# Mysterious Iphone text message **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-iphone-text-message/735539 "2015-10-23T13:59:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-iphone-text-message/735539/1 "2015-10-23T13:59:18Z")
How is it possible for someone else to send a text and it appears on my phone and someone else’s phone as if I sent it? Here’s the setup: My wife, my son, and I all have Iphones and we sometimes text so that all three parties are included. This morning a new text appeared in the group message string. It said “This is [son]” followed by a bunch of random emojis. But it appeared as if I sent it – in blue and on the right side. I had my phone next to me and didn’t hear any notification of a text message. I only saw it when my wife texted back to ask what the message meant. She said that on her phone it came up as a message from me. We’ve texted my son to ask, but he’s in school and won’t be able to reply for a while. The content of the message may or may not have relevance. Earlier this week I was goofing with my son and sent some texts that were random emojis, so if the message is from him he’s probably just goofing back at me. But if he sent it, why did it show as coming from me? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-iphone-text-message/735539/2 "2015-10-23T14:01:44Z")
You are sure that he hasn’t got your phone? ---
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-iphone-text-message/735539/3 "2015-10-23T14:03:53Z")
Yes, it’s definitely my phone here with me. ---
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-iphone-text-message/735539/4 "2015-10-23T14:23:34Z")
Mystery solved. The little bugger took my Ipad to school today, and the Ipad is registered to my phone number. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-iphone-text-message/735539/5 "2015-10-23T17:08:22Z")
Just a bit of info for anyone else reading… If you have multiple devices connected to the same Apple ID, it bundles them together by default, so that texts to/from one device are repeated across them all. You can undo that in settings for each device if you want. That’s a feature that Apple introduced so that an owner of multiple devices can easily keep track of communications when using any device, but it can get confusing if those devices are being used by multiple people. Apple assumes 1 ID = 1 person but that isn’t always the case in reality.