iPhone 12 not receiving group texts

I’ve been having issues ever since getting my new phone. I transferred the data from iPhone X to the 12 Pro. When you switch phones apparently the phone number did not settle and needs to be “reconnected”. T-Mobile support had me:

1. From the Home screen, tap Settings > Cellular (iPhone)

2. Tap Network Selection.

3. Slide the Automatic slider to the off position to start scanning for networks.

4. Select desired carrier (T-Mobile)

1. Restart phone
2. Settings > Messages > Turn on Send as SMS
3. Click Sent & Receive
4. Make sure the Number and Apple ID are listed and correct
5. Remove the check on your phone number by tapping it. And select Remove.
6. Now that it’s unchecked, tap to apply it again. This reconnects your phone.
7. Done.
8. So far so good
9. Screenshot of Step 5

I had ported our lines from AT&T to Xfinity mobile. One of the phone lines an iPhone 12 Pro could not receive SMS text messages, but could send them fine. We called Xfinity and tech-support and they verified all the settings on the account look fine. We tried putting the Sim card into another iPhone, but that did not fix the problem.

A representative suggested I try suspending the line and reactivating it. Suspending a line is done if you’ve lost your phone but you think you can find it, and it suspends service to your line so that there won’t be any charges to your account. That fixed the problem and the phone can receive text messages just fine now. Just wanted to share in case it would help other people with this issue.

Hey everyone!!

I FINALLY got this issue resolved! I just upgraded to the iPhone 12 Pro Max in November and was not receiving any SMS texts from non iPhones, I was getting my iMessage texts just fine and could send SMS texts to non iPhones, but could not receive. I also did not have my visual voicemail, where I would have to call to listen to my voicemails. I have Verizon and I finally gave in and went into a Verizon store where they were GREAT help! I only decided to go in after I asked my cousin who works at AT&T and he said it sounded like my phone was not set up correctly or not completely. After going into Verizon they had to make a call and then boom! I can now receive SMS texts and group chats with non iPhones and see my visual voicemail! It may take a while at your carriers store, but they will be able to resolve this issue for you if you go in to a store! Hope this helps!

I had the same problem. When I upgraded from a 6s to a 12 Pro, I kept the 6s. My carrier is AT&T. After I activated and set up the 12 Pro, I noticed that the 6s still worked as did the 12 Pro. I read online somewhere that you could have two Apple devices connected to the same phone number, so I thought everything was OK. Then I noticed the new 12 Pro was not receiving all text messages while the 6s was. After fruitless searching on the internet, i went to the AT&T store with the two phones. The salesman said you cannot have both phones running at the same time on the same phone number. He took out the SIM card that was in the 12 Pro and replaced it with the SIM card that was in the 6s. That solved the problem. Maybe this is just an AT&T thing. I am not sure why just taking the SIM card out of the 6s wouldn't solve it. I would appreciate comment on this. Thanks.

I went into settings and looked at the Apple ID. At the bottom was listed the device. It also had listed my old iphone 6 device. Not sure why it's listing the other device. I'm not logged into it and it no longer has the same number. I deleted the old device from the list. I also had to turn off iMessage (under Messages in setting) because when I had that on I could only receive image texts from other iphones. Turning that off helped me receive from phones not iphone that were on the same network. I had to delete the old device in order to receive from a phone on a different network and not an iphone. Whew! Everything finally working!

So I just switched from ATT to Xfinity (uses Verizon) and upgraded from iphone X to iphone 12. I was able to send messages out to both iphone and non-iphone users BUT was only able to receive them from iphone users.

I called customer service and verizon had to activate "premium messaging" on my account and now it works fine! Also I was told this will not be an "extra" cost on my account.

Hope this helps!

I was also having this issue, checked with Verizon but none of the integrative settings listed were disabled on my device. I also downloaded the Messages+ app and all the missing texts were in that history, so clearly an Apple issue. I compared my General-> Messages settings with my husband’s device that was working without issue and noticed his “Send as SMS” message setting was disabled. I have since disabled on my device and now all group messages have arrived to my device as well as in Messages+. Hoping it stays that way!

This issue is only with iPhone to Android or visa versa.

Update: I was able to fix this on a case by case scenario. 1 friend who has Google Pixel 2 (Verizon) and another friend with Samsung s9 (at&t).

