Hello,
Just had a question. I sometimes receive "group mms" messages from friends with iphones who are on AT&T (i'm on verizon with a DX). It seems like the list of recipients isn't being sent along with the MMS. So it looks like a message that's directed at me, and not at a group of people. Also, this makes it difficult to respond to everyone that was on the original list for the message. Not to mention the fact that the individual replies from other people go into the list of text's between that person and I, and not into one viewable group conversation. I had this problem with an old feature-phone that i had as well, but just chalked that up to bad software. I've been searching here, on howardforums, and other places, but no one seems to know much about it. Has anyone else seen this, and is there anything that i can do about it?
Thanks in advance!
Hey djuniah,
I understand what you are saying. I have been having the same problem too. These are automated msg's sent out by the service providers.
I reckon, you contact your network provider and look into the processes. I did that when this problem was occurring and it was rectified.
Now, its no guarantee that you wont get another msg like it... but the network provider does his/her best to rectify it..
Hope this helps.
err, i don't think you understand what i mean. I'm talking about this scenario
Friend1 (with iphone on AT&T) -> Sends group mms to "Friend2, Friend3, and me"
Friend2 (with iphone on AT&T) -> Sees the message with all of the other people's names attached. When they reply, it goes to everyone in the group mms
me (droid x on verizon) -> I see the original message from friend1 in the same thread as all of my previous messages with friend1. When friend2 sent their reply, i see that message in the thread with all of my previous messages from friend2. When i want to reply, i have to reply to each of them individually, not as a group.
I called vzw and the operator there said he saw the same issue on his OG droid. I've assumed this was a network issue for a while now, but i was wondering if anyone had any solid info as to why it was happening and if there was anything we could do about it.
bump to top
This isn't network trickery, as far as I can see. It's Apple intelligently using the features built into MMS long ago to send a group message, have other iPhones handle that group message in a way that you can 'reply to all' like email.
Someone (Google, Go SMS, HandCent) needs to simply build the 'group' feature into their application so that it can properly see the recipients of the MMS as a Group and reply to all. If I go into the message details of one of these MMS messages on my Evo, I can see everyone that got the message... Now, the app just needs to look at that and do something with it.
It's very similar to Beluga... albeit not as functional.
Yeah, i had come to a similar conclusion once i started looking at the message details. If most of those texting apps can handle sending group messages, i don't see why they havent/cant build the ability to notice them coming in...
seems like a really simple and practical thing to have
Any luck with this issue>?
djuniah said:
Hello,
Just had a question. I sometimes receive "group mms" messages from friends with iphones who are on AT&T (i'm on verizon with a DX). It seems like the list of recipients isn't being sent along with the MMS. So it looks like a message that's directed at me, and not at a group of people. Also, this makes it difficult to respond to everyone that was on the original list for the message. Not to mention the fact that the individual replies from other people go into the list of text's between that person and I, and not into one viewable group conversation.
Has anyone else seen this, and is there anything that i can do about it?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any luck with this issue? I noticed it works for BB users also. I have iPhone users, BB users, and EVO (Android) users on a Group MMS chat and it seems that only us Androids are not able to reply to the "Group". We can create a group on our end and batch text each user, but the messages are not received in their "group mms" screen, its on a direct individual one. Need to figure this one out so I can continue my "My phone is better than yours" war with my iPhone friends. Heheh.
bump this back up, i just got into this issue a few days ago, if i cant me sms agent to iphone in handcent would that do anything for me
bump
this is a growing problem for me, and for Android i fear...
of my closest 20 friends, 18 of us use Android, 1 blackberry, the rest iPhone... and the group SMS (really MMS) messages are common - PLUS - the one BB user can reply to all with their device. granted the BB reply looks like email the way it contains the whole message with headers in its reply, but still it can play the game.
i find it really surprising that simply threading the messages that come in to multiple recipients hasn't been addressed, and if i had the technical skill i would address it myself.
