Group Texts...Anyone notice

[shea-bird]

So one of my biggest gripes of android was sending out a group text and then getting individual replies. Was this functionality secretly implemented?? It works like a charm now. Love it.

 

[anon(847090)]

Yup, its there but not a secret. Its been discussed a few times in the forums.

glad you are enjoying this feature.

 

[Stein357]

Yup, its there but not a secret. Its been discussed a few times in the forums.

glad you are enjoying this feature.

So group texting works just like iOS now?

 

[anon(847090)]

So group texting works just like iOS now?

yes, group texting works in Android 4.2 and above now.

 

[nickacs]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but even with 4.2, you still can't receive group texts? This feature is only for sending??? Want to make sure because ever since I've gotten my Nexus4, I've received numerous group texts from my Apple friends and never see multiple recipients even though I know there are.

 

[Exergy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but even with 4.2, you still can't receive group texts? This feature is only for sending??? Want to make sure because ever since I've gotten my Nexus4, I've received numerous group texts from my Apple friends and never see multiple recipients even though I know there are.

Yeah. From my understanding too. It's sending only. They receive separately.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[NoahJohnson]

I receive as a group just fine. It's just received as an mms I believe. Every once in a while it will receive one of the parties separately but it works just like iOS most of the time.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[N4Newbie]

SMS, by definition, is a single-recipient message format. You cannot send a single SMS message to multiple recipients for the simple reason that there is no room in the fixed-size message block for the extra data. Some phones /OS's get around this limitation by allowing you to enter multiple recipients but then actually transmitting one individual SMS message to each recipient in the list.

The Nexus 4 - along with many other phones - gives you the option to send to multiple recipients using MMS instead which has no practical limitations on the number of recipients or type and size of attached data. For the Nexus 4 / Android 4.2, go to Messaging -> Menu -> Group Messaging: "Use MMS to send a single message when there are multiple recipients"

As far as receiving "group" messages with the N4, my boss sent a text to several of his reports the other morning, myself included. It appears on my phone as "Firstname Lastname, +1 xxx-x..." . If I tap Menu -> Group participants, I see a list of all the persons who the message was sent to either by name & phone number (for those in my address book) or by number only. Viewing the message itself, at the bottom right of the screen alongside the text entry field, the Send icon has "MMS" directly above it. If I respond to this message, it will be received by my boss and all the other original recipients. Curiously, I don't see an easy way around this; I cannot respond directly and only to my boss. It seems that to do so I would have to start a separate SMS thread.

 

[GopherDroid]

I use my Google Voice number as my primary number on my Nexus 4. Does this mean that when someone sends me a group text message to my Google Voice number that I will not be receiving it or any indication that the person tried to message me because Google Voice does not support MMS?

 

[N4Newbie]

I use my Google Voice number as my primary number on my Nexus 4. Does this mean that when someone sends me a group text message to my Google Voice number that I will not be receiving it or any indication that the person tried to message me because Google Voice does not support MMS?

That sounds about right. Or, wrong - depending on your point of view.

 

[GopherDroid]

Wow. That is really bad/dumb. This is making me seriously consider dumping Google Voice