IOS 18 and group messages with android users

An update on my issue. I asked the T-Mobile tech to rep to reprovision my line. Even though my line on their side showed that I had MMS in group messaging capabilities. It was not allowing me to do so. Reprovisioning wiped the slate clean for me. I was warned that there was a possibly that I could lose my voicemails but all my voicemails are still there and I can now group text with someone that has an android in the group. Hopefully this helps. Good luck.

After LOTS of phone calls with both my carrier AND Apple, I finally found a solution, though not what everyone might want to do. Apple had me erase my phone and do a fresh iOS 18.01 load, and NOT a restore from iCloud. Group texts worked fine. I could have just let every re-sync, but then would have had to manually re-load all my apps. Instead I opted to restore from a Backup and had the group message issue again. So I took I took the bold step of "Resetting all Settings". Sure this dropped all my WiFi passwords, My FaceID, and my Apple Wallet, but everything works now. It did NOT drop settings for 3rd party apps like mail and it did not erase my previous messages. Before I did this I made sure to iCloud and unsync my Password keychain so it didn't wipe the WiFi codes off my Mac. Oh, and of course I had to re-sign into secure things like banking apps. Hope this helps some of you.

After trying the following:

checking message app settings.

reset network settings.

delete / recreate threads.

delete and reset all settings.

delete all data / reset phone (don’t do this)

called Apple support.

tested a number of items.

transferred me to cell carrier (as they deal with SMS messages.

they checked my account and found “block premium texts” toggled on.

change it to off and all my android texts came through again. Direct and in groups.

Sadly, this actual IS an Apple issue and there is a fix, but just be careful. There are embedded settings that need to be reset (believe me I’ve been on the phone for hours with my carrier and Apple.). If you got to Settings and tell it to “Reset all settings” it will clear up the issue. You will lose you credit cards and have to reload them, and it will dump your memorized WiFi codes. But beyond that, it will be normal. To avoid losing my WiFi codes I went to keychain beforehand and told it to stop syncing to the iCloud so my codes were still available on my Mac and iPad I was able to reload via QR code. But this cleared up all my group message problems. Not as scary as it sounds.

To cut a long story short, I spent a full month with Tmobile and Apple support to fix the group texting issue after iOS 18. Here is what finally fixed my issue…a full reset of my phone to new. No restore from any type of backup. My theory is that I’ve restored from a backup when on ATT at a time they did not support the Android/ iPhone group texting. I remember that this was not supported in the early days of android/ iPhones 10-15 years ago. One of these backups may have carried over a setting when I switched from ATT to Tmobile. Fortunately, passwords/data/pics tied to my Apple ID allowed for continuity when manually adding back the apps. It did take me a whole weekend to get my phone back to “normal”. But it did fix my issue. It was my last resort and a huge pain. If you do go down this path, make sure you backup and export your data before you delete and set up the phone as new. iPhone 13promax on Tmobile.

I guess technically you could all that. Make sure you do a full backup first just in case. It’s “Reset all settings” but not Erase. I figured it out after Apple had me erase and load from scratch and things worked. Yes you will lose network settings and as you use some apps, they will ask you about Bluetooth and location settings, etc. but that was really no big deal. I did not lose messages, data, email, pics or anything except Apple Pay cards and WiFi codes. I had to do this for my other phones as well but everything works.

Resetting all settings helped mine too and I haven’t had issues since. Fingers crossed that was the final fix!

Try this. Call Xfinity. Ask them to turn off group messaging on your account. Thank them and hang up. Restart your phone. Call Xfinity back. Ask them to re-enable group messaging.

I didn’t do a factory reset, just reset all settings. I lost WiFi passwords as others have said but that was easily fixed. I have not had the issue since. Fingers crossed.

It's “Reset all Settings” yes. Not Erase. Just follow the steps of my previous note. Initially a pain, yes, but it cleared up everything. Eventually I figured it was good because I wound up cleaning a bunch of junk in the process 😀

Update: now working. Soooo frustrating (that and the issue with my new iPhone 16 and Carplay, but that's for another thread). For this issue, I ended up following all of the suggestions on this thread: reset all settings, turned RCS Messaging Off/On (along with every other setting in the Settings–>Apps–>Messages setting), restarted, etc. It still was not working. I was using an iPhone 13 Pro Max and decided this was my sign from the Apple Gods to upgrade since Verizon was offering a $1,000 credit for my old phone trade-in. The next day when I went to the Verizon store I was showing someone why my I was upgrading my phone and low-and-behold it was working properly. It would briefly show red, and then go green when I started a new group; so it needed a day after doing these changes for some carrier setting or something to work. But I was already getting a new iPhone 16 so I went for it. iPhone 16 worked out of the box, btw.

So I guess try all of the above and at least threaten your iPhone with replacement (I had to go into the Verizon store to show I was serious), and it may work for you. You're welcome.

mipow wrote:

Happening to all my family chats. Replying to follow for answers. Apple PLEASE fix this!

Apple doesn't read here for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

I’ve been having the same issue with all my group chats with android users since I updated. I contacted Apple and was told I needed to contact AT&T since the carrier administers RCS texting. I contacted AT&T and they had no clue what I was even talking about and said if it started after the iOS update then it was an Apple problem. We have had to restart so many chats or delete duplicates and it is extremely frustrating. I really hope Apple figures this out quickly and fixes it