Mention not working in group chat

You have to type in their whole name saved as their contact name. If they have emojis in their name, you have to include it as well if you'd like to mention them.

If someone's name is saved as "Jayson ❤️✨" in your contact, you have to type all of those characters in order for iMessage to notice that you are trying to mention this person specifically. It will then give you an option to mention them in your text message.

Tip: it also works for last names.

I found the solution, make sure you have predictive setting on in your keyboard it shows there

Looks like you can enable Predicative, or Auto-Correction and mentions will work. Not sure why either of these are required as I usually have both of these off by preference, but that seems to be the case unfortunately.

Hello 21Jay918,

Thanks for getting back to us here in Communities.

Make sure that you're using the latest iOS version: Update your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

"Update your iPhone or iPad wirelessly

1. Back up your device using iCloud or your computer.
2. Plug your device into power and connect to the internet with Wi-Fi.
3. Go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update.
4. Choose the software update that you want to install. You can choose to stay on iOS or iPadOS 15 and still get important security updates. Or you can choose the option to upgrade to iOS or iPadOS 16.
5. Tap Install Now. If you see Download and Install instead, tap it to download the update, enter your passcode, then tap Install Now. If you don't know your passcode, learn what to do."

Updates usually contain fixes for issues. Also, is this specific to one group conversation or does it happen to any contact?

Are all the contacts in the group message using iMessage? This feature isn't available for SMS text/group messages.

Cheers!

I belive this is a bug. The thing is, you shouldn't have to enable predictive to mention someone and this is not included in their User Guide. They won't make such undocumented change.

Here's the link to the guide for group messages: Have a group conversation in Messages on iPhone - Apple Support (PH)

I’ve tried this numerous times in different variations and it does not work. For me, it only works if someone doesn’t have an emoji in their contact name. Even if I try including the emoji or typing it exactly as the contact name, the mention feature does NOT work. Definitely seems like a bug that Apple hasn’t quite fixed yet. It’s very inconsistent in my messages on if it works or not.

Greetings 21Jay918,

If you are having difficulty using mentions in Messages on your iPhone, follow the guidance found here:

Reply to specific messages on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

"How to use mentions

1. Open a Messages conversation.
2. Type a contact's name, then tap the name when it appears. Or type @ followed by their name.

Depending on your contact's settings, a mention can notify them even if they've muted the conversation. To change this notification setting, go to Settings > Messages, then turn Notify Me on or off."

Take care.

I am on the latest version of ios, and i am still not able to mention. Before ios 16 i was able go mention people just fine but now i am unable to. When a person name appear from my contact and i click on it it does not turn into a mention but instead does nothing. From a software engineer prospective it sounds like a defect to me.

has anyone found a solution outside of setting up predictive texting? i personally have it turned off as preference

For me, I’ve always had inconsistencies with trying to get this to work. It works in some group chats, and not others. I recently realized it doesn’t work for names if they have emojis next to their name in my contacts. I’m wondering if it has to do with that? If there’s not an emoji next to the person’s name in my phone, then I can mention them just fine. Maybe try testing that out?

This was possible before, and should still be possible now but thry aren't making efforts to fix this bug. I have contacted their support many many times but their team seems to be even clueless about it. It's so annoying!

Is there any way to tag people without the predictive setting? With my ADHD, it’s so distracting, so I hate having it on. Hard to focus lol.

Thank you, this was driving me crazy!! Learned something new today.