How to Add Someone to a Group Text with iPhone and Android

Sending text messages has become so commonplace now with smartphones that many people have significantly reduced the amount of time they spend making actual phone calls. Text-based messaging options are also quite diverse, as you can send different kinds of files and media, and you can even create a single message that reaches multiple people, called a “group text.”

With advancements in technology, the ways of exchanging information have diversified. Today, a number of instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and so on, are replacing SMS text messaging. But SMS text messaging is still quite popular, on both iOS and Android operating systems, by using the default messaging apps on either of those device types.

These instant messaging platforms run on Wifi or cellular data and offer many useful features, including group texting. Solve Mobile Tech features a bunch of guides on this topic that you might want to check out.

Since smartphones are designed to make everything easy, creating a group text is no exception. In this detailed guide, we discuss group text messages and how to add someone to a group text.

How to Add Another Person to an iPhone Group Text

  1. Open Messages.
  2. Choose the conversation.
  3. Tap the group name.
  4. Choose Info.
  5. Select Add Contact.
  6. Add a new contact, then tap Done.

Our article continues below with additional information on how to add someone to a group text with iPhone and Android, including pictures of these steps.

If you’ve ever asked what does delivered mean on an iPhone, then our article can answer that question for you.

What is a Group Text?

A group text message, or group text, is a lot like a text message that you would send to one person, but it is sent to a large number of people or a group of people. This group can be small, medium, or large-sized, depending on the type of message and the size of the group with which you are trying to communicate. If you have ever sent an email message that included a number of recipients through carbon copy (CC) or blind carbon copy (BCC) then it shares a lot of similarities with those features.

One of the benefits of group text messaging is that it is mainly used to avoid the hassle of sending the same message to different people separately. Mass group text messaging is used by marketing teams of different companies to reach out to their target audiences, as well as individuals that need to share the same information with friends, family members, or coworkers. They cover more people this way and it is a lot more convenient. For example, you might have noticed a text or two after leaving some items in your cart on an online store or having searched something.

How Do I Create a Group Text?

The thing with smartphones is they make everything easy. And creating a group text is no exception.

There are several reasons why you would want to send a group text or reach out to more than one person at once with a single text. For example, you might be working on a group assignment for a task in school that still needs some work, and creating a group message with all of your group members is a quick way to make decisions or schedule a meeting. Or maybe you are trying to plan a party or an event and want to be able to collaborate with a bunch of friends or family members at the same time.

While user interfaces may vary from device to device, the process is the same. All you have to do is open your text messaging app, then create a new text message. You can then add a recipient to this newly created text message. Once that is done, you will see an option to add more people to receive the same message you will be sending. You can add as many people as you want – depending on your device and cellular service provider.

Once you are done adding people to your list or group, you can start on the message. Hitting send will send that message to all the people in the group. Some people might receive it early. This usually happens to those first on the list or group. Others might get the message a bit later. Some of the members of the group message receiving it before the rest is something that can hinge on a number of different factors such as the various cellular networks or devices that are involved, or even the order in which the contacts were added to the message.

Before sending your group a text, though, make sure you have ample bars and that your phone is running smoothly. Now, this is something you wouldn’t normally do as opposed to just sending a group text. But sometimes, if you’re not careful, that one text you are trying to send to a hundred people will slow your phone down so much that you will be forced to manually stop that message. If you own an iPhone or one of those newer Android phones, both are faster than average phones and people rarely notice the lag we have mentioned. But even the fastest smartphones can have issues with extremely large group messages, so it’s something to keep an eye on if you are creating a group text with more than a handful of members.

How to Add Someone to a Group Text on An iPhone (Guide with Pictures)

The messaging app on iPhones is called Messages and is probably something that you have already used to text your friends or family members individually. You can add, and remove people in an existing group text message on your iPhone, iPad, even your iPod touch – though we bet only a few of you would ever find a need of sending a group text on an iPod touch.

You need a group of three if you want to send a group text (including yourself) – three or more, that is; never less than three. If all of the recipients on your group message are using iPhones, then the message will be sent as an iMessage. If someone is using Android, or has disabled iMessage, then it will be a regular SMS text message. Let’s quickly go through how to add someone to a group iMessage.

Step 1: Open the Messages app.

It’s best to confirm that you have a good signal, either on your cellular or Wi-Fi network so that the message will be able to send successfully.

open the Messages app

Step 2: Select the message conversation to which you wish to add another person.

Step 3: Select the conversation name at the top of the screen.

If you haven’t given the conversation a group name then it will probably just list a few of the members of the group.

select the group name

Step 4: Touch the info button (the grey circle with a lowercase i).

select Info

Step 5: Scroll down the list of options, then find and tap the Add Contact + option.

how to add someone to a group text with iPhone and Android

Step 5: You will see your keyboard pop up and a search bar, too. Type the name of the contact you want to be added to your group message, then press Done at the top right of the screen.

If you wish to add another contact to a group then you can do so by continuing to search for and select them before you tap Done at the top right corner of the screen.

add contacts, then tap Done

Now that you know how to add someone to a group text on an iPhone you will be able ot create your own group messages and add contacts to existing ones.

You can use this same method to add iPhone users and Android users. Once the message has been sent and you start receiving replies your iPhone will be able to determine whether the conversation will be an iMessage or a regular SMS message.

Note that by adding a person to a group chat that they will then be able to see everything that is posted to that conversation by any other person in the group. They can even add a person themselves if they so choose.

You can add new people to a group message that is already in progress, but the new member of the group will not be able to see any of the messages in the conversation before they were added to it.

Note that you will not be able to turn an existing conversation with a single person into a group message. If you want to create a group message you will need to start that group message as a new conversation with at least two contacts or phone numbers.

