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iMessage is switching to primary number by default after updating to iOS 17

akash.nu

akash.nu

macrumors G4
Original poster
May 26, 2016
10,871
17,004
Experiencing a major bug on iOS 17. Even though I have my secondary number, which is not on iMessage, selected as conversation line for a specific contact, when I try to send them a message it’s switching to my primary number which is also registered for iMessage.

I don’t want certain people to know my primary number but now this has created a mess and people now know both my numbers!

I tried a few solutions provided online by deleting the existing conversation and start a fresh but iMessage is always choosing the primary number by default!
 
akash.nu said:
Experiencing a major bug on iOS 17. Even though I have my secondary number, which is not on iMessage, selected as conversation line for a specific contact, when I try to send them a message it’s switching to my primary number which is also registered for iMessage.

I don’t want certain people to know my primary number but now this has created a mess and people now know both my numbers!

I tried a few solutions provided online by deleting the existing conversation and start a fresh but iMessage is always choosing the primary number by default!
Click to expand...
The same thing is happening to me. The only workaround that I discovered is turning off the primary line that’s connected to iMessage and turning off all data (both Wi-Fi and cellular).
 
Last edited:
So I was on long chats and calls with Apple and they are super baffled and have no idea how to fix this at the moment. They have taken multiple screenshots and screen recordings from my device and has promised to come back with some answers on Friday.
 
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Anyone get the bug where you get a notification, then go into messages but the message doesn’t display until you force close the app?
 
There seems to be some generally buggy behaviour about primary numbers - if you call a person it seems to be arbitrarily choosing which number in that contact to use, even if you specify the number/device you'd like it call
 
cableguy84 said:
Anyone get the bug where you get a notification, then go into messages but the message doesn’t display until you force close the app?
Click to expand...

This has happened to me rarely but I have seen this issue as well.
 
What account are you using as your store your contacts ? Is your Contacts database in good order ? as in just one account assigned to 'Contacts' and everything set as Always use 'Primary' or 'Always use 'Personal'

I found i was having issues, which led me down a path of troubleshooting, where i discovered, i was having some contacts in my corporate exchange, some on a personal account, and in other places, and when i removed the account from having the ability to control any of my contacts, in an effort to put them just under one account everything (well nearly) everything reverted back to Primary.

Now i just have all my contacts assigned to ONE account, and that account being iCloud, and have every single contact set to either use this or that and it seems to be finally working in good order.
 
thedoc46 said:
What account are you using as your store your contacts ? Is your Contacts database in good order ? as in just one account assigned to 'Contacts' and everything set as Always use 'Primary' or 'Always use 'Personal'

I found i was having issues, which led me down a path of troubleshooting, where i discovered, i was having some contacts in my corporate exchange, some on a personal account, and in other places, and when i removed the account from having the ability to control any of my contacts, in an effort to put them just under one account everything (well nearly) everything reverted back to Primary.

Now i just have all my contacts assigned to ONE account, and that account being iCloud, and have every single contact set to either use this or that and it seems to be finally working in good order.
Click to expand...

All my numbers are just on my iCloud account and also they have specific lines assigned to them.
 
Same issue here. Been happening through entire beta cycle. I reported through feedback app. Hopefully they will fix soon. This is a nightmare if you keep your work and personal numbers on one device.
 
i just had a thought. i've been testing this myself (new iphone 15 pro) and spare phone, that i created a contact on, sending test messages back and forth, and i fortunately can't get it to fail on me.

I also had the thought of sending through my macbook, and it correctly assigned the 'Personal' number rather than the 'Primary'. but it had me thinking, do you have macbooks setup using Messaging ? Do you have both your primary and personal numbers enabled within the app on the macbook ? just a thought ? don't know if thats the problem per se, but whatever my setup is, is working, so its got to be something out of the box. i can see how many wouldn't have their macbook messaging setup for both. if i recall i had to go out my way to make sure this was setup correctly at the time of setting up my macbook pro.
 
thedoc46 said:
i just had a thought. i've been testing this myself (new iphone 15 pro) and spare phone, that i created a contact on, sending test messages back and forth, and i fortunately can't get it to fail on me.

I also had the thought of sending through my macbook, and it correctly assigned the 'Personal' number rather than the 'Primary'. but it had me thinking, do you have macbooks setup using Messaging ? Do you have both your primary and personal numbers enabled within the app on the macbook ? just a thought ? don't know if thats the problem per se, but whatever my setup is, is working, so its got to be something out of the box. i can see how many wouldn't have their macbook messaging setup for both. if i recall i had to go out my way to make sure this was setup correctly at the time of setting up my macbook pro.
Click to expand...

Yep all setup is correct. I’ve been using the same setup across all my devices for years now. In fact when I use my MacBook Pro or my iPad, it works perfectly fine. The issue seems to be only with the iPhone.
 
It appears that today's 17.1.1 update has fixed the issue for me.
 
Apple couldn’t solve it for me!

I ended up enabling iMessage for both the numbers which solved the issue for me.
 
akash.nu said:
Apple couldn’t solve it for me!

I ended up enabling iMessage for both the numbers which solved the issue for me.
Click to expand...
After enabling iMessage for the business number, did you turn it off again or keep it on?
 
It looks like 17.4 has finally fixed the issue. On one particular text message thread, I had to force switch between the two phone lines to get it to work properly. Overall, I’m thankful.
 
I’m glad it finally worked for you! I couldn’t keep dreading on which number is going to be used for any specific text so I’ve just kept iMessage on for both. I mean it served the purpose for me in sending messages from the correct number to the correct set of people. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
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