In our personal and professional lives, we often must convey a single message to several friends, family members, or colleagues. Group chats are a fantastic way of simultaneously sharing standard information with multiple persons. These can be fun to use and save time and energy. Whether it is news about a surprise party or some official announcement, group chats have always proved their significance.
Group chats can have different appearances and capabilities, depending on the types of phones people use and their personalized settings. In this write-up, we will highlight the creation and use of iMessage group chats and several other things. So, you can read along to know everything about them.
iPhone provides three group chat options to participate in or create. It automatically selects the best type based on certain factors, which we have explained below.
Group SMS
If at least one member of a group has turned off both MMS and iMessage, they will receive or send messages as individual texts outside the group. They won’t be able to see the group chat responses or send multimedia attachments. These messages go through the carriers and appear with green text bubbles.
Group MMS
In group MMS, messages go through carriers and not via Apple. Here, many iMessage features are not available. The text appears green, resulting in at least one member not using an Apple device or iMessage service. In this case, every member of the group can do the following.
- Mute notifications.
- See all responses from the members.
- Share and receive Photos and Videos.
Group iMessage
In the iMessage group, text bubbles appear blue, and every group member uses an Apple device with the iMessage service turned on. These are end-to-end encrypted and go through Apple and not through carriers. In a Message group, anyone can do the following:
- See all group member’s responses.
- Exchange photos, videos, or even audio messages.
- Use message effects like bubble effects, animations, sketches, and others.
- Give the group a name and share their locations.
- Add or remove group members.
- Mute group notifications.
- Leave the group chat.
In the following subheadings, we will discuss creating and managing the iMessage group chat.
- Create Group Chat on iOS Messages?
- Add people to a group text in iMessage?
- Name a group text on iPhone Messages.
- Remove someone from an iOS Message Group Text?
- Mute Text conversation in Group Chat?
- Leave a group chat on iMessage in iOS 16.
Create Group Chat on iOS Messages?
Before creating an iMessage group, go to your device’s Settings and tap Messages. Ensure that both MMS and iMessage are turned on. Once you’ve done this, you can follow the steps below to start a group chat on your iPhone.
- Launch the Messages app on your iPhone.
- Choose the Compose icon from your screen’s top-right corner.
- In the address bar, enter two or more names you wish to include in the group chat. You can either type in the To: section or tap the Plus symbol to choose names from your contacts.
- Type your desired text message and send it by tapping the Send button.
Now that you have created a new group chat, you can share your messages and add more members. Everyone added to the conversation can reply to or read the shared messages.
Add people to a group text in iMessage?
Everyone must be an iPhone user for the Message group chat. To add a new member to your group chat, follow the steps provided below.
- Go to the group chat and open its group info from the top.
- Tap the member count to view and edit it.
- Tap the Add Contact option.
- Tap the Plus icon to choose people from your contacts, or you can type a person’s name.
The contacts’ names will appear in blue or green. Green denotes that they are limited to SMS or MMS only, while blue denotes that they have access to iMessage.
- Select the Done button.
In this way, you can add more members to your group chat.
Name a group text on iPhone Messages.
You can easily name an iMessage group chat with at least two members and create a custom icon for it. The steps to change the name and image for a group chat are provided below.
- Go to Messages and open the Message group.
- Tap the group chat image or profile pictures at the top of your device’s screen.
- Choose Info and then tap Change Name and Photo.
- Type a suitable name for the group chat at the top.
- Scroll down to choose a group chat image, or you can also create one by tapping on any one of the four given icons:
- Camera: Take a fresh photo from your device’s camera.
- Photos: Choose an image from the library.
- Emoji: Select any emoji and then a background color for it.
- Pencil: Type 2 letters and select the color for the background.
- Choose the Done option to save it.
After these steps, everyone in the group chat will see the changed group name and image.
Remove someone from an iOS Message Group Text?
You can remove a person from a group chat only if you have sent at least one message. In addition, at least three or more people in the group chat, excluding you. The easy steps to remove a person from a group chat include the following.
- Go to the group message chat and open group info by tapping at the top.
- Open the people count.
- Look for the person’s name you want to remove and swipe it left.
- Select the Remove button.
In this way, you can easily remove a member from the group.
Mute Text conversation in Group Chat?
Are the notifications of a group chat disturbing you? Or are you sick of hearing the message’s alert tone so much? In that case, you can mute its notifications for any period. You can mute alerts in the following two ways:
- Go to the Details page inside a group chat, scroll down to the Hide Alerts option, and then turn on the toggle for Hide Alerts.
- Alternatively, you can open the Messages app and swipe left to the name of the group chat you wish to mute. After this, tap Hide Alerts.
A muted conversation has a moon icon present next to it. You will no longer receive notifications for such chats but can still receive and reply to their messages. Plus, you can switch back the alerts as described above.
Leave a group chat on iMessage in iOS 16.
If you wish to leave a group chat on an iPhone, you must ensure that there are at least four members, including yourself. You can follow the steps below to leave the conversation.
- Tap the Group info in the group chat.
- Choose the Leave this Conversation option from the bottom.
- Confirm your decision by tapping the Leave this Conversation option again.
If you are left with only two other people in a group chat, you can’t leave it. If you delete it, you will still get notifications when the other members message. On the other hand, you cannot re-add yourself after leaving a conversation, but other members can.
Conclusion
We have explained how to set up and use an iMessage group chat. You can easily add or remove people from it unless it contains only iPhone users. But if you add any Android user to it, it will no longer remain a Message group chat. Moreover, you will no longer be able to leave the conversation or add or remove members. Furthermore, if you have to add more than one Android user, you should add them all at once.
If you still have queries regarding the group chat in iMessage, feel free to comment below.
FAQs
If you can’t find an option to change the name of a group chat, it is possible that the chat contains people who are non-Apple device users. Also, some group members may not be using iMessage or haven’t signed in to iMessage on their iOS devices.
Yes, after the iOS 14 update, you can mention people in your group chat. To mention a person, you can add an @ symbol before their name in your message. Mentioning a person’s name notifies them, ensuring that they will read the message.
To create a group chat, go to the Messages app and tap the Compose icon. After this, you can add contacts manually or by tapping the Plus icon. Once done, tap the Send icon after entering your text message.