Now that you know how to add someone to a group text on iPhone you can create message conversations between Apple device users and people that aren’t on Apple devices, such as Android.

How To Add Someone To A Group Text On Android

While media like television and movies might lead you to believe that we are all living in an iPhone world, the reality is that Android devices are still the dominant force in the smartphone market. It might be skewed a bit because there are so many different Android phone models, but you definitely can’t ignore the number of people that will need to know how to send a group text from their Android device.

Not only are Android phones affordable, but many people find them easier to use. While iPhone users may be familiar with the iOS operating system and find much of the actions there to be intuitive, there can be a bit of a learning curve when you are unfamiliar with an iPhone.

Adding someone to a group text on Samsung device or other Android manufacturer is similar to performing that action on an iPhone.

  1. You first need to select the group message from the Messages app so that you can add someone to it.
  2. Next, press the group name at the top of the group conversation.
  3. Choose the Add people option.
  4. Just like iPhone, your keyboard will pop up along with a search bar. Quickly type in the name of the contact you want to be added to the group text.
  5. Continue adding additional contacts to the group text. Once done, tap Done.
  6. You can now type in your message and send it away.

Now that you have completed the how to add someone to a group text on Android steps, you can start making conversations for your family, friends groups, or your coworkers.

Some phones will first want you to “create a label” before any group can be made. This is not at all a hassle as creating a label is simply the process of naming the group whatever you please. With group names, you can easily differentiate one group from others and that is the only reason why naming a group is important so that if you have multiple groups, you do not end up sending a message to the wrong group.

Also, you can have iPhone users in a group text being sent from an Android phone, however, that iPhone user or users will face some lag receiving the message as it will first go through Apple’s servers, be categorized, and then sent. Make sure you have MMS activated on your Android if you are including iPhone contacts in your group message. The rest is pretty much easy and similar.

On to our last point of this blog!

How To Remove Someone From A Group Text?

The removal process, much like the ones above, is different for both Android and iPhone – however, they are not too different. We will get into both Android and iPhone.

How to Remove Someone From a Group Message on an iPhone

You can remove a person from a group message with the following four steps.

  1. First, open the Messages app and select the conversation where you wish to remove some contacts.
  2. Same as before, go into the list of the group by tapping the group name at the top of the screen.
  3. Tap the info button, the circle with the little i inside, then swipe left across the name of the contact you wish to remove.
  4. You will see a red “Remove” button appear next to that name, so tap Remove and then tap Done.

Now, the complications.

You can only remove a person from a group iMessage if it has four or more members. Otherwise, you will have to delete the entire group and start anew. So, before you form a group, be careful about who you are adding so that anybody who was not supposed to be present or got added accidentally does not get added.

How to Remove Someone From a Group Text on Android?

The process of removing someone from a group text on Android is four-fold.

  1. Open the SMS or messages app on your Android.
  2. Go into the list of the group.
  3. Tap the name of the person you want to remove from the group.
  4. Tapping remove from group, remove that person from the group.

The process doesn’t necessarily change from the older to the newer Samsung phones. Mostly, the changes can be seen in the user interface. But the basics are the same. We advise you to switch to the newer Android phones coming in as that will help you with not only small things like group texts and adding and removing people to them, but other major things like performance, battery life, ease of access, and convenience. Group text messaging today is an important feature on our smartphones that we use quite often. It makes things easier and saves time. Creating a group for text messaging, adding and removing people to and from group texts on both Android and Apple is easy. There are a few can’t-dos with iPhones but Android doesn’t pose any such restrictions.

Now that you know how to work with group messaging on an iPhone or Android device you can really simplify the process of sending the same message to multiple people and make communication within a group much easier.

Frequently Asked Questions About Adding Someone to an Existing Group Message Conversation

Is it possible to have a group chat between iPhone and Android users?

Yes, when you are creating a new message that you want to involve multiple people, then that new group message can include people with iOS and Android devices.

With mixed operating systems, however, the text message can only involve SMS and MMS messages. It’s not possible to have iMessage group chats if there is at least one Android device or non Apple device in the conversation.

If you create a new group conversation and all of the people in it are Appel users, then it will be an iMessage group chat, and all of your messages will have a blue bubble instead of a green bubble.

How can I rename the group icons for group chats on my iPhone?

If you open the conversation you can tap on the group name at the top of the screen, which will bring you to the group text settings iPhone menu.

You can then touch the Change Name and Photo button at the top of the screen to give that conversation a new name.

What are the add person to text thread iPhone steps?

It’s possible to include someone else on an existing group message conversation if everyone that is in the current group is on an iPhone.

You can open the Messages app, then choose the conversation.

Touch the group name at the top of the scene, then tap the button that says X people (where x is the current number of people in the group chat).

You can then tap the Add Contact button and enter the number or name of the contact to add to the group text.

Why is my iPhone not getting group texts?

There is a setting on the iPhone that you can toggle on or off based on whether or not you want to receive group messages.

You can find this setting by going to Settings > Messages > and tapping the button to the right of Group Messaging to enable or disable it.

Is there a way to block spam messages on the iPhone?

There is an option to filter unknown numbers from your Messages app.

You can turn this on by going to Settings > Messages > Unknown & Spam > then enabling the Filter Unknown Senders option.

There are also some third-party apps in the app store that you can use to block spam numbers and text messages. Many of these do have a monthly fee, however, so you may want to try filtering unknown senders first to see if that takes care of the problem.

Note that filtering unknown numbers will also filter text messages from real people, too, if they aren’t saved as a contact in your phone.

Video About Forwarding a Text from an iPhone

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