Messaging a Group off List

Hi Jim1388,

Thanks for getting back to us. Since these are now SMS messages, these are a carrier feature. We'd advise contacting your carrier to find out what is possible.

Have a fantastic day!

Hi Jim1388,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. We'd recommend starting by isolating where this issue occurs. For instance, does this happen only in a particular group. If needed, use the guidance in Create and manage groups of contacts on iCloud.com to set up a test group to try.

If this does not happen in another contact group, there may be an issue with one of the contacts in the group you were trying originally. You may be able to narrow that down by seeing if you can message individual's from this list using the guidance in Add and use contact information on iPhone.

"Quickly reach a contact

To start a message, make a phone call or a FaceTime call, compose an email, or send money with Apple Pay, tap a button below the contact’s name.

To change the default phone number or email address for a contact method, touch and hold the button for that method below the contact’s name, then tap a selection in the list."

If you find that there are certain people in the group that you can't message using those steps, check to see if editing their contact information may be necessary.

All the best.

Hi Jim1388,

You're mentioned you've turned off iMessages. This means the group text message will be sent via MMS or SMS message. When using SMS, messages will be sent in an individual text message. This is explained below:

These messages also appear in green text bubbles and go through your carrier. Group SMS messages don’t support multimedia attachments, like photos or videos. All responses in a group SMS are sent as individual text messages and the recipients can’t see the other responses from the group.

This information is from Send a group text message on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

This is expected behavior for messages to be received as individual text messages. If you'd like to have all recipients see the other responses in the group, turn on iMessages under Settings > Messages.

Take care.

Hello Jim1388,

Thanks for following up! It sounds like you found an answer, and we appreciate you sharing your findings. Have a good one.