Share photo > messages > select contact to share: existing or new contact - WHY?

[AC Question]

I feel like maybe I've lost my mind and was living in an alternate reality for a time, where sharing photos from the gallery was as simple as clicking share > messages, then I got to type a message IN A MESSAGE WINDOW which already included the image I wanted to share, then press the contacts icon in the message to pick my contacts.

For some reason, they thought it was simpler to change it so that
1) when you hit share > messages, it asks if you want to use an existing contact or create a new one (really? I can't set a default on this to go with the eleventy-seven other defaults?)
2) it pops the pic in a message and sends it away with no ability to add text (because, really, who wants to explain a picture? it's worth a thousand words, anyway...)

No, seriously, stop it, devs. I understand that if I want to send someone a text, I open messages, type my text and hit the paperclip - that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about sharing images from the gallery, and how clunky they've made the interface.

If I use microsoft outlook and I click a mailto: link, I don't want outlook asking whether I want to create a new contact or use the bajillion I already have, and I sure as heck don't want outlook to shoot off a blank email to the existing contact I select.

The equivalent to this, for most people, would be if you clicked a WWW link and a window popped up asking if you'd like to use IE, Chrome, Safari, or a new browser to open this link - EVERY SINGLE TIME. WHY??? And am I the only one who noticed this?

 

[dpham00]

What phone do you have?

 

[count_dingo]

Yeah, sorry, I have a ton going on and login issues weren't at the top of the list or I would have updated this yesterday...

I currently have a Samsung Galaxy Note 5, and my carrier is T-Mobile. I previously had a GS5, and the update to Lollipop borked it badly enough that I upgraded to the Note 5 (compatibility upgrade ftw). So my GS5 got Lollipop, I upgraded to the Note 5 which has lollipop, and I did notice that the functionality was identical on the GS5 and the Note 5 in this respect, so the Note 5 technically never behaved in this manner for me, but it was driven by the Lollipop update.

That said, I'm starting to think it was driven by the T-Mobile Lollipop update, not just Lollipop. Verizon behaves differently; although they left off some other quite-useful things, such as Galaxy Apps and Samsung Pay (directly Verizon's doing, as they were "testing" it for stability and security much longer than other companies), sending messages works much more smoothly than my T-Mobile Lollipop phones.

I don't have the Verizon version in front of me, but will next week. I have a screenshot of it, though, and when you hit messages, it lists some recently contacted people you can click on, has a 'To' field (with the aforementioned icon to click for contacts), the text field so you can type, and shows the image attached - in other words, works pretty much like my GS5 did before Lollipop, with the addition of 'recent contacts'.

 

[paulb104]

No, you're not the only one.

I just got a T-Mobile Note 5. When I am in Gallery and I click share, I then select Messages.

Then it gives a popup message to "select contact to share", either existing or new. I select existing.

Then I get another window asking me which group. I select my Google account, then it opens five more options.

When select My Contacts, I scroll to the contact then click on it then click done. Then it sends the photo without allowing me to add text.

I also have a Verizon Note 4, and it does NOT behave in the manner.

I've attached four screenshots to show these menus.

The phone was bought for my mother-in-law. She wanted it to be able to trade pictures with my six year old and to skype with her as well. My mother-in-law is NOT tech savvy, whatsoever, and it's taken us two years to convince her to get a smartphone.

I need to fix this because otherwise she'll **NEVER** send a picture and my daughter will be more than a little unhappy.

 

[paulb104]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I get the same messages if I go into Google Photo and try to share a photo from there.

From Chrome, however, if I go to share a webpage, when I select messages, the phone takes me right into messaging where I can type in the recipient.

I really need to get this fixed...

 

[Gracemind]

Having the same problem on the S6. Have AT&T.

Have this issue been solve yet?

 

[vsakovich]

had same problem. fixed by going to:

Contacts -> more -> settings -> contacts to display -> selected "all contacts"

that stupid "select from existing or new contacts" doesn't pop up anymore.

good luck.

 

[sevenchances]

I have an S6 with T-mobile, and I accidentally updated to Marshmallow the other night (I've been postponing it since April) and it's the worst. I've been searching for an answer to the "existing or new contact" disaster for two whole days and have come up empty. In fact, this and the comment above by paulb104, which was also posted on a different site, are the only posts I've seen about it. I'm so annoyed with all the extra steps to send a picture from the gallery, I can't even stand it. Not to mention all the other stupid things Marshmallow did to texting (e.g. picture and text sending separately, multiple pictures sending separately (I already have VoLTE turned off, and that's the only fix I've seen))... ughhhhh.