iPhone 12 not receiving group texts

I saw this from user Timult on Nov 10, 2020. It makes the most sense. We’ll see.

this has to do with settling the phone number.

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

****I had to turn off Cellular Data first ***

2. Tap Network Selection.

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

4. Select desired carrier (T-Mobile)

*** Turn Cellular Data back on ****

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.

See Timult full post for with pics

I’ve been addressing this issue by speaking to Apple senior advisors and Verizon Tier 2 support ever since November 10. The problem continued despite trying many things, which I posted an update about somewhere else in this long discussion thread. Most recently, Verizon Tier 2 support was able to tell me that it looked like a “premium messaging” feature was blocked on my account. They removed that for me. I also exchanged my SIM card. I also updated iOS to 14.2.1 on November 19. So far the problem seems to be fixed for the past 4 days. Hope this is a permanent fix!

I was just on my 4th or 5th call with Apple, this is also the second time they brought a Verizon representative (I also called Verizon once my self independently of Apple) into the conversation. The Verizon person I talked to Saturday had a brilliant idea to truly check if it was Verizon or Apple. Verizon has a Messaging app (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/message/id885557198?mt=12) it works just like the native Apple App, it is just a Verizon texting app instead. He asked me to send some SMS/MMS messages to some Android phone users I know and all them went through but I still couldn't send them over the Apple App. So the conclusion is that if they went through it is not a Verizon account permission issue since they all went through their system.

The good news is the Verizon Message App is a good work around for now. You can also send group text to groups that have Android phones and you can also down the app to your Mac's just like the Apple Messaging app. Additionally, if you were on a group text that you stopped received texts from because of this issues, once you start using the app and someone on that thread sends a text you will get back in the group. It does suck that you have to use a separate app to send SMS/MMS texts to Android phones or group messages with Android phones.

After another hour phone call with Apple today, it has been escalated again, they actually took logs from my phone but I was told I probably wouldn't hear back from them until Monday.

Thank you! This worked for us. I am not an iPhone user, but my wife is; she was having this issue in MMS messages from me. She was also having issues in a group text with my son (also an iPhone 12 user) and I. Turning off iMessage seems to be the fix for the short term anyway.

I have sent hours and hours on the phone with Apple and Verizon about this problem. The only solution that worked for me and I was not happy about it was to wipe the phone and set it up as a NEW phone, do not restore from back up. It sucks because you have to redownload all you apps and you lose your settings but not anything synced with iCloud. So once you complete the new phone setup and log into iCloud your text threads, photos, contacts, etc. sync back up.

ok! So - I worked on this issue all night and we fixed it!

I went from a pixel to an iPhone, and apparently google has your phone number until you remove it - which causes some sms messages to be left in limbo.

So, go to settings, google, and then remove your phone number from your account (you can re-attach it from your new device later) restart your phone, and wha-lah!

Apple Tech had me disable both Text Message and FaceTime green buttons (to off)...

(Settings—> Messages -> iMessage)

...then restart phone... they both automatically turned back on, and problem was solved.

Bizarrely, this worked for me as well! Same problem - could send one off texts, but no group texts incoming or outgoing replies on iPhone 12. I suspended belief, deleted my phone number from my gmail account, and poof - the problem was solved. No idea why or what one has to do with the other, but glad to have it solved. Thanks bobbi261.

In my case, I was fortunately able to get it resolved with my carrier (Verizon). Nearly drove me crazy, however, as I had to spend early 8 hours on the phone and go to a physical store. What seemed to fix it was a tier 2 rep who I believe essentially recreated my profile with them. Good luck!

In my situation, I could not receive SMS text messages. Xfinity support could not find the cause, all the settings looked fine on their end for my phone line. Ultimately, suspending the line and reactivating it fixed it for me. (suspension is meant to disable your phone line temporarily if you've lost your phone) . After reactivating the line, everything worked fine. There are lots of different causes/solutions to the missing SMS text issue, so I think this is one possible solution.

Torischnee wrote:

Was anyone able to figure this out?

After researching this (I have the same problem-Verizon prepaid), I found a thread from 2017 with the same problem & turning off Bluetooth did the trick. I did this and back to normal.

People were saying that Apple Watch was creating the Bluetooth problem, but I do not have an Apple Watch

I had this problem as well and called ATT and i got a new SIM card after installing it I had to call ATT for them to do something and reboot my phone. Then all of a sudden many text from my android friends came on my phone. Hope this helps.

I also have Xfinity Mobile. I was able to fix this problem by suspending my line, and then calling customer service to reactivate the line. Afterwards I could receive text messages from android phones fine. Temporarily suspending the line is a feature that allows those who have lost their iPhone to disable service until they can find it. However, there are a lot of potential causes for this issue, but it’s worth a shot if you haven’t tried that yet.

Called T-mobile. Asked to have integrated messaging turned on. So far so good. Thank you so much!

FYI: T-mobile recommends one-time SIM card change for 5G phones.

Apple just released iOS 14.2.1 which specifically addresses the MMS messaging issue. Yay! I installed and it fixed my issues.