Basically I first ensured that all message settings were enabled on my iPhone 12 pro. Then, I deleted/removed all messages from them in the past when I had my android phone that ported over when I did a transfer. Rebooted my iPhone so that there’s no residue cache and finally started to receive txts from them. Go figure!!??

I was having this problem. Apple support did not get me anywhere. I called AT+T and described the problem as: I receive all of my iMessages. I receive SMS only if I have an existing thread in the Messages App. In a matter of minutes, the AT+T rep pushed an update and had me restart the phone and the issue seems to be solved. Tried two different websites that need to SMS a code to log in and now they are coming.

Okay, here's the latest:

1. Apple support basically wanted to reset my phone and I told them that has been done by everyone here with no luck.
2. Apple support told me to call my carrier (Verizon) and have them "reprovision" the phone/acct?
3. And can now retrieve messages from android users that I had problems with before.

Note: For verizon folks, yes the workaround by having them turn on "integrated message service" and downloading the Verzion's Message+ app works. The caviet is that you have duplicate messages and notifications from both message+ and iMessage. Turn off notificaiton with message+ and continue to use iMessage. Do this if the reprovisioning of your acct w/Verizon does not work. Sorry, don't know what to do with AT&T and T-Mobile users.

I will continue to test this with other Android users and let this group know if anything changes.

Hi All! So, good news on my iPhone 12 pro. Again this may not work for everyone, but after I read a few of the messages here and what they did to make it work from some of you, I thought I'd give it a shot. And again, this is no excuse for Apple to be aloof on this issue. Its insane that we need to do this and even more insane that Apple has no idea!..nor the carriers.

I have also seen some of you saying that you have this issue with previous iPhone models...thats even more insane. Perhaps the following steps may work for you, or maybe not, but its worth the shot esp if you are a Verizon customer.

My apologies, not sure what to do for AT&T and T-Mobile iphone users...This is just for Verizon customers.

My Phone: iPhone 12 pro w/Verizon, My Cellular setting: 5G auto, Data Roaming OFF, and Data Mode is set to "allow more data on 5G". And I'm on the top plan..I forgot what that plan name is..not sure if that makes any difference et all.

*NOTE: You may have your Wifi settings on or off.

Steps:

1. Removed my entire group, and single (one on one) txt messages history to those people I had issues with in receiving txt messages with from Android users.
2. Downloaded "message+" from Verizon. Enable it and go thru the motions of starting the app. This apparently enables a feature called "Integrated Message Service" on your phone. Close out of message+.
3. Disable notifications in your iphone settings for "message+" so that you only use iMessage (iPhone built-in). Don't be too concerned about duplicate messages..the size is minimal.
4. Turn off iMessage in your message setting
5. Shut down your phone and wait for 2-3 min, then take out your SIM card
6. Wait about 1 min, power up the phone. You will see a message on your phone that there is no SIM card..thats okay.
7. Wait about 1 min, turn on iMessage, wait about 30 seconds.
8. Turn off the phone and wait 1 min.
9. Reinsert the SIM card and wait 1 min.
10. Power up the phone
11. Wait about 1-2 min till the phone is completely in recognition that the SIM card is on and you may even turn on the WiFi.
12. Begin to test again with those Android users..esp if you know friends, family, co-workers who have older Android models and again, it does NOT matter which carrier you or your Android users are on...Hopefully you'll start seeing their messages.

Please test with several people..Do not be satisfied just because one android user works.

For now I have changed my Cellular settings for Voice & Data to LTE instead of the 5G options and I seem to be getting my group chat texts now. I’m on Verizon but I think it is an Apple bug with using 5G.

I had this issue too, missing texts when in a MMS group text. I'm with Verizon and was able to resolve the issue through the chat tech support feature, they walked me through all the steps.

Essentially they'll ask you to reset your network settings, turn your phone off, they'll send signal to you on their end, you turn your phone on, turn your Bluetooth and wifi off, do a test call, restart your phone again and it should be fixed if not immediately then within an hour.

I tried what others suggested and logged out of my Apple ID and back in and restarted my phone. Then I deleted the group conversation and started a new one and was able to see messages from the people that I was not getting them from prior.

I agree that there is something fundamentally broken and Apple (and perhaps the carriers) need to fix it. So far, however, turning off WiFi calling (whether I am in WiFi range or not) has fixed the texting problem for me. Even if that duplicates for others it is not a true

fix since WiFi calling has advantages and should not need to be turned off. But until it is fixed, if I have to choose I pick reliable group texting over WiFi calling.