i am currently on an Atrix using Cyanogen's beta, and have an Inspire running the 7.1 RC.... i have tried both the native SMS/MMS apps, Handscent (though not recently) and love GOSMS Pro (though it seems to periodically send out duplicate texts for some reason).
i would love to find a way to thread my SMS/MMS messages with groups like the iPhone does so i can join these conversations instead of receiving any number of random replies from people and having to piece together the conversation. ANY help with this would be appreciated.
installing the vzw messenger app DID "solve" the problem for me. I prefer to use GOSMS Pro, but when i get a group message, i reply to it with the verizon one. However, now i get double the notifications from GOSMS. For some reason, it's pop-up thinks i got 2 messages instead of one (with the same content). This is far from ideal, but it does work.
what about outside of VZW?
i wish there was an app i could get my hands on like your VZW app, maybe its not perfect, but it gets you through the issue until something better comes along. being on the Atrix and the Inspire i'm with AT&T coming off an iPhone, and periodically having to go back if there's reason for me to play a role in some happening which is causing an unusually high number of group texts.
from what i can tell, Handscent and GOSMS Pro are really the only contenders in the platform-wide SMS/MMS alternatives, I'm surprised they've spent so much time focused on making their themes pretty instead of addressing this well documented but unaddressed issue.
has anyone else found other alternatives?
Bump
I've been looking for this for a year. Today an iPhone user asked me why is that we cannot reply to group messages. She's anoyed because she have to forward all the messages received from Androids to the rest of the group...
Related
Hi everyone. I honesly have no clue where to post this question as the subject falls into multiple categories.
I have been getting a lot of 2nd hand confirmation that iMessage Sort of works with Blackberries. According to my 2nd hand sources, the following happens all the time:
An Iphone user sends a group text to at least one other Iphone and at least one Blackberry
One of the Iphone recipients responds to the Group (Not sure if this step has to happen) and all users (including Blackberries) see the response
One of the Blackberry users responds to an individual in the group and all Iphone Users in the group see the response anyway (Unsure if other Blackberry users see it also).
According to EVERYTHING I've read, the above scenario is impossible. But alas, it is happening. So, now the question is how does it happen? And of course, the BIG question is, can we get something like this to work on Android?
The other thing that is of concern is that this means a Blackberry user has no way of knowing whether his/her response is going to a huge group.
The only GOOD theory I can think of for this happening is that the Individual Iphone that the Blackberry user responded to automatically forwards the message to the rest of the group. But, would Apple actually do that? Due to it being without the Blackberry user's consent, I feel like they could be sued for that or something.
If my theory is incorrect and the Blackberry phone is doing something to figure out the groups, then can we do this on Android too?
Its just a standard group text. There's no magic involved, no special requirements but the ability to send SMS over a cellular network. Android phones can do this, even dumbphones can.
GazaIan said:
Its just a standard group text. There's no magic involved, no special requirements but the ability to send SMS over a cellular network. Android phones can do this, even dumbphones can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct that any phone can do a group SMS, but what I am describing above is a Blackberry successfully doing a "reply to all" to a group text. I have yet to see that happen with SMS on ANY phone as none of the receiving phones ever see a "group" associated with an SMS. If this is possible on Android, please tell me how to do it.
Ok, I finally found a thread at android central . com /verizon-galaxy-nexus/142991-reply-all-text-messages.html. Apparently the feature is missing from the Galaxy Nexus messaging App. I downloaded the Verizon Messaging App as was suggested, but is this seriously the only App in the market that can do this? This is atrocious!!
I can't believe android doesn't have this feature down pact. I'm hoping its just me.
Is there a way to send a text message to multiple recipients and when any of them reply it shoes up in the same thread and not as its own seperate sms??? This way, you can "reply to all" the recipients and have an ongoing chat with all the SMS recipients in that thread.
