iPhone 12 not receiving group texts

I’ve had no issues since 14.3 released. Try resetting your network settings. Or turn off iMessage. Reboot your phone and turn the iMessage back on.

Software update fixed mine straight away

Yes as soon as on 14.3 my issues went

@tonybalon3y - actually this means it is likely not a sim issue causing the problem. For a lot of people, they had switched sims to fully support 5g - so the carriers as a last ditch effort will swap out the sim to make sure the new sim isn't the cause. But for you, since it is not a new sim and it was working just before your switch, it takes away another variable from the equation. Another variable is the IOS version. It is very likely you were not on the latest (IOS 14.1) when you switched (or if you had been on the latest, you would have only been on it for a few days at it was released just a couple days before the iPhone 12 and had just not noticed)

On T-mobile, as I understand it, the only thing that a new sim will give you is standalone 5g (which the iPhone 12 doesn't support yet anyway).

I'm in the same boat as most of you. Upgrade to 12 Pro and passed down my 11 to my wife. Few days later she asked why I wasn't responding to the group message thread we have for my family and then I noticed I was not getting them.

Did all the regular troubleshooting: reset network settings, disable mms/group then reenable, deleted old conversation threads, even reset and setup device as new. I was running the iOS 14.2 beta on the 11 prior to update and did not notice the issue. Even now my wife has the 11 running the 14.2 beta and no issues there. T-mobile checked all account settings and it appeared fine, they recommended getting a new 5G SIM card which I did last week but issues remain.

At this point I have to assume the problem is one of two possibilities:

1. there is a bug in iOS 14 that is only related to the new devices (iPhone 12) or

2. the new cellular radios/chips in the iPhone 12 are having issues with all carriers and this needs to be worked out between the carriers and apple

So apple had me turn of group and mms. Turn off my phone. Turn it back on and turn the options back on. I tested mms. By turning off iMessage and sending my self a picture iMessage and received it back immediately. When I was having problems before I would send my self an mms picture message and not receive it back for 12 hours. So right now doing that step

from Apple corrected it temporarily. Will see if it continues. But I do believe it to be a software issue

Along with forums like this reporting this issue, there are now plenty of news articles being written about it as well. Here are just a few, and I suggest everyone include the links in bug reports submitted to Apple's Feedback site (which they actually look at):

https://www.imore.com/some-iphone-12-owners-are-missing-text-messages-group-chats

https://www.imore.com/new-ios-14-messages-features-are-great-unless-you-converse-non-iphone-users

https://www.techtimes.com/articles/253819/20201102/iphone-12-missing-text-anonymous-caller-issues-unveiled-causing-apple.htm

https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/news/iphone-12-missing-sms-texts-bug-plagues-new-owners/

And here is a MacRumors Forum: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/missing-random-texts-from-group-messages.2263476/

Yes, I’ve been having the same issue since last Thurs (11/5/2020). I received my iPhone 12 Pro since last Sat (10/31). I sent a group chat to friends to get together and thought two of them were ghosting me since 3 out of 5 responded. Once we got together, we discussed what’s up with the other guys since they didn’t respond and he told me “Yes, he did. Remember? He said he’s trying to social distance but will catch up with us later.” I was shocked then he showed me the group chat with his response. I never received his response. My friends are on iPhones prior to the 12.

I’ve read on iMore.com that some are claiming there’s an issue with the carrier. Doubtful! Why would I receive all other texts and not one person in a group chat? Plus, the person who’s response did not come through on the group chat texted me earlier in the day outside of the group chat. There’s clearly something wrong with the group chat function. Apple needs to fix this ASAP!

Hello, my family recently upgraded. iPhone X to iPhone 12. My husband now has an iPhone 12 and my dad and I have the iPhone 12 pro. We also upgraded our service plan with Verizon. Out of me, my dad and my husband, I am the only one that is randomly missing group texts. It happens in SMS group texts where at least 1 person doesn't have an iPhone. It happened in an SMS group text of 9 people, 8 people, and 7 people. I tried most of the fixes suggested here. On my own, I did a reset of network settings, toggled the SMS, MMS, and Group messaging settings, and turned the phone off and on. I wasn't sure if that fixed the problem, so I submitted feedback to Apple about this problem but didn't speak to any Apple support since I decided to first check if Verizon could help me. My first call to Verizon tech support, they had me do the same thing: toggle SMS, MMS, and Group messaging, but they also had me toggle iMessage setting; they had me reset my network settings and turn phone off then on. I still wasn't sure that this fixed the problem, so today I called a different department at Verizon, and they had me toggle my iMessage and also go to the "Send & Receive" part to ensure that my cellphone number AND appleID were activated under iMessage. I also asked the tech support rep to check for my "integrative messaging" feature to be activated (which is something I saw another Verizon iPhone 12 user did which fixed their problem), but he said that it didn't apply to my situation. After all this, I THINK that I have been getting all my group texts so far, but I hope this lasts. I will post again if there are any updates. I really hope Apple addresses this too, since so many of us are having a problem.

