the iphone. It will stay in teh same receiving thread on the iphone, but will not update the ipad.
 
B

BruiserB

macrumors 68000
Aug 9, 2008
1,752
755
And thinking a little more about this, I guess the challenge is that phone numbers get discarded and re-cycled a lot more than e-mail addresses. You may stop using an e-mail address, but it doesn't get assigned to another person very often. That's not true about phone numbers. If I cut off my phone service or got a new number for some reason, my number could quickly be recycled to another phone user....and that phone user could potentially be an iPhone user. If the number stayed associated with my AppleID (like the email addresses are). Then someone could try to iMessage the new owner of the phone number and end up reaching you by mistake since you are holding the number captive in your AppleID profile.

I guess Apple needs to issue everyone a non-changeable, non-mergeable, permanent Apple# that is linked to your AppleID that you keep for life!
 
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