Not sure if I am explaining the problem correctly, so if you get what I mean, feel free to elaborate.
I'm hoping there is an app or something to help with this primitive issue.
Also, I have tried a bunch if apps. I don't want to have a seperate number for texting or have to register for a service or anything out of the ordinary. Just want to be able to do group texting with my friends using my own number.
Thanks!
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
mikers1 said:
I can't believe android doesn't have this feature down pact. I'm hoping its just me.
Is there a way to send a text message to multiple recipients and when any of them reply it shoes up in the same thread and not as its own seperate sms??? This way, you can "reply to all" the recipients and have an ongoing chat with all the SMS recipients in that thread.
Not sure if I am explaining the problem correctly, so if you get what I mean, feel free to elaborate.
I'm hoping there is an app or something to help with this primitive issue.
Also, I have tried a bunch if apps. I don't want to have a seperate number for texting or have to register for a service or anything out of the ordinary. Just want to be able to do group texting with my friends using my own number.
Thanks!
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use whatsapp for this kind of functionality. Similar technology as iMessaging in iOs and bbm in blackberry (duh)
Yes, I use what's app also and it works great! But I am trying to get this to work for the stock SMS in the Android OS like most other phones and OS's.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
No you will need to use a 3rd party app link handcent SMS. The stick SMS app doesn't have this option. Even the 3rd party apps are still working on the feature as its not used by the vast majority of users.
Yea, I use Go SMS Pro and its great, but even that and Handcent can't handle group messaging. I thought (was hoping) the issue was me and not with the Android OS.
Its just the weirdest thing that such a great system can't handle group SMS.
Anyone else that may have found a way??
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
mikers1 said:
Yea, I use Go SMS Pro and its great, but even that and Handcent can't handle group messaging. I thought (was hoping) the issue was me and not with the Android OS.
Its just the weirdest thing that such a great system can't handle group SMS.
Anyone else that may have found a way??
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Handcent has a new update out that is supposed to work. I dont know as I dont know anyone that uses it so have not been able to test myself. Android was made to be all the basics and anything more they left it up to 3rd party apps. Its all about people developing things for it like a linux system.
Do a search for the handcent update and in the last few posts will be a link to the version for group texting
Good point! That's what I love about android. But its still very weird that this hasn't been implemented.
Anyways, I will re-download the handcent app and give it a try again. Buy I remember seeing this "update" and also remember it not working correctly.
Thanks for the update. I will post if it works ...
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
This feature is implemented in stock ICS sms app ... you dont have to use any third party app if you use ICS
Highfiveyo said:
This feature is implemented in stock ICS sms app ... you dont have to use any third party app if you use ICS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not. In the stock ICS sms app. It is stated flat out in the AOSP code that it is not there. That is why 3rd party apps have to be used for the feature like the iphone.
Yes, it is not a stock ICS feature. I have two friends on iphone that are sending me group text and it is rather annoying to receive separate texts instead of having it grouped together.
having the same need
i'm having the same need..... anyone?
Also want this...looking for an option that doesn't require everyone in the group to be using the same app for messaging, Android/iOS combos, etc.
I have Handcent installed, but there is zero documentation that I can find regarding their recent updates to their Group text feature.
What I want is I send a message to a group, and all replies go to everyone in the group. Likely not going to happen across SMS apps/platforms.
What I'd settle for is I send a message to a group and all replies go back to that group conversation in Handcent. However, if someone in that group later (next hour/next day) sends me a text as a separate conversation I want that to come in on it's own, not in the group.
Yes! This is what this thread is all about.
This kind of functionality should be standard (especially for android).
The oldest blackberry I had would even do this. I can't understand why is seems difficult for someone to develop.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
with go sms no prob.
Apparently the new update claims that it has it. I got it and tried to group text with android and iPhone users and it still didn't work. Did it work for you? Did u do something special (other then turning the feature on in the settings)??
