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Text app with group capability

paroots

Well-Known Member
Sep 5, 2012
221
10
Florida
We're transitioning from iPhone to Android (Samsung Galaxy Nexus). We want to text to a group where each reply is sent back into the group. We have tried several apps where you can address multiple people, but the replies come back outside the group. The only one we've found that handles this so far is Powow, but it requires that the group members text to a unique phone number (created when the group profile is setup). We're hoping to find something that more or less mimicks the iPhone since the other group members are using the iPhone. Thanks
Pete
 
Use Google+ Messenger (BTW, Google will be unifying Google+ Hangout (video chat), Google+ Messenger (chat), and Google Talk (Video and chat) into a single app). With a gmail account, you automatically have a Google+ profile and access to Google+ Hangout, and Google+ Messenger. Even if you don't post on Google+ or follow someone like twitter, you can use Google+ Messenger which provides group chat with anyone with a Google+ account or Google+ Hangout for video chats with up to nine friends at once. I've used and tested the group chat feature since Google+ started with friends of mine with android phones and iPhones and it works very well. Here's a link to Google+ mobile features ...

Google Mobile
 
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Use Google+ Messenger (BTW, Google will be unifying Google+ Hangout (video chat), Google+ Messenger (chat), and Google Talk (Video and chat) into a single app). With a gmail account, you automatically have a Google+ profile and access to Google+ Hangout, and Google+ Messenger. Even if you don't post on Google+ or follow someone like twitter, you can use Google+ Messenger which provides group chat with anyone with a Google+ account or Google+ Hangout for video chats with up to nine friends at once. I've used and tested the group chat feature since Google+ started with friends of mine with android phones and iPhones and it works very well. Here's a link to Google+ mobile features ...

Google Mobile
Thanks, but we're looking for an Android app that can communicate directly with the native iPhone app. This is the case because several family members already group chat with iPhones and we'd like to simply join in without having them switch to anything else. Are there Android apps that are compatible with the iPhone apps?
Pete
 
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I don't know anything about imessage or other apple proprietary products. But, I am willing to bet that apple locks it down so only other apple lemmings can communicate with other apple lemmings. So, you MIGHT be locked out of imessage.

I have used GroupMe. It is a free group messaging service available on Google Play and does what you want it to do as far as group messaging is concerned. Whether or not apple allows it to communicate with the iphone is the issue.

And all bias aside, I would research if imessage allows anything but imessage to talk to it if I were you.


(Side note: since everyone has facebook...facebook messenger from Google Play???)
 
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I don't know anything about imessage or other apple proprietary products. But, I am willing to bet that apple locks it down so only other apple lemmings can communicate with other apple lemmings. So, you MIGHT be locked out of imessage.

I have used GroupMe. It is a free group messaging service available on Google Play and does what you want it to do as far as group messaging is concerned. Whether or not apple allows it to communicate with the iphone is the issue.

And all bias aside, I would research if imessage allows anything but imessage to talk to it if I were you.


(Side note: since everyone has facebook...facebook messenger from Google Play???)
Thanks. Actually, we have had some limited success communicationg with the iPhone's iMessage. We can communicate well with either GroupMe or Powow when we initiate the group text. GroupMe doesn't work at all when the invite comes from the iPhone side. Powow does work when the invite comes from the iPhone provided a special number is used which you obtain when setting up a group profile within Powow. We're hoping to find an app that works in both directions without any special numbers, but so far no luck.
Pete
 
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Thanks. Actually, we have had some limited success communicationg with the iPhone's iMessage. We can communicate well with either GroupMe or Powow when we initiate the group text. GroupMe doesn't work at all when the invite comes from the iPhone side. Powow does work when the invite comes from the iPhone provided a special number is used which you obtain when setting up a group profile within Powow. We're hoping to find an app that works in both directions without any special numbers, but so far no luck.
Pete

Did you give facebook messenger a shot? It has a group messaging feature. I am of course assuming that everyone you want to communicate with uses facebook.
 
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Did you give facebook messenger a shot? It has a group messaging feature. I am of course assuming that everyone you want to communicate with uses facebook.
Thanks. No I haven't since our requirement is that the iPhone users will use their native texting app (ie, iMessage). This is because they are already doing group texting between iPhones and we want to join into that. We are not in a position to force them to switch to something else:)
Pete
 
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Update: These are the ones I've tried so far:

  • Go SMS Pro
  • Handcent SMS
  • GroupMe
  • Powow


Update: We've managed to get both Go SMS Pro and Handcent to handle group texting with limitations. They both seem to have an odd and annoying characteristic. When receiving a message, it first arrives in a thread from the person sending it and eventually gets moved over to the group thread. Go SMS Pro moves it over automatically with a delay of a minute or two whereas Handcent requires you to touch a button called 'Download' in the thread before it gets moved. We haven't figured out how to make incoming messages land directly into the group thread. Anyone having success with an app that does group texting well with iPhone users?
Pete
 
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As an update, Go SMS Pro seems to have stopped receiving group text messages as a group. Not sure what happened; maybe an update to app?
Pete

As an aside, I am trying to get Go SMS Pro to work in conjunction with the Cerberus anti-theft app. The trick is to allow the specially coded incoming text messages to be executed by Cerberus without being displayed by Go SMS Pro. That seems to work now, but just haven't been able to get the group feature to function when receiving messages from multiple recipients.
 
