Group MMS disabled on IOS devices?

[bruor]

Hello,   I've been trying to figure out how to get my iPhone to participate in a group MMS conversation.  All support forums for apple tell me that under the SMS/MMS options, when MMS is enabled another option called "Group Messaging" appears when MMS is turned on.  However,  this is not the case. 

Many people have verified that this option exists for them on ATT but disappears when they insert a T-Mobile SIM card in their devices.   

This option enables the device to participate in group conversations via MMS which subsequently allows group messaging with non-ios devices as well.

I'd like to know why you have this option disabled on your network,  and request that you enable it! 

[Nighthawk]

AT&T was in bed with Apple for a while so it's not a surprise they have it. I don't think a carrier simply enabling the feature is all of what is involved knowing Apple. Same reason iPhones don't get the same deals other smartphones do. Apple has agreements with the carriers. As Apple said in their documents, availability varies by country and carrier. Maybe ask over at Rogers. They were the Canadian partner for AT&T for a while.

[bruor]

I talked to an Apple senior support and they said it's carrier controlled. On older versions you could hack the carrier file to add the functionality manually. I've verified that I can group message between android devices so I know the network definitely supports the functionality. Sad if Apple truly is the problem here...

[angseu]

I'm surprised that the group messaging is still not supported.  I just got an iphone 6 today expecting to be able to use it.   My brother in law has the same phone as me through another carrier and he has the option to use group.  Come on Telus

[Dark_Knight]

People still send MMS messages? haha

Why not use an instant messaging service like WhatsApp or, if you have an iPhone, iMessage. 

[bruor]

It's ridiculous that Telus blocks a feature that is supported and works in the core ios and iMessage applications and forces me to use a third party tool to communicate.   This is something that Apple ships with and the carriers have specifically disabled at their end.  

Jailbreaking allows you to enable the option but all recipient iPhones still fragment the group conversation.  

If iOS allowed for 3rd party sms applications it would be easy to get people to switch to another app like hangouts,  but getting people to install another messaging application to work around a carrier restriction that is only enforced on iPhones is silly and can be complicated for some users.  Which messaging app do they choose then and under what circumstances, conversation thread fragmentation etc.  

[Moe]

This is an iphone feature that has been disabled by telus .....this feature would allow both android and iPhone users to have a group discussion

[Dark_Knight]

There are so many options now, i'm not sure why this is an issue. If you google 'group MMS iPhone', you'll get a ton of hits about how to do this. http://www.idownloadblog.com/2014/03/12/how-to-send-group-messages-iphone/ 

[bruor]

How about instead of just suggesting a workaround or posting the first result you find on Google, you actually test a solution before recommending it?  I'm sure you'll find that even in the off chance that it let's you send a group mms,  the message will look like it was sent directly to the receiving iPhone, and replies to it will look like a separate individual conversation on your end.  

I was told by Telus support to post the issue here.  There is a problem, and a fix that they can implement and that's all this post was meant to draw attention to.  

I know there are a ton of alternatives,  but EVERYONE has sms.  Not everyone has whatsapp/telegram/hangouts/Facebook/signal and there are a LOT of stubborn iPhone users that will refuse to install additional messaging apps in order to communicate this way.  I'd prefer to have Telus stop crippling the functionality of iPhones so they can work as designed so that this isn't an issue.  

Android users can create a group text on their network and happily message back and forth just like an iMessage group conversation. Why stop iPhone users from participating? 

[Dark_Knight]

I believe you probably meant to go to their Ideas page. www.telus.com/ideas

If enough people want this feature, they can vote on it.

[Nighthawk]

Considering the age of this thread and the appearance of only two users that seems to want the feature, I'd have to suspect demand is quite low. So far no Canadian carrier offers support for group MMS on iOS that I can find. 

[bruor]

You are correct, no Canadian carriers have this feature turned on.  IME the vast majority of users that experience the issue quickly exclude people from group chats that do not have iMessage because including even one non iMessage capable user in the conversation results in a confusing array of single threaded conversations instantly.  

The rest will use another messaging tool to overcome the problem and work around the carriers.  This is also the route that Telus support tells people to go if they call about the issue.  

Like amgseu, I'd be outraged if I traded in my nexus for an iPhone (that's costs twice as much) just to find that I'm unable to send group texts.  Even more so if I found out that it was Telus making my iPhone not give me the option.  

The point of the post is just to raise awareness and provide some sort of answer to others that might be searching.  I've personally resorted to using a jailbroken iPhone and the Remote Messages app in order to communicate with iPhone users in group conversations from my Android device.  I can still group sms with android/blackberry users so I just have to live in 2 separate worlds and use email for anything that I want everyone to see.