We have three iPhones and an iPad all assigned to one Apple ID. Anytime I try to iMessage my mum on her phone (from my iPhone), it appears on my brother's iPhone. Then, when he replies (thinking the iMessage was to him), I receive the iMessage which is addressed from my mum – despite it being sent from his phone. I've deleted the Apple ID from received iMessages to see if that would fix it, but it has failed to give the desired outcome.
How do I need to configure iMessage on the iPhones so that each person is their own "entity" and prevent "crossing wires"?
Best Answer
iMessage isn't designed to work with just one Apple ID. Instead of having all the iPhones and iPad on one Apple ID, it will be necessary to set up additional Apple IDs for the different users.
When you setup an iOS device and put in your Apple ID, it provisions ALL such services to that Apple ID. Go into Settings on each device (under Messages and FaceTime) and remove the Apple ID. Replace the Apple ID with a new Apple ID unique to each user. Here is a guide on creating new iCloud accounts for this purpose.
Better yet, provision each account completely with its own Apple ID. If a person wants to download an already-purchased app or song from a different account, you can temporarily change accounts in iTunes or App Store.