Help Can't open group texts from IPhone users

[Sherimcb]

Hello. I have never used something like this and I don't know if I am posting in the correct place so please bear with me as I am at my wits end with this. I have an LG Optimus Elite on Virgin. I can not and have never been able to receive group texts from IPhone users. When I get the text it either comes up as a rectangle that says download or a play symbol > that says mms. When I press either nothing opens and I end up with a blank box. Nearly all my friends have IPhones and we use texting to coordinate most everything we do and its almost always as a group. I feel like an idiot constantly telling everyone that I can't read their original texts or any of the responses. I have spent hours on the phone with Virgin and researching online to no avail. Have triple checked all my phone setting, have tried GoSMS and Handcent and they don't help. I keep my 3G on at all times. Virgin is now telling me some Android phones just can't "talk" to iPhones and there is nothing I can do. Well if that is the case, this phone should have come with a huge label stating "if you buy this you will not be able to talk to iPhones" and I never would have bought it. I am furious and exhausted at being out of the loop and excluded since I can't open these texts from IPhones when they are sent to multiple users. Is there anyone out there who can help me, please? Thank you so much.

 

[riggerman1]

Had the same problem on the Optimus V. It all comes down to the app used by the iPhone. If you read the description of the app, it plainly states that both sender and receivers must have it installed. Since it comes preinstalled on the iPhone, it isn't an issue with them. However, it will not work with other devices such as Android or Windows phones. In my opinion, it is a shortcoming in the iOS, not in Android. You can send a group text from Android to iPhone, but iPhone won't let you do it the other way.

 

[ktb83]

http://androidforums.com/lg-optimus-v/529620-iphone-imessage-group-mms-shows-up-blank-mms.html

 

[atraum]

Interesting info...I have also seen this and wasn't quite sure what to make of it. The strange thing is that I have also been sitting next to a friend that I believe has a Motorola Droid and he received the same message fine (I should confirm his model and carrier). The other oddity is that I do receive messages from one of my girlfriends that has a iPhone 4S (Verizon) without issues, hmm maybe it depends on if the sent message goes to one person or a group. I have an iPhone for work...maybe I need to send some test messages to satisfy my curiosity!

 

[atraum]

Hah, what a nightmare! I decided to satisfy my personal curiosity on this one and read up on it a bit and this issue is much bigger than I originally realized and many are pulling their hair out due to this Apple "feature".

From what I've read iMessage is turned on by default (can be turned off in the messaging settings) and it's main function is to help save you money on texting. A regular SMS/MMS message goes through your carrier and counts towards your quota where a iMessage gets routed through Apple servers and does not effect your carrier quota. When an Apple user selects their "Messages" app and starts typing in the names Apple verifies what type of handset the recipient has, if it is an Apple product the bubble around the name is blue (signifying a propriety iMessage) and if it is a non-Apple product the bubble is green (signifying it will be sent as a SMS/MMS). My understanding is that if the iMessage fails to deliver it defaults that specific message (not contact) to SMS and resends.

To make things even a bit more confusing I could not reproduce the error using my work phone (iPhone with OS 5.1.1 (9B206). I opened the Messages app and started typing in some names of people that have iPhones and all the names were blue and the header of the screen indicated "New iMessage", once I added a single contact that I know has an Android phone all the names in the group turned to green and the header changed to "New Group MMS". My wife and I have both received the empty messages from iPhones in the past on our Androids but when sending from my iPhone to both it identifies them correctly and delivers the message as expected. Who knows, maybe it's because my work iPhone is a Sprint model and our Androids are on VM using the Sprint network although I know I also received iPhone messages from one of my girlfriends who is on the Verizon network.

Back to my original post where I indicated my friend receives the same messages fine on his Motorola Droid...maybe Apple identifies the failure to his phone and then resends the message to his phone as a SMS/MMS while mine receives an empty bubble so Apple believes it was delivered as expected.

Who knows but what a debacle! My assumption is that you did not own a Apple device in the past, if you did there is a know fix for this. You could also try having the sender turn off iMessage, then send you a message and respond back to it, have them turn iMessage back on and perhaps their device will then associate your contact info with SMS/MMS instead of iMessage.

I know this was a long rant but bottom line is that this is not a Carrier or Android issue, it is a "feature" of Apple that doesn't always work as expected. It does suck but don't the majority of people have unlimited texts in their contract these days?? If so why even use iMessage and have your data go through the Apple servers? Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see any other advantages to use iMessage other than standard SMS/MMS (Apple - iPhone 4S - Send messages, messages, and more messages.).

 

[Sherimcb]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I've been researching and researching and I've found that one fix can be to manually input the APN info in the messaging program. I have no idea what this even is but my husband found the info to enter. I then had someone send me a test message using the iPhone group chat and it seems to have worked. I go this one message and it opened just like a regular text. I'll believe it when it happens regularly, after all this messs, so we'll see. Just wanted to pass it along. I'll let you know, thanks again.

