Family group chat iMessage missing randomly

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bigtree1980 Author

Level 1

16 points

Family group chat iMessage missing randomly

All my family members have iPhone 6/6S and we use iMessage to communicate via a group chat. All our iMessage are properly set up on the phone because we can send messages to each other one-to-one with no problems.

However when I send a message to the family group, some members don't get the message while others do. Sometimes everybody will get the message.

The recipients are definitely correct -- they all appear blue and I verified the phone numbers and email addresses. And they ALL CAN get messages I send to the group some of the time.

There is no indicator whether my message has been delivered or read in the group chat. I don't know who has got my message and who hasn't unless I ask them to check their phone.

This seems to me to be a very serious issue -- none of the other messaging platforms has this problem (Facebook, WeChat, LINE, What's App, SMS) and this is quite a serious bug if you're making a messaging platform!! Any advice how I could debug or workaround this would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Posted on Dec 25, 2015 7:33 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 1, 2018 5:03 AM in response to AppleJoe

I’m having the same issue with Group iMessages— even on my new iPhone 8 Plus. Example from last night: There was a three person group iMessage newly created by Person 1 at the beginning of this example—sent to and from our actual phone numbers and not our email addressses—and this is what happened: Person 1 sent a message, Person 2 received it, Person 3 did not. An hour later, Person 1 sent another message, and this time both Person 2 and 3 received it. But the first message was still absent from Person 3’s phone. No notification of a failed delivery. This is terrible! Why and how can messages just go missing like that? Any ideas other than simply deleting conversations?

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Answer 2

AppleJoe

Community Manager

Dec 27, 2015 7:21 AM in response to bigtree1980

Hi bigtree1980,

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!

I understand that while sending/receiving group messages, sometimes your messages won’t send to a particular contact(s), but you have no way of knowing. Situations like this can be very frustrating, but we are here to help!

To troubleshoot this situation, I would suggest completing the steps outlined in the following article. Please complete the steps from the following article and let us know if the issue continues.

If messages won't send to a certain person or you need help with group messages

Sometimes your messages won't send to a particular contact, or you might have issues with group messages. For example, you might reply to a group conversation and receive your own message. Or you might get a new phone number and see your old one listed as a recipient in an existing group conversation.

Delete the conversation* that has the issue and start a new conversation:

Open Messages and look at your list of conversations.

Swipe from right to left on the conversation you want to delete. Then tap Delete.

Open Messages, tap , and enter the phone number or email address of your contact or contacts.

Write a new message and tap send.

*When you delete a conversation, you won’t be able to recover it. If you want to save parts of conversations or their attachments, you can take screenshots. You can also touch and hold an attachment or message bubble, then tap More > Save.

If you can't send or receive messages on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Best!

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