iPhone Imessage cloud backup question

[shankar2]

Hi I have two iOS devices with same icloud account but different iMessage account. How would iMessage backup work in this scenario? Thanks!

 

[chabig]

I think that if you turn on messages in the cloud, then the message account that’s not your AppleID will switch to your AppleID.

 

[iapplelove]

How do you have a different iMessage account on the 2nd device but logged into the same Apple ID on both devices?

 

[flyinmac]

How do you have a different iMessage account on the 2nd device but logged into the same Apple ID on both devices?

I would speculate that messages sent to a particular phone number would be handled differently.

Suppose I have two phones. Each has a different phone number. And each should receive text messages sent to those phone numbers, regardless of whether they share the same iCloud account.

I would hope that iMessage had been smart enough in its original implementation to know which phone to send text / iMessage messages to based on which phone number was texted (even if both phones were logged into the same iCloud account).

I speculate that this scenario is what the original poster is describing.

He now wants to know what happens if he turns on iMessages in the cloud. Will both phones now be synced because they are logged into the same iCloud account? Or will they keep their independence based on the fact that they are separate entities?

My belief, is that they should not be synced, because different phone numbers have a different purpose. I would not want my personal text messages blended with my business messages (for example) if I had two phones specifically to separate business from personal.

Perhaps in a corporate sense, you wouldn’t log your company supplied phone into your personal account. But what about the self-employed??

I have owned businesses. And I kept two phone numbers and two emails. One for the business that I stopped answering at 6:00 pm. And a personal number and email that I used all day and night.

That way personal friends can call or message me, and after 6:00 pm I wasn’t trying to guess if it was a personal or business call. If they were calling on my personal phone, then obviously it was someone I had given permission to do so.

But, what if the new iMessage in the cloud blends them as the original poster asks???

Then I now have messages from clients on my personal phone and personal messages on my business phone. Which can get messy. And such a scenario could cause me to accidentally reveal my personal phone number or email if I replied (sometimes it could happen without my reply as iMessage does fill in blanks sometimes when I’ve messaged someone and didn’t have all their information).

So I see his question as quite valid.

Based on his question, I would ask one step further... what about when you have a family iCloud account? I certainly wouldn’t want my daughter’s messages getting synced and blended with mine. They certainly have no reason to know everything I send.

And if it’s not a family account, I could likewise see spouses using the same iCloud account without family sharing. Then we update the same calendar, and never have the whole what are you doing on this day mixup. It’s a royal pain to sit and exchange our constantly changing weekly schedules. So sharing the same iCloud account would help there.

Likewise, our contacts and address books would be merged. Which in a long term relationship or marriage is generally more convenient from my experience.

But, even as a couple, if we shared the same iCloud account, neither of us would want our text or iMessages getting blended and sent to both spouses phones.

While we would certainly trust each other, I do believe in trust being based on your faith in me. Not based on you read everything I send or receive. I have never sat and went through a spouses phone. I believe that the second I think it might be necessary to go through their phone, that enough is already wrong that I should just end the relationship. Trust is the most important part of a relationship. As soon as that is gone, then there’s no reason to continue. So if I feel that I must look at someone else’s messages, then obviously the trust isn’t there. And whether justified by something I’ve learned, or just unjustified paranoia, it’s time to end the relationship. That goes both ways obviously.

So, with the above scenarios, I agree with the original poster, that this needs fully explained.

Apple should release a detailed description of what the new feature does in depth. A surface explanation of, it syncs across your devices, is woefully inadequate.

 

[chabig]

I think it’s a non-issue. Text message forwarding is a toggle in Message settings. If you don’t want text messages forwarded to iCloud devices, keep that setting turned off.
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...what about when you have a family iCloud account? I certainly wouldn’t want my daughter’s messages getting synced and blended with mine. They certainly have no reason to know everything I send.

And if it’s not a family account, I could likewise see spouses using the same iCloud account without family sharing.

Within a family, each individual is supposed to use a separate AppleID.

 

[jefe2000]

How do you have a different iMessage account on the 2nd device but logged into the same Apple ID on both devices?

Like the OP, I use the same main Apple ID for iCloud across all the iOS devices (a couple iPhones and a couple iPads) in my household. However, for one of the iPhones, I use a different Apple ID for Messages/iMessage. This is on my wife's iPhone; she uses her own Apple ID for Messages so that she has her own set of messages and conversations on her phone.

So, on her iPhone, the iCloud info shown at the very top of the main Settings.app view shows my Apple ID credentials. However, down in the Messages settings under the Send & Receive view, her own Apple ID is listed.

I, too, am very curious how Messages in the Cloud handles this setup.

 

[shankar2]

Like the OP, I use the same main Apple ID for iCloud across all the iOS devices (a couple iPhones and a couple iPads) in my household. However, for one of the iPhones, I use a different Apple ID for Messages/iMessage. This is on my wife's iPhone; she uses her own Apple ID for Messages so that she has her own set of messages and conversations on her phone.

So, on her iPhone, the iCloud info shown at the very top of the main Settings.app view shows my Apple ID credentials. However, down in the Messages settings under the Send & Receive view, her own Apple ID is listed.

I, too, am very curious how Messages in the Cloud handles this setup.

Yes I have the exact scenario as quoted above. I guess I’ll have to test

 

[shankar2]

Anyone have this similar scenario? Same icloud apple id but different imessage ids each for 2 devices? How would imessage backup work then?

 

[jefe2000]

I just got off of a phone call with Apple Support. The support rep, after checking with her senior technical advisor, advised me that my scenario is supported. That is, Messages in the Cloud will be associated with the Apple ID configured in Messages, not with the phones’ main Apple IDs. So, I think I’ll give it a try. I’ll report back here on how it goes.

 

[jefe2000]

Well, my experience with this did not turn out as the rep at Apple Support indicated it would. You cannot turn on Messages in the Cloud on an iOS device wherein the Apple ID for Messages differs from the main iCloud Apple ID. iOS will notice that the Apple IDs do not match and will deny the request to turn on Messages in the Cloud. It will show this error message:

 

[bigfatipod]

Thank you for reporting back with that information.
(sorry to hear it didn't go as planned though)