Help Edit a number within group chat

DerekPixel · Apr 13, 2021

I'm using the default 'Messages' app from google, Pixel 5.

Group chat with several people. All of a sudden, all AT&T contacts stop receiving my messages in this group chat. After some troubleshooting, I find that having a contact without an area code is causing it.

ie.
Angela: (123) 555 - 5678
Bryan: 555 - 6789
Charlie: (123) 555 - 4567

Any group chat that includes Bryan has the issue.

I can change the number in my contacts to add the area code, but the group chat list is not updated. It retains the original number that the group chat was started with.

I could delete the group chat, and re-make it with the updated number. But I don't want to lose the history.

How can I update a contact's phone number within a group chat?

Thank you for any ideas and suggestions

Dannydet · Apr 13, 2021

I don't believe group chat has that option

DerekPixel · Apr 13, 2021

Dannydet said:
I don't believe group chat has that option

So if somebody changed phone numbers, for example.... You would have to delete the group chat and remake it to get them on?

That's unfortunate.

Hadron · Apr 13, 2021

Can you not just create a new chat with the same people (including the updated number)?

I don't use Google's Messages app, and am not sure whether you are talking about group SMS/MMS or RCS "chat" (it supports both), so I'm just guessing here. But I know that if I create a group SMS and I've sent to the same group of people previously it adds to that existing conversation, so I'd guess that if it recognises that one of the numbers is different when you create a chat it would start as a new chat (SMS at least will be based on the number, not the contact name - I've never used RCS and don't use MMS, but would guess they are the same). Not ideal, perhaps, but it would allow you to send messages to the same group and still keep the old chat as an archive.

DerekPixel · Apr 13, 2021

Hadron said:
Can you not just create a new chat with the same people (including the updated number)?

I don't use Google's Messages app, and am not sure whether you are talking about group SMS/MMS or RCS "chat" (it supports both), so I'm just guessing here. But I know that if I create a group SMS and I've sent to the same group of people previously it adds to that existing conversation, so I'd guess that if it recognises that one of the numbers is different when you create a chat it would start as a new chat (SMS at least will be based on the number, not the contact name - I've never used RCS and don't use MMS, but would guess they are the same). Not ideal, perhaps, but it would allow you to send messages to the same group and still keep the old chat as an archive.

As I start adding people to a new group chat, as soon as it recognizes all the same contacts are part of an existing group, it just auto-populates the existing group.

Even if I type the numbers manually, it auto-recognizes the contact and merges it to the same group.

Hadron · Apr 14, 2021

What if you start with the number that has changed?

It seems odd if it's using contacts to assign to a chat but ignoring the number change, given that the actual message sending depends on the numbers. Unless of course it's just using the last N digits of the number for identification and so not spotting the change in prefix (it has to use the full number for sending, so that would be rather dim, but caller ID works that way so this is possible).

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Help Edit a number within group chat

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