Guide · Military families

Staying reachable through a PCS move or deployment.

A military family's phone situation rarely holds still: a PCS move means new area, sometimes a new carrier, phones getting swapped, upgraded, or handed down to a kid mid-move. A deployment adds long stretches of limited, shared, or restricted device access. Here's what actually helps you keep your contacts and caller ID through all of it. MobileyMe works with US and Canadian mobile numbers only, and on iPhone, with carrier call forwarding on, calls to your number can ring the iPhone you signed in on.

1

Keep your contacts off any single phone

The number that matters, the one school, the doctor's office, and extended family already have, shouldn't be hostage to whichever device happens to be in someone's pocket that week. Your carrier still owns the number, but your contacts and messages can live in a cloud account rather than on one SIM, so a phone lost during the move, handed down, or left behind doesn't take them with it.

2

Plan for shared and borrowed devices during deployment

Personal phone access during deployment is often limited to short windows on a shared computer or a borrowed device at an MWR center, not a guarantee of your own phone in hand. Signing in on whatever device is available, checking messages, and signing back out when the window closes matters more than having your own phone with you.

3

Keep the spouse or family point of contact stable

The family member managing everything during a deployment, school enrollment, medical appointments, the movers, is usually the one whose phone situation is most in flux. Giving that person a number that keeps working across whatever device they're using that week removes one variable from an already full plate.

4

Be honest about what this does and doesn't cover

This needs internet access, the same as any messaging app. It isn't a way around unit device policy, and it won't help in a genuine connectivity blackout. What it solves is the far more common situation: a family juggling phones through a move or a deployment, needing the same number to keep working no matter which device is available that day.

If a phone is being handed down to a kid as part of the move, sign out of it first. Signing out removes your MobileyMe data from that phone, so a hand-me-down phone doesn't carry your account along with it.
Your contacts, whichever phone is around

Built for exactly this kind of moving target.

MobileyMe keeps your contacts and messages in your cloud account rather than tied to one phone. Sign in on another phone, such as a new one after a PCS move, and your contacts are there. Calls you place from the app show your number. On iPhone, with carrier call forwarding on, calls to your number can ring the iPhone you signed in on. When you sign out of MobileyMe on a phone, the app removes your MobileyMe data from that phone.

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Questions people ask

Can I use MobileyMe if my phone is restricted or unavailable during deployment?
MobileyMe needs internet access to work, the same as any messaging app, so it is not a way around unit device policy or a genuine connectivity blackout. What it covers is the more common gap: checking messages from a shared or borrowed device during a limited connectivity window, without needing your own phone on you.

What happens to our number during a PCS move?
Keep it with your carrier as usual. MobileyMe does not move or hold the number. What it adds is a cloud copy of your contacts and messages, so if a phone is swapped, upgraded, or handed down to a kid along the way, you sign in on the next phone and your contacts are there. MobileyMe works with US and Canadian mobile numbers only.

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