Group contacts disappeared after update to ios16

There's a good amount of people with the same issue. I am also having that issue with iPhone 12

See Threads:

iOS 16 Group Messages - Apple Community

Group MMS and Group iMessage contacts not… - Apple Community

Issue with group messages after iOS 16 up… - Apple Community

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-16-cant-share-to-imessage-group-anymore.2359237/

Hopefully Apple fixes this soon. In the meantime there is a work around.

Go to settings -> Siri and search -> scroll down to find messages -> turn on ‘learn from this app’ -> Go to the message app and send a message to the group

After this you should be able to send a message to the group

You will have to do this for each group

I have the same issue. I can see the group name in my Messages, but if I try and type it into the contact field, or if I try and share something to a group, the names will not auto-populate. I'm using the workaround of copying things I want to share and then finding the group in Messages and sharing, but it's not an ideal way to do it.

So frustrating that my Group text threads are gone! I had a years' worth of texts with my family members, pictures, etc and they are gone. I've tried everything I can think of, plus all the tricks mentioned online and nothing has worked. I'm not happy and hope there's a quick fix.

The Lists screen would not dismiss and return to Contacts. I tried to edit from the Messages app but the info did not stick.

Finally I remembered someone wiser than me said, “If in doubt delete it”, they spoke the truth. Delete Contacts app and have a moment to your self to perhaps reflect on if you should have done a backup?

for me it worked, all contacts are seen as they once were. BTW, I did not backup and it survived.