Years in the past, a tech government talked about having a “day” iPhone and a “night time” iPhone. The poor fellow was ribbed for months about it when he was extra precisely describing an iPhone paid by work that had company restrictions on it and was topic to monetary business rules and a private iPhone that he didn’t conduct enterprise on. Phrasing is all the things.
When you’re ready the place you want two iPhones, equivalent to your organization issuing you one for regulatory or different causes for work, you possibly can depend on a single Apple ID account to present you entry to the identical synced knowledge, subscriptions, and digital purchases on each telephones. (I’ve two iPhones: I’ve a present day-to-day one and a mannequin a couple of years old-fashioned that may run the newest iOS updates for testing betas and intra-device testing.)
Nevertheless, take care that you simply aren’t syncing data that ought to stay strictly on one cellphone. If that’s a extreme concern–once more, doubtlessly for medical, monetary, or authorities privateness causes–you shouldn’t log into iCloud utilizing the identical Apple ID on each iPhones.

Take note of Messages settings round cellphone numbers and iCloud e-mail addresses you utilize (left) and syncing through iCloud (proper).
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The principle difficulty folks run into is with Messages. In Settings > Apps > Messages (iOS 18/iPadOS 18) or Settings > Messages (iOS 17/iPadOS 17 and earlier) and Messages > Settings > iMessage (macOS), Apple permits you to choose objects in two teams:
- “You possibly can obtain iMessages to and reply from” (iOS/iPadOS)/”You will be reached for messages at”: All cellphone numbers and e-mail addresses related to an iCloud account seem right here. You possibly can deselect the cellphone quantity for the opposite iPhone on every iPhone.
- “Begin new conversations from”: Whenever you begin a brand new dialog in Messages, the app doesn’t present you which of them account the individual receiving it sees it coming from. Nevertheless, you possibly can choose a cellphone quantity or e-mail handle from this menu. On every iPhone, you need to choose a cellphone quantity related to that iPhone for those who don’t need messages to cross paths.
Additionally with Messages, for those who allow Messages in iCloud, all messages throughout all of the units with that change turned on will sync—together with throughout telephones. Think about if that’s one thing you need. The choice is present in iOS/iPadOS in Settings > Account Title > Messages as “Use on this iPhone/iPad” and in macOS in Messages > Settings > iMessage as “Allow Messages in iCloud.”
This Mac 911 article is in response to a query submitted by Macworld reader John.
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