The joys of setting up a group text
March 10, 2020 4:50 PM Subscribe
I just need to run a group text for about 10 people, be able to add/delete people on occasion, and do it over Android. Apparently that is very difficult?
Yes, I tried GroupMe, but it refuses to find most of the people I wanted to add onto the group text. I assume GroupMe only wants to add people that are already on GroupMe.
I'd rather not have to start a new group text from scratch (it's used a few times a month) every damn time someone wants to be added, or deleted, but I don't know if anything other than GroupMe promises to do this easily AND actually works.
Yes, I tried GroupMe, but it refuses to find most of the people I wanted to add onto the group text. I assume GroupMe only wants to add people that are already on GroupMe.
I'd rather not have to start a new group text from scratch (it's used a few times a month) every damn time someone wants to be added, or deleted, but I don't know if anything other than GroupMe promises to do this easily AND actually works.
WhatsApp is the way to go (provided you're not ideologically opposed to Facebook, which owns it). Everybody needs to have WhatsApp, but that's not a very high bar.
posted by number9dream at 5:04 PM on March 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by number9dream at 5:04 PM on March 10, 2020 [3 favorites]
I haven't used GroupMe, but have run into similar frustrations when I tried to manage a group list in the past and wanted to stick with SMS rather than requiring everyone to get the same app. GroupMe seems to say it can do that. Have you tried out the commands for adding phone numbers to a group?
posted by rube goldberg at 5:07 PM on March 10, 2020
posted by rube goldberg at 5:07 PM on March 10, 2020
Telegram is excellent at this and isn't a part of Zuckerberg's empire like Whatsapp.
I don't think there's actually a good way to accomplish this over SMS, because SMS is terrible. That's why apps like Telegram/Whatsapp/Facebook/your DMs are so popular even though everyone has SMS already on their phone.
posted by bradbane at 7:16 PM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
I don't think there's actually a good way to accomplish this over SMS, because SMS is terrible. That's why apps like Telegram/Whatsapp/Facebook/your DMs are so popular even though everyone has SMS already on their phone.
posted by bradbane at 7:16 PM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
No no don't use WhatsApp. Not everyone will have or want that. Even if it's only one person, you really need EVERYONE. Please don't try to force everyone to join WhatsApp by defacto excluding people who aren't using it. That's really not cool.
Also important: you, and everyone in the group, will be learning a solution that will be applied to other similar situations in the future. If you don't choose something good, you'll be spreading bad habits virally. Yes you. You. Your decision here matters.
GroupMe works -- I've wrestled with it a little, but as long as you add new users through the web interface, it's fine. Everyone who isn't an admin can use it through SMS to just send and receive messages.
Make sure people respond ASAP to their initiating message.
Just don't try to add people through SMS -- use the web interface.
posted by amtho at 7:55 PM on March 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
Also important: you, and everyone in the group, will be learning a solution that will be applied to other similar situations in the future. If you don't choose something good, you'll be spreading bad habits virally. Yes you. You. Your decision here matters.
GroupMe works -- I've wrestled with it a little, but as long as you add new users through the web interface, it's fine. Everyone who isn't an admin can use it through SMS to just send and receive messages.
Make sure people respond ASAP to their initiating message.
Just don't try to add people through SMS -- use the web interface.
posted by amtho at 7:55 PM on March 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
My group had trouble with GroupMe, like people not receiving all the texts or getting them hours or days later. Our leader couldn’t figure it out, though maybe the troubleshooting tips above could have helped. We ended up switching to WhatsApp, which works well and we haven’t had any technical issues with.
posted by JenMarie at 11:07 PM on March 10, 2020
posted by JenMarie at 11:07 PM on March 10, 2020
That could have been a GroupMe bug, but I sometimes don't get regular texts hours or days after they're sent. Which doesn't fix your problem, to be sure.
posted by amtho at 11:34 PM on March 10, 2020
posted by amtho at 11:34 PM on March 10, 2020
I guess the follow-up question is, does it have to work over SMS or can you get everyone to install an app? If installing apps is OK, that's definitely the way to go for this. I use Telegram for this sort of thing myself and it works great.