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We're transitioning from iPhone to Android (Samsung Galaxy Nexus). We want to text to a group where each reply is sent back into the group. We have tried several apps where you can address multiple people, but the replies come back outside the group. The only one we've found that handles this so far is Powow, but it requires that the group members text to a unique phone number (created when the group profile is setup). We're hoping to find something that more or less mimicks the iPhone since the other group members are using the iPhone. Thanks
Pete

I read all your posts on here and know exactly where you are coming from. It frustrated me even more as my older Droid Bionic was able to handle group texting right out of the box.

Are you on Verizon? If so you can download an app called "verizon messages." It basically takes over the texting function on your phone. The downside is that it is not the prettiest looking app, by far. The good thing is that it does exactly what you are looking for. Works perfectly for me:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...DEsImNvbS52ZXJpem9uLm1lc3NhZ2luZy52em1zZ3MiXQ..

If you are not on Verizon I have heard that Handcent SMS is also supposed to support group texting on its latest version, but I have not tried it.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...51bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5oYW5kY2VudC5uZXh0c21zIl0.

Hope that helps.
 
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I read all your posts on here and know exactly where you are coming from. It frustrated me even more as my older Droid Bionic was able to handle group texting right out of the box.

Are you on Verizon? If so you can download an app called "verizon messages." It basically takes over the texting function on your phone. The downside is that it is not the prettiest looking app, by far. The good thing is that it does exactly what you are looking for. Works perfectly for me:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...DEsImNvbS52ZXJpem9uLm1lc3NhZ2luZy52em1zZ3MiXQ..

If you are not on Verizon I have heard that Handcent SMS is also supposed to support group texting on its latest version, but I have not tried it.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...51bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5oYW5kY2VudC5uZXh0c21zIl0.

Hope that helps.
Thanks. We are with Straight Talk using AT&T towers. We've finally found the right combination of Go SMS Pro settings that support group texting. So far so good!
Pete
 
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I was going to suggest GroupMe, because you can select it to send via SMS to the rest of the group. They'll continue receiving incoming messages from that number with the name of the person sending it. It's all via SMS so there is no app-downloading necessary for anyone else involved.
If you didn't want to download the app, you can also start a GroupMe session from the internet.
http://www.groupme.com/sms
 
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I was going to suggest GroupMe, because you can select it to send via SMS to the rest of the group. They'll continue receiving incoming messages from that number with the name of the person sending it. It's all via SMS so there is no app-downloading necessary for anyone else involved.
If you didn't want to download the app, you can also start a GroupMe session from the internet.
http://www.groupme.com/sms
Thanks. I evaluated GroupMe and agree it's a nice app, however, I seem to recall that if iPhone (iMessage) users wished to start a group with me they had to use a special number that was unique to that group. This prevents them from changing group members in real time which is their custom. Finally, I had to disqualify GroupMe. In the meantime, I have found settings for Go SMS Pro that seem to work well with groups.
Pete
 
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Same issue, would love to know the settings you are using to make this work. Thanks
Here are what I believe are the significant settings for Go SMS Pro:
Basic:

  • set New message notification
  • clear Enable popup windows
  • running mode: custom with set appearance/clear go chat
  • Default sms: goSMS for send and rec'v
Application settings:

  • set Message grouping
  • Emoji set to iPhone
Notification settings:

  • set Enable notifications
Send settings

  • set MMS Group chat
Receive settings

  • clear Disable other message notification
  • set Push messages
Important tips:

  • set Enable Go SMS run persistently
  • set Enable health check
Note: Stock Messenger is set to auto-retrieve and notification cleared.

Hope that helps
Pete
 
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^^^ So does this require everyone in the "group" to use Go SMS Pro?

I want to be able to start a group chat from my Android phone and include 2 people on blackberry and 1 person on iPhone.
I want everyone to stay in the "group chat" and if anyone replies, EVERYONE, gets the message back to the "group" chat.

Will Go SMS Pro do this?
 
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Same issue, would love to know the settings you are using to make this work. Thanks

^^^ So does this require everyone in the "group" to use Go SMS Pro?

I want to be able to start a group chat from my Android phone and include 2 people on blackberry and 1 person on iPhone.
I want everyone to stay in the "group chat" and if anyone replies, EVERYONE, gets the message back to the "group" chat.

Will Go SMS Pro do this?
As mentioned, our requirement was to communicate directly with iPhone users running stock iMessage. We have tested Go SMS Plus with other iPhone users, but not Blackberry users. Upon receipt of a text message, we see the identity of all participants and when we reply it goes to all of them. There is one oddity; when we initially get a message, it comes in as an individual message from the sender and then about a minute later it gets moved into the group message. There must be some post-processing that identifies it as a group and does the move. Handcent works in a similar fashion except that you have to click in the individual message to get it to move into the group.
Pete
 
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Thanks so much for making this thread! I've been trying to devise a way to get involved in iMessage conversations but I've been unsuccessful in my searches. This is the first thread that really addresses the issue of keeping the texts in a group iMessage in the same thread on both my device and on my iPhone friends' devices.

I have a couple questions that I hope you can answer. Let me phrase this situationally for the sake of simplicity.

Situation 1: I initiate a text two 5 friends. 3 have iPhones and 2 have dumb phones. Will this create an iMessage group conversation with all 6 people (including myself) for the iPhone users? Will all the responses flow into a group thread on my phone? If so, will all my responses to that group thread be received in the iPhone users' group iMessage?

Situation 2: Same situation as above, except an iPhone user initiates the conversation. Will this create a group thread on my phone? If so, when I text back, will my iPhone counterparts receive my texts in their group iMessage?
 
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