iPhone 13 not receiving Android group texts after iOS update

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Level 2

159 points

iPhone 13 not receiving Android group texts after iOS update

I have discovered that not I am not getting a number of group texts on my iPhone 13 running iOS 26.5. from people with android phones! This seems to have happened after I let it upgrade from 26.5 to 26.5.2! They get no notification that their text to me didn’t go through… I just don’t get them. Two people in the group are on T-Mobile and two are on Spectrum, so it is NOT carrier related.

I have already spent HOURS going through all the AI suggested troubleshooting with making sure it is sending as SMS, making sure they aren’t blocked, turning various things off and back on again, etc! MANY HOURS.

(Under 26.5 on both my iPhone and iPad, I was already unable to send texts to Android users from my iPad, but that at least comes back and warns me that the text was undeliverable. the people at the Apple Store told me they are aware of the problem and that hopefully an OS update will fix that, but that was before I realized I’m not getting texts FROM THEM on my phone!)

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on Jul 5, 2026 1:58 PM

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Answer 1

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cicerogirl Author

Level 2

159 points

Jul 5, 2026 10:58 PM in response to razmee209

Well, the AI did NOT tell me it was a carrier issue. It turns out that it was created by the guy at the Apple Store who was trying to figure out the issue with not being able to send text messages to people with Android phones from my iPad. He apparently turned off RCS messaging while testing things on my phone versus my iPad and did not turn it back on. As soon as I turned RCS messaging back on, I got a flood of 85 messages that were out there waiting to be delivered.

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Answer 2

razmee209

Level 10

201,522 points

Jul 5, 2026 3:39 PM in response to cicerogirl

cicerogirl wrote:

I have discovered that not I am not getting a number of group texts on my iPhone 13 running iOS 26.5. from people with android phones! This seems to have happened after I let it upgrade from 26.5 to 26.5.2! They get no notification that their text to me didn’t go through… I just don’t get them. Two people in the group are on T-Mobile and two are on Spectrum, so it is NOT carrier related.

I have already spent HOURS going through all the AI suggested troubleshooting with making sure it is sending as SMS, making sure they aren’t blocked, turning various things off and back on again, etc! MANY HOURS.

(Under 26.5 on both my iPhone and iPad, I was already unable to send texts to Android users from my iPad, but that at least comes back and warns me that the text was undeliverable. the people at the Apple Store told me they are aware of the problem and that hopefully an OS update will fix that, but that was before I realized I’m not getting texts FROM THEM on my phone!)

This has nothing to do with Apple/iphone or ios update.

You pay your phone carrier a monthly fees to use their service, that includes SMS/MMS/RCS.

The AI suggestions would've told you to contact your phone carrier as they are the only ones who can fix it.

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