 

[Dark One]

You can't talk to groups of iPhone users? That sounds like a feature I would pay extra for

 

[bourzia]

hope there is some kind of work around for this.

 

[bourzia]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I've been researching and researching and I've found that one fix can be to manually input the APN info in the messaging program. I have no idea what this even is but my husband found the info to enter. I then had someone send me a test message using the iPhone group chat and it seems to have worked. I go this one message and it opened just like a regular text. I'll believe it when it happens regularly, after all this messs, so we'll see. Just wanted to pass it along. I'll let you know, thanks again.

any info on how you did this?

 

[reesdg]

It looks like you found the solution to receiving these group messages from an Iphone? Does anyone know what the settings need to be in order for them to work? I have an LG G2x if that matters on T-mobile.

Thanks

 

[bourzia]

this has become a big problem for me with work. I haven't been able to find a solution so it looks like I'm buying a new phone...

 

[giantpune]

At least it's work related. You can write that overpriced iPos off on your taxes.

 

[bourzia]

lol. I will not be buying an iphone!

I switched to the htc one v today and tested with a friend. Iphone group texts work fine with the HTC one v. I liked everything else about the Optimus elite(except the sucky facebook app) but so far I'm really digging the one v.

 

[MacFett]

Not sure why the One V would be able to do group texts from iphone and not the Elite unless you're running two different SMS apps. And a heads up, the VMU TOS forbids the VMU network and device from being used for business purposes. Make sure you never mention work to VMU if calling. I had a friend who used his MT to for teamviewer on work computers and called CS about network problems and they threatened to cancel his account.

 

[gweff]

My wife insists that I participate in group texting with her and other iphone users. Here is how you do it. Download Handcent from Play market. Open and go to Menu, Settings, Application Settings. Select "Default Messaging Application" and select "All" then go "back" to last menu. Then scroll all the way down and select "Thread Group Conversation". Now back out to main settings menu. Select "Receive Message Settings" and check "Auto retrieve" and "Auto Download". Now that should get things going on Handcent. Then open up the stock messaging app and then menu, settings and turn off "Notifications". Else you will get duplicate notifications. Remove the stock messaging icon from home screen bar and replace with Handcent. I know a lot of work for something that Android should already do. I am sure it's a patent thing. BTW I am on AT&T with a GS3 running Jelly Bean 4.1.1.

 

[Aussie4Life]

lol. I will not be buying an iphone!

I switched to the htc one v today and tested with a friend. Iphone group texts work fine with the HTC one v. I liked everything else about the Optimus elite(except the sucky facebook app) but so far I'm really digging the one v.

I too have an HTC One V, but I cannot figure out how to receive group texts, I have it with Virgin Mobile if that is any help to you.

 

[Rick_reyn1812]

Hopefully, I just figured this out. My wife & daughter are on iphones and I'm on a Galaxy SIII. When they would include me on group messaging and my data connection was OFF, then I would not receive the messages (data). So I just tried turning on the DATA with WI-FI, and the messages would have a box that would say DOWNLOAD. With only WI-FI on, no download occurred, however, when I turned on DATA and pressed the DOWNLOAD on the message, the message(s) loaded (except the ones that had expired).

So, my lesson learned is that to receive group messages from iphones, keep your DATA turned on, even when you are connected to WI-FI. I was just trying to save the battery, but looks like that won't work if I want to continue to receive all text messages from iphones. My daughter actually sold her SIII and went back to an older iphone just so she didn't have to deal with this issue.

Hope this works for everyone! Rick

P.S. our carrier is AT&T.

 

[PilotBob]

Go SMS (is supposed to) support this... although, while I use Go SMS pro and love it, mostly for the reminder notification feature I haven't used the group text feature coming or going.

DiamondLucia: Group Messaging Between Android and iPhone

BOb

 

[bourzia]

We'll, I had this working with handcent, then it stopped. Same thing with gosms. It worked for a few weeks, then it updated and it was back to blank messages...

 

[aml1025]

We'll, I had this working with handcent, then it stopped. Same thing with gosms. It worked for a few weeks, then it updated and it was back to blank messages...

Every time the iPhone gets an update, it messes things up again and Handcent needs to put out an update as well before things get working again.

 

[miediev]

I've heard that the messenger app from Verizon works with iphone group texts. It's available on the play store and should work for non-Verizon phones.

 

[bourzia]

Nice! That seems to work. Thank you. It's kind of ugly, but I can now receive group messages again.

 

[bourzia]

I spoke too soon.

 

[bennyhinn]

We'll, I had this working with handcent, then it stopped. Same thing with gosms. It worked for a few weeks, then it updated and it was back to blank messages...

yup. same with me. it was working fine with Gosms for awhile actually. then it just stopped working within the last couple week. just get blank messages now

 

[GaryTrz]

Turning the Mobile Data on worked for me. We tested this with Mobile Data on and then off. It worked perfectly with Mobile Data on. Thanks for solving this frustrating situation.