Unfortunately, I'm not aware of an alternative to GroupMe that allows SMS participants.
posted by Aleyn at 11:49 PM on March 10, 2020
Unfortunately, I'm not aware of an alternative to GroupMe that allows SMS participants.
posted by Aleyn at 11:49 PM on March 10, 2020
As long as all you want to do is broadcast texts, I do exactly this with nothing but the standard android Contacts and Messages apps. That is to say, I can send 'group texts' out but it isn't any kind of group chat with responses to the group.
1. in your Contacts, add a particular Label to each of your group members until all are tagged
2. in Contacts still, there should be an option in the main menu for your group label; select it, and the group members are listed.
3. From the kebab menu, there is an option 'Send message'; select this
4. This will present a list of ways to message the group members, Messages, WhatsApp, Messenger, Hangouts, etc. Select 'Messages'
5. Now it goes to the Messages app, with the heading at top listing the group members, something along the lines of "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and 7 others"
6. You can type out your text and hit Send, and it will go as individual text messages, one to each group member.
posted by vincebowdren at 1:11 AM on March 11, 2020
1. in your Contacts, add a particular Label to each of your group members until all are tagged
2. in Contacts still, there should be an option in the main menu for your group label; select it, and the group members are listed.
3. From the kebab menu, there is an option 'Send message'; select this
4. This will present a list of ways to message the group members, Messages, WhatsApp, Messenger, Hangouts, etc. Select 'Messages'
5. Now it goes to the Messages app, with the heading at top listing the group members, something along the lines of "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and 7 others"
6. You can type out your text and hit Send, and it will go as individual text messages, one to each group member.
posted by vincebowdren at 1:11 AM on March 11, 2020
vincebowdren - does that work for more than ten group members? Having > 10 members was why my first group started using GroupMe.
And please, please don't require people to install apps just to communicate with a group. The underlying software/API/cultural structure of creating apps has lead to a total disregard of device privacy, and not everyone everywhere can use a smartphone. Maybe your group this one time has no problem with it, but every time you create a group system for communication, you're making it likely that you, and every member of that group, will use that system in the future.
It takes time and focus to learn how a new system works, and most people would prefer to learn as few systems as possible. You may ultimately not have a choice, and I do respect that, but when you're thinking about what choices you have -- know that it does matter.
posted by amtho at 8:17 AM on March 11, 2020
And please, please don't require people to install apps just to communicate with a group. The underlying software/API/cultural structure of creating apps has lead to a total disregard of device privacy, and not everyone everywhere can use a smartphone. Maybe your group this one time has no problem with it, but every time you create a group system for communication, you're making it likely that you, and every member of that group, will use that system in the future.
It takes time and focus to learn how a new system works, and most people would prefer to learn as few systems as possible. You may ultimately not have a choice, and I do respect that, but when you're thinking about what choices you have -- know that it does matter.
posted by amtho at 8:17 AM on March 11, 2020
I assume GroupMe only wants to add people that are already on GroupMe.
I got spammed twice last year with multiple Group Me messages even though I never gave them permission to text me. So, I don't think it requires any opt in unless they have finally fixed that.
posted by soelo at 8:50 AM on March 11, 2020
I got spammed twice last year with multiple Group Me messages even though I never gave them permission to text me. So, I don't think it requires any opt in unless they have finally fixed that.
posted by soelo at 8:50 AM on March 11, 2020
amtho: vincebowdren - does that work for more than ten group members? Having > 10 members was why my first group started using GroupMe.
Ah, I'm not sure the group has ever got to more than ten, sorry. I don't know if it would continue working with larger numbers.
posted by vincebowdren at 2:30 AM on April 3, 2020
Ah, I'm not sure the group has ever got to more than ten, sorry. I don't know if it would continue working with larger numbers.
posted by vincebowdren at 2:30 AM on April 3, 2020
Response by poster: Yeah, well, it's no longer any kind of issue since everything is shut down now and nobody "wants their phones spammed with group texts" anyway. Sigh.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:55 AM on April 3, 2020
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:55 AM on April 3, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Penguin48 at 4:58 PM on March 10, 2020 [4 favorites]