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
Been trying to figure this out for the past year. everyone group sms i've tried. same thing. going to try this group sms. will let you know.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobappli.groupsms&hl=en
A friend of mine has a droid on Verizon and it was working the way OP described. It's called Verizon Messaging, can't verify i'm on Sprint.
I've had this same issue for about a year now. My friends have the Droid Bionic, and they can do group texting just fine from the stock SMS app. The text goes out in the group thread, and the incoming texts that have that same group of cell numbers go into the group thread.
But on my previous Droid X, this did not happen. And it didn't work in the GoSMS app for the longest time either. But GoSMS did recently add that feature (MMS texts to a certain group of cell numbers goes under the group thread). It did not work perfectly though. Each group text I received would make a notification sound twice: once when the text was received from the person, then again when the text was moved to the group thread. Annoying, but it worked.
Now, I just got the Samsung Galaxy S3 on Verizon, and I totally expected it to work perfectly with group texting. But I was wrong.
So I'll go through and try to figure out if GoSMS has fixed the double-notification problem yet or if Handcent or another SMS app will work with this. How frustrating!
If you use GroupMe it works perfect you can even add like a name to the group for what you're talking about etc. The other people don't even need to have the app it works as a regular sms as well but everyone can see the replies. I've used and it works great!!
I'm using go sms and the group texting works fine but every response I make basically gets repeated back to me and shows up in the group conversation. Does this happen for anyone else? How do i make it stop?
So on my iphone I could have group conversations with 3 other people and it would all be in the same conversation window, I but now, on my one x, when I try this it just sends to everyone individually. It works on my friends droid because he has the verizon messaging app which isn't available to att users (I think)
anyways I was just wondering if there was a simple solution to this (I've tried two 3rd party messaging apps with no luck)
Yeah, you're not gonna be able to get that, AFAIK. The "WhatsApp Messenger" app does this, but that's not actual text messaging, it's an IM app that uses your contacts phone numbers to identify them, and can only message other WhatsApp users.
Just for my own curiosity, when you would do this with your iPhone, would all the other participants be iPhone users? Or would it be a mixed bag of BB/Android/WP7/iPhone?
You should check out the app 'GroupMe'.
Great app that can do either real texting or over the internet messages.
The catch is, you have to message a 'Group number' and GroupMe then forwards that message on to everyone else.
This enables you to add/remove people to a conversation.
You can make these numbers private or public
I'm pretty sure they support every os and you can also just use their website to send messages.
It's all free which is the best part.
This is one of my biggest gripes with Android ICS. My Galaxy Nexus wasn't able to do group SMS either and, coming from an iPhone where I had lots of groups, it's a pain in the ass.
Also, using 3rd party apps that require every other person you want to chat with to also have the app is not a real solution. GroupMe is even worse than the rest b/c if someone EVER had the app (and no longer does) it doesn't recognize that and just doesn't deliver the message at all.
NextNexus said:
This is one of my biggest gripes with Android ICS. My Galaxy Nexus wasn't able to do group SMS either and, coming from an iPhone where I had lots of groups, it's a pain in the ass.
Also, using 3rd party apps that require every other person you want to chat with to also have the app is not a real solution. GroupMe is even worse than the rest b/c if someone EVER had the app (and no longer does) it doesn't recognize that and just doesn't deliver the message at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The awesome thing about GroupMe is you don't need the App at all. You can use their service purely through texting.
[email protected] said:
The awesome thing about GroupMe is you don't need the App at all. You can use their service purely through texting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You didn't read what I wrote. If someone EVER had the app and got rid of it then the app doesn't recognize that and simply doesn't deliver the message at all. This is even worse than simply not being able to message people who don't have the app b/c now the sender has no clue whether their messages were delivered to each recipient.
