imessage text box disappeared on Macbook group chat

Somehow when I checked the group, I wasn't actually in it anymore. I went on my iPhone and checked the group and was able to add myself back and then the MBP showed the text entry again.

Just fixed my issue with the missing text box in a group thread. My case: Group chat thread was fine on iPhone 15 Pro and iPad, but no text box (after it being fine for a long while) on my 14" MacBook Pro running Sequoia 15.1.1

I had not started the thread, so I had the person who had initiated it remove me from the thread then add me back and the text box appeared again on my MacBook and all devices.

To remove and re-add a person to a text thread in messages on a MacBook:

1. Click the " i " info button at the upper right of the message thread
2. Scroll down and find the person who needs to be removed (the person having the issue)
3. 2 finger swipe left on the person you want to remove, or Control Click and select "Remove from Conversation"
4. Then to re-add, just click the "+ Add Member" link at the bottom of that menu
5. Cross fingers and send a message to the thread again to test.

Its essentially the same steps on an iOS device.

I tried this and it worked. Add yourself to the group (even though you're already there but your name doesn't show up in the list because it's your account). In my case I've got about 10 group chats saved and they're all fine except one, just on one computer, strange bug. But adding myself again to that group and it the text box popped right up on that computer. So still clearly a bug but this workaround solved it for me (although I'm in the group twice, probably doesn't matter)

My friend has this exact same issue and linked me this thread. Here's how I fixed it for him:

The solution is simply to remove the person from the group chat and add him back.

If you are only 3 people in a group chat, add anybody first because you can't be less than 3 in a group chat, then remove the person with the issue, add him back then remove the 4th new person.

It works again!

This worked for me.

1. Go into settings on your phone and turn off RCS (Apps > Messages > RCS).
2. Go into a message with the affected group, on your phone, and send an SMS message.
3. Look at the group message on MacOS, you should see a text box now.
4. Turn RCS back on on your phone.

This has happened to me immediately after updating to Sequoia 15.2 on my MB M3. It occurred initially in 1 group chat. I had another chat member remove and re-add me and it did resolve the issue for that chat, however, 2 other group chats suddenly had the same issue - no text box. Everything works fine on my iphone. I had someone remove me and re-add me to those two chats and voila - the text box came back...for a few hours and now they are gone again.

I contacted apple support - it got escalated pretty quickly to higher tier support. We set up a new user profile for me, downloaded messages to the new profile and the text boxes are there, in the affected chats, and appear stable. They then ran me through a series of attempts to fix the issue but nothing worked so now it has been officially escalated to programming engineers. Hopefully there will be a fix in the next 48 hours. I have a call set up for Friday - I will let y'all know.

Resolved!! (For me at least)

I had this issue too. I had a group member remove me and then add me back and it immediately worked!! Thanks for this forum!

I had a follow up call with Apple tech support for the missing text box in group chats.

The engineer on the case advised migrating my entire profile on my MB to a NEW admin profile. I had already set one up with the support tech, adding only my message app, and everything was there with text boxes so the suggestion was to migrate everything to the new profile.

Doable but not really a solution to fix this bug.

The other suggestion was to run one further diagnostic for the engineer to work on and have another call with Tech support next week. I have done that and will advise what the outcome is after the call.

That said…the new admin profile we set up does appear to be stable so that is potentially one solution for you to consider.

Adding myself to the group conversation on my iphone worked for me. I now see the text box on my MBP.

I was forced to create a new chat with all the same members. It was what I came here to avoid, but, in the end, doing that worked. It was a hassle, though, to get everyone on the same page. The problem arose when I signed in and out of imessage. I'm too scared to do that again.

I had to create a new group chat with the same people. It was a hassle, but it worked fine afterward. Something I noticed, a couple weeks after I created the new one, I somehow ended up at the broken one. The input box was back. I

This worked for me too. Adding myself to the group from my iPhone fixed it. So very odd.

ONLY thing that worked. Leave the chat and have someone in the chat add you again. Fixed.

That worked for me happily! Added myself to the group on my Mac and now reply box is on both Mac and iPhone (at least for now fingers crossed)

I may have a solution for this. I just upgraded to Sequoia 15.2 and had it happen again (I'd fixed it once previously). This only has happened to me on a chats that include Android users (green bubbles) and only with RCS enabled (so, post iOS 18), so if neither of those apply to you, this will probably not work.

1. Go into settings on your phone and turn off RCS (Apps > Messages > RCS).
2. Go into a message with the affected group, on your phone, and send an SMS message.
3. Look at the group message on MacOS, you should see a text box now.
4. Turn RCS back on on your phone.