Reasoning about the identity of objects is challenging, because objects can experience alterations that change its properties. Researchers have proposed that causal explanations are important in making identity judgments, and one important causal factor is objects’ teleology (purpose or function). This study focuses on how teleological information affects identity judgments of entities that split into two descendants. In Experiment 1, we provide evidence that two types of teleological information – function type (structure-dependent or not) and function preservation influence the likelihood that a descendant is judged as the original entity. In Experiment 2, we show that object/substance construal is a mediator of function type in the identity task, suggesting that some of the teleological effects can be explained via construing the entity as object/substance. Together, these two experiments highlight the importance of teleological information in identity judgments.