NextNexus said:
You didn't read what I wrote. If someone EVER had the app and got rid of it then the app doesn't recognize that and simply doesn't deliver the message at all. This is even worse than simply not being able to message people who don't have the app b/c now the sender has no clue whether their messages were delivered to each recipient.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I am not mistaken, If the user changed his settings through the web interface he could set it up to be texting only again.
I have never ran in to this issue personally. When I removed the App from my phone I would still get the messages, just not through texts until I switched the settings.
Sorry for not fully understanding the first time.
I was just wondering if we will be able to ever get true group messaging like the setting applies within the messaging app. One feature I liked in the iphone (I think iOS5) was when I have a group convo with someone all of the messages from the different people will appear in the same thread. In the Galaxy S 3 it sends it out as a group message but when I receieve the message it goes into its own separate thread and not just that I would only get the text from the person that started the group message. Is this a simple glitch or is the whole option just really misleading?
blackguy101 said:
I was just wondering if we will be able to ever get true group messaging like the setting applies within the messaging app. One feature I liked in the iphone (I think iOS5) was when I have a group convo with someone all of the messages from the different people will appear in the same thread. In the Galaxy S 3 it sends it out as a group message but when I receieve the message it goes into its own separate thread and not just that I would only get the text from the person that started the group message. Is this a simple glitch or is the whole option just really misleading?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Id also like to know if we will be able to do this. My droid razr did this and it was great since all my friends have iphones
Sent from my Verizon Galaxy S3
jkat797 said:
Id also like to know if we will be able to do this. My droid razr did this and it was great since all my friends have iphones
Sent from my Verizon Galaxy S3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly! which is why im just hoping an update comes soon! (even though Verizon sucks when it comes to that) or at least a modder finds a way to fix this problem if thats even possible that is
I use GoSMS, works great, not as clean interface as standard messaging app but having a MMS is more imporatnt to me.
VZ Messages
I use the VZ Messages app from the Play store (free). It works perfectly and has pop-ups. It seemed to work much better with group SMS than GoSMS did.
Definitely check out groupme. www.groupme.com and the app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...251bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5ncm91cG1lLmFuZHJvaWQiXQ..
It lets people with dumb phones get in on the action. Everybody texts once central number, and texts are redistributed from the same number to everybody else and includes the name of the sender (which you can assign...pretty fun)
Downside being that people have to accept the group and add this number to contacts as "Bros" or whatever you want it to be. Couldn't be more effective for my needs though.
chris98891 said:
Definitely check out groupme...
It lets people with dumb phones get in on the action. Everybody texts once central number, and texts are redistributed from the same number to everybody else and includes the name of the sender (which you can assign...pretty fun)
Downside being that people have to accept the group and add this number to contacts as "Bros" or whatever you want it to be. Couldn't be more effective for my needs though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it work for MMS as well? I couldn't see where it said one way or another on their website.
devilchrist said:
I use GoSMS, works great, not as clean interface as standard messaging app but having a MMS is more imporatnt to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in 2 group texts with 5 in each. I get on average of 60+ texts a day and the damn program LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGS. I would love an alternative.
chris98891 said:
Definitely check out groupme. www.groupme.com and the app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...251bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5ncm91cG1lLmFuZHJvaWQiXQ..
It lets people with dumb phones get in on the action. Everybody texts once central number, and texts are redistributed from the same number to everybody else and includes the name of the sender (which you can assign...pretty fun)
Downside being that people have to accept the group and add this number to contacts as "Bros" or whatever you want it to be. Couldn't be more effective for my needs though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't like Groupme because it is a different phone number. I do however like the interface.
I use go sms but it doesn't group real well, I always assumed it was the way they responded. maybe I'll check out be messenger.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Heads up, I love iOS and Android, I think both OS provide excellent features to suite their respective users. With that said, he's my deal breaker as to why I may be returning my S6 within my 14 day return policy to go back to my iPhone 6 Plus.
