How To Unlink Your Email Address From Your Text Messages

It always feels a little bit vindictive when my phone does something weird and confusing. Like, all I’ve ever done is love you and repeatedly ask Siri to look up obscure 90s celebrities, phone. And this is how you treat me? Even the most tech savvy among us will occasionally be betrayed by our most precious technologic possession. My initial solution in order to fix these common phone problems is usually to wait until the issue is so severe or annoying that I have to do something about it.

If you’ve found yourself past the point of no return, asking “Why are my texts messages coming from my email address?”, you are far from alone. In fact, almost 400 people reported that exact problem on one of Apple’s online discussion boards. Based on the dozens of pleas from people across the internet, ranging from desperate to furious, this happens pretty often and seemingly without cause.

Lest you think it’s the tech demons pranking you for taking forever to respond to texts, your text messages and email address typically get linked due to iMessage. It seems like this can occur more often if you use iMessage on other Apple devices like your Macbook or iPad. Thankfully, the solution is fairly straightforward:

• On your phone, go to Settings.
• Then, go to Messages.
• Finally, click on “Send & Receive.” This will show any phone numbers and email addresses you have linked to the Apple ID connected to your phone.
• Under “Send & Receive” you should see a section labeled “Start New Conversations From.” Make sure your phone number has a checkmark next to it.

Then, you should be free to text from your phone number as the phone gods intended.

If you’re still having trouble, one user on Reddit suggests logging out of your Apple ID completely on your device. You might also want to make sure you’re logged off iChat on your laptop or desktop if going through your phone’s message settings doesn't work. Another user on an Apple discussion board said the old “turn it off and turn it back on” worked for them. Also, can't go wrong with the my personal favorite “scream and cry.” While it won't fix anything, it will definitely feel very good at least momentarily.

What about if you're asking for a friend? But really. A similar thing can happen when you’re messaging someone else. One minute you’re on a text thread linked to their phone number. Then, their next message suddenly comes from their email address. If you don't want to ask them to unlink their phone number and email address, just add their email address under their contact info on your phone. You can do this by tapping their name in the message thread they sent from their email address. Then, select “Add to Existing Contact” and find their name in your address book.

If the problem was with your number, you can ask your friends to do the same after you reset your phone to stop sending messages through your email address. Otherwise, you might want to start chats in a new thread after you get everything sorted out. That way your messages are coming from your phone number instead of spread between two threads. Then, at long last, you will be able to send all your bitmojis and gifs in a consolidated thread once again.

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