After several levels of technical support both from AT&T and Apple, I am pretty sure a very helpful Apple Tech named Scott helped me solve this. I always have wifi calling enabled. MMS (group) texting doesn't work through wifi, and theoretically, when you have wifi enabled and receive a group text it should pass you off to your cellular service. However, it appears that something in the chipset with the Iphone 12 makes that pass off less reliable. When after consultation with Scott, I turned off Wifi Calling (and rebooted the phone just for the **** of it), it appears to have solved the problem. For two days, I have been receiving numerous group texts without showing any signs of missing any. Previously, in the 10 days I owed the 12, I never went more than a few hours without noticing the problem.

Like any intermittent problem, I can't be sure, but I'm thinking this solves it -- for now. Of course I like wifi calling, so I'm hoping Apple and the carriers figure this out so that I can have both. For now, I'll settle for texts I can rely on.

Ug. Sorry to hear that. So far I've had no problems with missed texts since I turned off wifi calling, and that includes in strings where I formerly missed them. Maybe I've just been lucky. Or maybe it's a combination of things. Either way, it's a best an imperfect fix and I'm glad people are continuing to press Apple for a full solution.

Review (so you don’t have to read all 30+ pages):

iPhone group chat with a non-iPhone user in the group - missing texts

Doesn’t matter if the non-iPhone user has an older phone or newest, Android, Pixel 

Problem is with all carriers

Predominantly iPhone 12, but happening on other iPhones

“Fixes” that do not work:

Reset All Settings (after backup and then restore)

Reset Network

Erase All Settings

Toggle off/on all Message’s settings

Carrier reset local cell towers

Doesn’t matter whether you are on wifi or not

Resetting/ turning on “Integrated Messages” (Verizon only)

Turning on iCloud Messages

Upgrading to iOS 14.2

Swapping out SIM card

Turning off 5G

Some data points to add:

There was a “Preferred Line” option on several contacts during edit. This is a function of having two lines, available via eSIM. I fixed that, chose my cell, thought it fixed… but did not.

I pinned the group chat in question, moved it up to the top of my message stack… and it disappeared. Cool!

Latest problem solve: 

Timult (page 29)… not working according to latest posts

Verizon users: downloading Message+ app, doesn’t solve the problem, but lets you know what you missed.

Best advice (from mangoesbananas), fill out this form. Give as much data as possible to help with trouble shooting:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Cheers, Rob

Update: After getting very frustrated by this last week I have not experienced this issue since Monday. Not sure if it's truly solved or just a temporary reprieve. I tried several of the "fixes" suggested on this thread, so I can't say for sure which one(s) might have worked. I updated to iOS 14.2, reset my network settings, downloaded and activated Message+ (which is how I know when I stopped missing SMS messages), turned off WiFi calling, Voice & Data currently set to 5G Auto (not in that order). I'll update again if the issue returns. Hope Apple releases a bug fix asap so I can use WiFi calling again! (iPhone 12 Pro, Verizon)

I agree this is 14.2. I went back to my iPhone X, just moved my sim from the 12 PRO, and all works fine on the X. Just checked and my X is on 14.1... I quickly turned off automatic updates!

I tried downgrading the 12 Pro to 14.1 but Apple is no longer signing it. If anyone has access to a 12 Pro still on 14.1 would be interested in seeing if the problem exists and then sacrificed it and updated to see if that causes the issue. I don't even remember if mine had 14.1 out of the box and I upgraded or not.

But hey there are more emojis ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm on Verizon w/ an iPhone 12 Pro. Opened tickets with Apple Support and spoke with reps twice and went through all the standard troubleshooting to no avail. Talked with Verizon a handeful of times and eventually they sent me a new SIM card (though the first one was brand new) and that hasn't helped. I've had to resort to using Verizon's Message+ app so I can see messages in group sms/mms threads. Apple and Verizon both indicated that there was some kind of awareness of this issue when I spoke with higher level techs, though the tier 1 folks hadn't heard about it before. Still not fixed on my end but I hope that Apple and carriers will collaborate on solving this issue.