1. MMS: Now with iOS you get Apple's proprietary iMessage which does not limit the quality of the picture you are sending out, it does however, limit the length of the video though but not the quality. The problem with Android is that it does limit the quality based on your carriers send size limit which in this case for me is 1mb per AT&T. I just couldn't believe it, it wasn't something I was aware of due to the fact that I've been with iOS for a few years now but when I attempted to send numerous pictures I had just taken with my brand spanking new S6 via Textra (Msg App), it kept throwing errors indicating it was out of memory or the file was too large! I was really disappointed to say the least, I mean damn I could send numerous .GIF images just fine via iMessage and can't even do that with the stock SMS app or with Textra - what gives?
2. Group Messaging: I text a lot, I also have quite a few group messages going during any given day at a time and to me group messaging is a big reason why I loved iOS + iMessage. To this day, I just can't comprehend how Google hasn't been able to come up with a solution to oppose iMessage.... It really baffles me... Everyone has their preferences when it comes to phones and OS, not everyone will be on an Android device nor will everyone be on an iPhone. I didn't think this would bother me as much but it is, now if this isn't a big deal to you then that's fine, again this is my preference and my personal opinion but how in the world are we in year 2015 and Android still can't get group messaging right is beyond me.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, again I'm not bashing the S6 or Android, I was just unaware that these were still issues after all these years.
Thanks!
When you open your messaging app go into the settings and try to see if you have to enable group messaging.
Anyone else have this issue? Ive tried everything and I just cant recieve group texts, everyone gets mine but I cant get theirs. This happens on all messaging apps.
This issue only cropped up a week ago for me
Any solutions yet?!
I've recently gone to the S6 from iPhone. I've de-registered my number from the imessage app on apple's website, turned off imessage and facetime on my old iPhone, downloaded textra and numerous other messaging apps, and I still cant send or receive group messages to/from other iphones! When I send a group message, the text goes to the receivers individually. When they text me into a group message I don't receive anything.
Please any help or suggestions?!
thannan said:
Any solutions yet?!
I've recently gone to the S6 from iPhone. I've de-registered my number from the imessage app on apple's website, turned off imessage and facetime on my old iPhone, downloaded textra and numerous other messaging apps, and I still cant send or receive group messages to/from other iphones! When I send a group message, the text goes to the receivers individually. When they text me into a group message I don't receive anything.
Please any help or suggestions?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had some issues with MMS messages (including group messages) and a Sprint rep had me go into Settings->System Update->Update Profile and it fixed it. Give that a try.
As for your group messages going out as individual messages, this is typically an app settings. Group messages are MMS and send over mobile data, not over cellular like SMS (I might be using the wrong terms there). Most apps don't presume to use up your precious data and will instead send a group message as multiple SMS messages (using up your SMS quota rather than your data quota).
I just checked both Google Hangouts and Chomp SMS that I have on my phone, and both have a checkbox in their settings for something like "Use MMS for Group Messages."
flu13 said:
I had some issues with MMS messages (including group messages) and a Sprint rep had me go into Settings->System Update->Update Profile and it fixed it. Give that a try.
As for your group messages going out as individual messages, this is typically an app settings. Group messages are MMS and send over mobile data, not over cellular like SMS (I might be using the wrong terms there). Most apps don't presume to use up your precious data and will instead send a group message as multiple SMS messages (using up your SMS quota rather than your data quota).
I just checked both Google Hangouts and Chomp SMS that I have on my phone, and both have a checkbox in their settings for something like "Use MMS for Group Messages."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't appear to have the "update profile" setting anywhere on my S6?
But I do have the MMS for group chat activated on my app.. :/
Any other suggestions?
Or can android simply not group chat with iphones?
Thanks for replying though!
thannan said:
I don't appear to have the "update profile" setting anywhere on my S6?
But I do have the MMS for group chat activated on my app.. :/
Any other suggestions?
Or can android simply not group chat with iphones?
Thanks for replying though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the problem is that iChat is a proprietary (closed) group messaging system.