Why is iMessage splitting group conversations into multiple threads after upgrading to iOS 8?

if you're getting multiple messages it's likely they are sending from different devices, iPhone & iPad. Go under settings/imessage/send & receive and make sure all devices are set to start conversations from the same phone number (or email whichever you prefer) but all devices need to be the same to prevent multiple conversations when they use a different device. Seems to have fixed the problem for me.

That doesn't help when messaging people using iOS 5 (original iPad users) or Mavericks or earlier on OS X. That's where I've encountered problems.

Thanks for the tip, but that's not the cause of the issue that most of us are having.

It's an iOS8 problem and very is very bothersome.

Overall I've been quite disappointed with number of bugs in iOS 8. Can't say "It just works" about iOS and OS X anymore.

Same problem here -- group messages are splitting into separate threads. There seems to be no pattern to the problem. Evidence:

(A) I have one thread w/ 5 people, all iPhones (all are iOS 8). Some of the group's texts arrive in the group thread, but some come in separately as if from an individual. If I reply to the "individual," some people see the reply but others do not. The rest of the group is having the same problem (with our group and with other groups). We've tried everything suggested here and in other discussions - signing out/in, resetting, deleting all threads and starting over, etc. But the problem keeps coming back.

(B) I have another thread w/ 3 people (two iPhones iOS 8.1, one Android) with similar problem. I can text to both people in the group thread but they each receive my text separately. If they text to the group thread, I receive theirs in separate threads.

This is getting ridiculous. Texting on iPhone is now worthless.

I have exactly the same problem, also tried everything suggestion for a solution around. This is extremely annoying indeed!!!

All 5 of the people (all are iPhone users) in our family are having this same problem! We used to have a single iMessage thread consisting of all 5 of us which went back for years. Now there are at least 4 conversation threads with the same group members. The system seems to randomly take a response to the group and creates an entirely new thread! I have the same thing happening with other group threads as well!

A conversation with Apple support was of no help whatsoever. The only thing they could recommend was to erase all of the group messages and start over. That might be acceptable for some of my conversations, but the ones that go back for years with my wife and all 3 children are things that I don't want to give up.

Logically, it would seem that the iMessage database could be repaired and the separated threads recombined!

I upgraded to iOS 8, same issue.

The only thing that I can think of is Verizon and AT&T.

I have a group with like 12 people, 8 iPhones with Verizon, 2 with AT&T (me and my friend), 1 Galaxy S4, and 1 Note.

None of the iPhone users who have Verizon have a problem. Me and my friend have the problem. Every time someone texts in the group it breaks into a thread for each person.

No, I don't think it's a carrier issue. We have a few groups where everyone is on the same carrier and still have this problem.

Even when starting and using a brand new group (without deleting previous groups), messages are still sometimes routed to previous groups.

Extremely frustrating!

It's not a carrier issue. For ex: I am iPhone on Verizon and I have the problem with a few groups. In one of my splintered groups, we have 2 iPhones on Verizon and 3 iPhones on AT&T. Another splintered group is 1 iPhone on Verizon, 2 iPhones on AT&T, and 1 Galaxy on AT&T. It's Apple.

Both the local Genius bar and Apple support insisted that the only way to resolve it was for everyone in the group to delete the entire thread. A terrible solution but, alas, we each backed up the thread for posterity and we each deleted it. In addition, we each double-checked our Message settings (iMessage on, Send & Receive info correct, Group Message on, etc.). Then we started a brand-new group message. Deleting the group thread did NOT work! The brand-new group message seemed to work at first (for the first few test-replies) but then split into multiple threads with individual convos.

Confidence level w/ Apple Message = zero.

I think the problem comes from the name of the group... Everytime I create a new group, there's no splitting but as soon as someone enters a name, then a few text later it happens.

I also agree the problem is coming from the naming of the group iMessage thread. I see this problem on every named thread I have, it's extremely annoying.

I also have this problem, Apple please fix.

I currently have this issue.

One person that responds gets their own thread but everyone gets the message if I reply to any thread, BUT it creates a new thread.

One thing I notice is that ONLY in the group chats that have created names for them have split.

Other group chats haven't split.

I have the same problem! On my iphone the group is perfect and they all appear in one thread; however, on my mac, the group thread is split. Any solutions found yet?

We have 10 in a group we have had for years. All have latest version of IOS all have different carriers. When the ability to name a thread became available. 4 of us named same thread with Different names. Same people same group NOW each thread comes in different. My sister can ask a question ano when I answer it will be answered on my group name. To say this is annoying is an understatemet. How the heck can we fix this issue