Group Messaging in iOS 8

[joejoejoe]

One of the biggest qualms I have with group messaging with non-iOS devices is that threads get split up when people from various devices reply.

For example, someone with an iPhone just sent a text to me and 8 people, and everyone's responses are coming in as new group threads with all the same recipients.

Now, I have no idea why this happens, but is this fixed in iOS8 with all the new group messaging improvements?

Or are the benefits of group messaging limited to those running iPhones/iMessage?

Thanks,
J

 

[bigjnyc]

Settings > messages > turn group messaging on

I have plenty of group message threads going with several people in them who don't have iPhones and it all comes in a single thread. I'm on ios 7

The only thing is that all messages come through as green text messages within the thread even iphone folks

 

[joejoejoe]

Settings > messages > turn group messaging on

I have plenty of group message threads going with several people in them who don't have iPhones and it all comes in a single thread. I'm on ios 7

The only thing is that all messages come through as green text messages within the thread even iphone folks

This is on. Still, when I have threads going with people on various devices (ios, android, and others), every reply from a separate person coms in as a new group thread with all the same recipients.

It's really, really annoying.

 

[joejoejoe]

speaking of which does anyone else experience this group messaging bug or is it just me?

 

[afsnyder]

This is on. Still, when I have threads going with people on various devices (ios, android, and others), every reply from a separate person coms in as a new group thread with all the same recipients.

It's really, really annoying.

Are you saying that on the iPhone it is showing up as 1 person? That's likely not Apple's fault and possibly someone in the thread does not have group messaging enabled on their non-Apple device. Idk, just a guess. Tell me what happens. Thanks.

 

[joejoejoe]

Are you saying that on the iPhone it is showing up as 1 person? That's likely not Apple's fault and possibly someone in the thread does not have group messaging enabled on their non-Apple device. Idk, just a guess. Tell me what happens. Thanks.

No I'm saying that it still comes back as a group message, but multiple threads.

Here's the scenario as best as I can describe it. It only happens when the group thread involves both iPhone and non-iPhone users:

1 - Sally sends a group message to Me, Jim, Casey, and Harry

2 - I respond, it stays in the same conversation and goes to everyone else.

3 - Jim responds, and a new conversation pops up in my messages app with the same recipients.

4 - Harry responds, and yet another new conversation pops up with the same recipients.

So now I have three conversations in my messages app, each of which have all the same recipients, but with the texts split amongst the different windows.

Does this really happen to no one else? Never considered it being a unique problem.

 

[Simplicated]

I get this all the time. Very annoying. It happens with group AND individual text messages.

This has NOT been fixed in iOS 8. I still see duplicate threads. Strangely enough the Mac version of Messages does combine threads.

 

[CosmoPilot]

Is your iMessages set up to send from your phone number or AppleID?

This never happens to me, but it very well could be the settings on the offending phones.

 

[joejoejoe]

Is your iMessages set up to send from your phone number or AppleID?

This never happens to me, but it very well could be the settings on the offending phones.

That's not the problem, as people are just reying to the original text which always has my phone number as a recipient.

The contact group is mixed so nothing is ever sent as an iMessage, this is not an iMessage issue. It's a problem with the way iOS handles SMS.

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I get this all the time. Very annoying. It happens with group AND individual text messages.

This has NOT been fixed in iOS 8. I still see duplicate threads. Strangely enough the Mac version of Messages does combine threads.

That's probably because as it stands the Mac version only handles iMessages, and I never have this problem with iMessages. Only SMS. (Unless you're on Yosemite and texting from your Mac)

 

[afsnyder]

I get this all the time. Very annoying. It happens with group AND individual text messages.

This has NOT been fixed in iOS 8. I still see duplicate threads. Strangely enough the Mac version of Messages does combine threads.

OS X Yosemite messages or OS X Mavericks? iMessage groups work perfectly normal while text messages is a bit iffy.

 

[bigjnyc]

I've never experienced this issue and I have many group threads going on with mixed iphone and non-iphone folks. That would annoy me and frustrate me to no end though, I hope you find a solution.

 

[Vasilioskn]

Apple has always been horrible with group messaging. I hope they clean their act up with this.

 

[luckydcxx]

I believe if any person in the group chat has group messaging off then it will come through as a separate text.

 

[joejoejoe]

I believe if any person in the group chat has group messaging off then it will come through as a separate text.

That's not what's happening. Every single reply goes to the entire group, but in different threads. It's multiple group message threads that should all be together.

 

[Manatlt]

This is never be fixed for a reason. How can your iPhone/Apple tell that your friend's response is for the group or a separate individual conversation?

SMS is outdated. If your group messages are iMessages, you'll never have this problem, but for SMS what you guys are asking for is impossible.

 

[joejoejoe]

This is never be fixed for a reason. How can your iPhone/Apple tell that your friend's response is for the group or a separate individual conversation?

SMS is outdated. If your group messages are iMessages, you'll never have this problem, but for SMS what you guys are asking for is impossible.

Simple. If the same recipients are included, it should all be in one thread. Makes no sense that it would be divided, especially considering some people's responses stay in one conversation and others start another. It's baffling.

