Text Message Forwarding from iPhone to iPad - strange behavior

[tigglebitties]

iPad Pro 10.5 & iPhone 8+, both on 14.4.

As long as I've had this pair, I've always had Text Message Forwarding enabled so I can SMS/MMS non-iOS contacts from either device. For sake of this post, I am not referring to iMessages - I have zero issues with them on either device.

For example, I'm texting my friend who has an Android from my iPhone. The thread is also being updated in my iPad and I can also reply from the iPad instead of the phone. I never had an issue until last week when I switched from T-Mobile to Verizon. I had Verizon a few years ago with these exact same devices and did not have this problem.

On my iPhone, I have 1 thread between me and my android friend. All our texts and pictures stay in that one thread like normal. Since switching to Verizon, my iPad only is now separating them into 3 different threads:

Thread 1: has their side of the conversation and does not contain my responses. This thread shows only their phone number, even though they are in my contacts.

Thread 2: shows only my side of the conversation and not their responses and is titled with their contact name.

Thread 3: shows like a group message between my phone number and theirs (number only, no contact name) and only contains pictures that we both have sent each other.

To be clear, this is just me and him - not a group message.

I have rebooted both devices and reset network settings on both but the problem still persists. This all started right when I switched carriers. I have no clue what's going on, any ideas?

 

[thewhitehart]

I have the same problem you do with your examples in threads 1 and 2.

In my case at least, it has to do with the way numbers are automatically formatted in the Contacts app. I have a Japanese number, but my phone’s region is set to the US. Because the phone is set to the US, The Contacts app attempts to auto-format all numbers to the US style, (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

I have all my Japanese numbers in international format. When I send a text message from my iPhone, the sent message appears on the iPad under my name. When the recipient with a Japanese number replies, the response is threaded as a new message on the iPad as coming from a local Japanese number. In other words, it fails to appear under the contact’s name. I end up with two threads on the iPad, while everything is normal on the iPhone.

It’s all incredibly confusing. Anyway, it might have something to do with the way numbers are formatted in your Contacts app.

 

[tigglebitties]

I have the same problem you do with your examples in threads 1 and 2.

In my case at least, it has to do with the way numbers are automatically formatted in the Contacts app. I have a Japanese number, but my phone’s region is set to the US. Because the phone is set to the US, The Contacts app attempts to auto-format all numbers to the US style, (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

I have all my Japanese numbers in international format. When I send a text message from my iPhone, the sent message appears on the iPad under my name. When the recipient with a Japanese number replies, the response is threaded as a new message on the iPad as coming from a local Japanese number. In other words, it fails to appear under the contact’s name. I end up with two threads on the iPad, while everything is normal on the iPhone.

It’s all incredibly confusing. Anyway, it might have something to do with the way numbers are formatted in your Contacts app.

I went through a similar thing about a year ago when I was overseas. It was due to the number formatting in my contacts not having the "+XX" country code attached. I went through my contacts and added country codes and the problem was resolved. I have not had this issue for over a year now. I now have a US number and only text other US numbers. This new problem started immediately after I switched to Verizon last week.