iPhone 12 not receiving group texts

I'm sure you all know this (but in case you don't) the IOS software update to 14.2.1 says that it fixes this issue. I just upgraded yesterday, will see if it does.

Update.

So far so good on 14.2. Been getting texts from groups constantly.

Before I upgraded I deleted any group chat, including all iPhone user group chats. Then I applied upgrade. after iphone came back up I still rebooted one more time.

I can confirm the sec I turned off Wifi on the phone all of my group messages that have Android devices on them started working! I have not tested further yet to turn wifi back on to see if they stop again but for sure this has somrhing to do with how sms is transferred over Wifi on the new iPhone 12....

So update from my previous post and to give some more background information. Due to the pandemic I have spent a great majority of time at home. At my house, I barely get one bar of LTE and when it is cloudy/rainy my signal strength is even worse. So I leave my phone on WiFi and have WiFi calling on. Before I bought my 12 Pro I would occasionally miss texts but not a lot. It was always on a thread with one other Android user. After getting my 12 Pro, I had the same issues as everyone else with missing many texts from this thread. And it has even happened on a thread with only two other people, one an Android user and the other an iPhone user. After I updated to 14.2 (I doubt this is the reason why it has started to work), I changed my cellular to LTE ONLY and it seems that I am not missing texts anymore. Well, at least not any more than before my 12 Pro. I will keep you updated to let you know how it continues to work. Today is college football and there will be a lot of texts today on my problematic thread so it will be a good test.

The group chat where I first noticed I didn’t get certain replies were from iPhone users. Only one of my friends in the group chat has an android phone and I received his response just fine. I don’t think it’s an issue with iOS vs Android since it’s being experienced on the iPhone 12 with every carrier. 5G makes the most sense of being the possible cause. I switched to LTE and will see if that helps.

Update:

After going back and reading through some of the posts here, I downloaded the Messages+ app per TelvisiPhone's instructions. Haven't followed all the steps yet, but just from installing that app I can now see all of the messages that I'm missing. Which makes me think it's not a carrier issue at all. I've even noticed some missing MMS messages from threads with individual android users.

My best guess is that in ios14 there is some conflict between iMessage & MMS.

Adding Verizon Message+ has been the only way I can see which group SMS messages I am missing on iMessage. I can see all group SMS messages sent and received on Verizon Message+, and then I compare it to iMessage where I notice that many of the incoming texts are randomly missing. If I only relied on iMessage, I could not have a conversation with anyone in these group chats because I’m missing so many random texts. Having Verizon Message+ was also how I was able to definitively show proof to Apple Support of what was happening with iMessage not receiving all group SMS texts

Not sure if this will help everyone, but it seemed to help me. I had been having issues, but solely on group messages with sms. I cycled the send receipts and send sms settings along with group settings and it seemed to solve the group text issues I was having. Haven’t noticed any other issues, but don’t have many texting me often enough to know if I’m missing messages. Hope that helps someone out.

I have T-Mobile. My 12 pro max was having issues with texting as well. The representative at T-Mobile told me you have to use the SIM card in the new phone and they have to activate it. You can’t use the SIM card from an older iPhone for the 12’s. I don’t know if that helps. Good luck.

I have been on this thread for a while, posted earlier... and have done everything listed, without any luck. VERY frustrated: many hours on the phone with T-Mobile and Apple. The only thing I didn't do, and didn't want to do was factory reset and NOT port anything.

Well, I did that and it was not fun... still no fun. 12+ years of apps, data - gone! And company related security hassles that I have to start over from scratch ... BUT, I haven't missed any texts for several days (I have two close friends with Pixel phones that I miss group texts daily). I did have iCloud sync addresses/contacts, calendar and notes.

Is it worth it? Depends on your level of friendship. 🤔

Also, I backed up my iPhone - and can reload any time, if Apple fixes this problem. But, I kind of like the cleaner phone and less apps.

My conclusion: some issue is ported over when you copy your older iPhone.

I'll redact the above if the Case of The Missing Texts issue returns... 🤞🤞 Stay tuned Nancy Drew.

Cheers,

Rob

Note: 14.2 iOS

I had a problem SENDING MMS messages, not receiving them. Here's what worked for me - don't know if it will work with the RECEIVING problems you all are having. Anyway, you might want to try it anyway.

1) Do a fresh iCloud backup

2) Go to Settings, General, Reset, Erase All Content and Settings

3) When you go through the setup process, DO NOT RESTORE FROM BACKUP - set up as a new phone

4) Once you're through with that, try sending a few MMS messages (send a pic to an Android user, send a text to a group containing an Android user, something like that)

5) If it works, then Yay! Only now should you sign in to your iCloud account. It will take several minutes to repopulate your phone with your iCloud data.

6) Since you didn't restore from a backup, you will now have to re download the apps you want. Open the App Store, click on your name/image in the upper right corner. Then click on Purchased and re download the apps you want. It's been hit or miss for me on which apps will have saved data. I lost game progress for instance, but texting was way more important for me.

Trust me on this one, totally not Verizon. I have spent hours on with both of them. Finally Verizon gave me a work around and a way to prove that it is Apple not Verizon. Install the Verizon Message Plus app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/message/id621469412

It is their texting app, just like your native Apple texting app. It isn't as nice but it does work, you should be able to group text on it and send media to Android phones. Give it a try. Let me know if it works. Still doesn't solve the problem with the Apple Texting app which is annoying.

that statement is 100% false, sorry....this is Apple's issue as it's an iMessage issue. Three points of fact to back this up.

1. Apple just a couple weeks ago released a patch to help fix this issue (to no avail).
2. if you go into settings and turn off iMessage, this problem goes away. I have no issue sending or receiving messages from Android users after I turn it off....but iMessage doesn't use data so it's an EXTREMELY important feature.
3. it's not ATT v. Verizon v. Sprint etc....it only happens between Apple and Android and it's across ALL carriers, emphatically proving, iMessage and a cross platform issue, not carrier.

Please educate yourself before you reply to me

It seems that updating to ios 14.2 *and* turning off iMessage in Settings>Messages has solved my problem.

at least I think so- difficult to be completely sure, but I seem to be getting all the messages from my main group txt chains.

Has anybody tried totally deleting the thread and starting it again? That usually fixes iMessage/texting issues.