 

[goobot]

Simple. If the same recipients are included, it should all be in one thread. Makes no sense that it would be divided, especially considering some people's responses stay in one conversation and others start another. It's baffling.

How is your iPhone supposed to know what someone else's non iPhone is sending the msg to? It is impossible for it to know if it is a group chat related text vs a personal text.

 

[Manatlt]

Group Messaging in iOS 8

Simple. If the same recipients are included, it should all be in one thread. Makes no sense that it would be divided, especially considering some people's responses stay in one conversation and others start another. It's baffling.

You don't get it. Our phones cannot tell if the receiving text from your friend is coming from a group conversation or a single conversation.

SMS isn't iMessage, FB Messenger or Whatsapp. SMS was built only for single 1-to-1 conversations.

 

[thedeejay]

One of the biggest qualms I have with group messaging with non-iOS devices is that threads get split up when people from various devices reply.

For example, someone with an iPhone just sent a text to me and 8 people, and everyone's responses are coming in as new threads.

Now, I have no idea why this happens, but is this fixed in iOS8 with all the new group messaging improvements?

Or are the benefits of group messaging limited to those running iPhones/iMessage?

Thanks,
J

As everyone else mentioned it's not possible. Also, take a look at other competitors. None of them have it either else we could say that it's Apple that's holding back.

 

[joejoejoe]

How is your iPhone supposed to know what someone else's non iPhone is sending the msg to? It is impossible for it to know if it is a group chat related text vs a personal text.

You don't get it. Our phones cannot tell if the receiving text from your friend is coming from a group conversation or a single conversation.

SMS isn't iMessage, FB Messenger or Whatsapp. SMS was built only for single 1-to-1 conversations.

As everyone else mentioned it's not possible. Also, take a look at other competitors. None of them have it either else we could say that it's Apple that's holding back.

Not sure what's so hard to understand here.

People's texts are coming in as group messages, to the same recipients. They are not coming as individual texts.

Replies from various people sometimes go in one thread, sometimes another. It's not divided by who is sending. It seems random and disjointed.

To put it simply, again:

Adam sends a texts to Brett, Carl, Danny, Eddie, Frank and me.

It shows up on my phone as a group message. Users of this group message are both iOS and not iOS, so it comes in green.

Brett responds, it stays in the same conversation. Danny responds, it stays in the same conversation. Then Eddie responds, and it starts a new conversation, with the same recipients. Frank responds, and it stays in Eddie's thread. I now have 2 conversations, all with the same recipients, part of the same conversation, but it's split for no reason.

Lots of people above have mentioned that they don't have this problem, that everything stays in the same original thread, even if non-iOS users are involved.

It's very easy for the phone to see a group message of the same recipients and combine the threads.

I'm not getting individual responses to just me that I want in the original group message. I understand how that's impossible for the phone to compute, and that's not what I'm asking it to do.

I'm asking it to keep group threads together in the same conversation if the recipients are the same.

Perhaps you all don't have this issue, which is why you don't understand the problem to begin with.

Let me know if you need me to explain further.

I would have attached screenshots by now, but they're personal conversations and blurring everything out kinda defeats the purpose.

EDIT: to further clear things up, the group messages involving multiple people that are not all on iOS are technically MMS, not SMS. But the argument and issue remains the same. My fault for messing up that detail.

 

[GlenK]

Don't do many group texts but have this issues in Mail group conversations too!

Wish there was a way to manually add or remove texts/emails from conversations.

 

[falkedup]

This is on. Still, when I have threads going with people on various devices (ios, android, and others), every reply from a separate person coms in as a new group thread with all the same recipients.

It's really, really annoying.

They have to have the feature on too

 

[joejoejoe]

They have to have the feature on too

They do. Otherwise it wouldn't come in as a group mms.

 

[NOW4REAL954]

No I'm saying that it still comes back as a group message, but multiple threads.

Here's the scenario as best as I can describe it. It only happens when the group thread involves both iPhone and non-iPhone users:

1 - Sally sends a group message to Me, Jim, Casey, and Harry

2 - I respond, it stays in the same conversation and goes to everyone else.

3 - Jim responds, and a new conversation pops up in my messages app with the same recipients.

4 - Harry responds, and yet another new conversation pops up with the same recipients.

So now I have three conversations in my messages app, each of which have all the same recipients, but with the texts split amongst the different windows.

Does this really happen to no one else? Never considered it being a unique problem.

If you have group messaging turned on the it had to do with the android users you are messaging. If they don't have group messaging turned on with the iOS compatiblity setting switched on. Then that is the problem. Had an android user at work that kept replying to group messages and everyone would get a standalone message from her. After we dealt with it for long enough I snatched her phone from her and turned it on. And now no more annoying separate messages.

 

[joejoejoe]

If you have group messaging turned on the it had to do with the android users you are messaging. If they don't have group messaging turned on with the iOS compatiblity setting switched on. Then that is the problem. Had an android user at work that kept replying to group messages and everyone would get a standalone message from her. After we dealt with it for long enough I snatched her phone from her and turned it on. And now no more annoying separate messages.

I don't know how many times I should repeat this to get the point across, but I am not describing a scenario where everyone in the thread receives a standalone reply from the android user.

A new group thread, with the same exact list of recipients, NOT a standalone message, shows up.