Hi out there,
I've spent a lot of time Googling this, and there are many, many forum threads all over the place about it, but no satisfactory answer.
Context: I moved from a Telus iPhone 3GS to a Fido Samsung S3 a few months ago. I thought that I would be able to continue to have group conversations with iPhone-using friends by using MMS Group Messaging. I found that it wasn't available on the stock messaging app on the S3, so I tried Go SMS Pro, Textra, and others. They all work with other Android users, so that's fine. However, not one - not one single solitary one - of my iPhone-using friends gets it as a group message. They get it as a plain SMS from a single sender (me) and so are not part of the group conversation. The iPhones are on one of Telus, Rogers, Bell, and Fido.
There is an iOS setting that I have seen screenshots of. It is in Settings -> Messages, in the SMS/MMS section, and is 'Group Messaging' On/Off. I have looked at many iPhones (from 3GSs to 5s) on all of those carriers, and not one of them has that setting. The screen shots I have seen of it, and the references I have seen to the setting, all appear to be from iPhones on Verizon and possibly also AT&T in the U.S. Apple documents this setting here: iOS: Understanding group messaging.
I have contacted Fido about it and no one knows what I'm talking about. I'm starting to be convinced that for whatever reason this setting is either being disabled or not enabled on iPhones on possibly all carriers in Canada. But I really don't know, and all I can do is speculate. I know that there are texting alternatives out there, but for the groups of iPhone users who have been using iMessage for years, it's a convenient system that many are simply not interested in leaving. I can see the same thing coming on Android with Hangouts/SMS integration.
Any thoughts out there about this?
I've spent a lot of time Googling this, and there are many, many forum threads all over the place about it, but no satisfactory answer.
Context: I moved from a Telus iPhone 3GS to a Fido Samsung S3 a few months ago. I thought that I would be able to continue to have group conversations with iPhone-using friends by using MMS Group Messaging. I found that it wasn't available on the stock messaging app on the S3, so I tried Go SMS Pro, Textra, and others. They all work with other Android users, so that's fine. However, not one - not one single solitary one - of my iPhone-using friends gets it as a group message. They get it as a plain SMS from a single sender (me) and so are not part of the group conversation. The iPhones are on one of Telus, Rogers, Bell, and Fido.
There is an iOS setting that I have seen screenshots of. It is in Settings -> Messages, in the SMS/MMS section, and is 'Group Messaging' On/Off. I have looked at many iPhones (from 3GSs to 5s) on all of those carriers, and not one of them has that setting. The screen shots I have seen of it, and the references I have seen to the setting, all appear to be from iPhones on Verizon and possibly also AT&T in the U.S. Apple documents this setting here: iOS: Understanding group messaging.
I have contacted Fido about it and no one knows what I'm talking about. I'm starting to be convinced that for whatever reason this setting is either being disabled or not enabled on iPhones on possibly all carriers in Canada. But I really don't know, and all I can do is speculate. I know that there are texting alternatives out there, but for the groups of iPhone users who have been using iMessage for years, it's a convenient system that many are simply not interested in leaving. I can see the same thing coming on Android with Hangouts/SMS integration.
Any thoughts out there about this?
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram