This article was written by Stan Kats and by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA. Stan Kats is the COO and Chief Technologist for The STG IT Consulting Group in West Hollywood, California. Stan provides comprehensive technology & cybersecurity solutions to businesses through managed IT services, and for individuals through his consumer service business, Stan's Tech Garage. Stan has over 7 years of cybersecurity experience, holding senior positions in information security at General Motors, AIG, and Aramark over his career. Stan received a BA in International Relations from The University of Southern California.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
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Did you forget to add that person to your group text so they can stay up to date? Luckily, you can add people to existing group texts on your Android, iPhone, or iPad as long as the person has the same device and messaging type (Android RCS or iOS iMessage) as the other people in the chat. If you're using an Android, you can also create a group chat for people using any type of device in the Chats or Gmail app.
Adding People to a Group Text
- iPhone/iPad: Tap the member icons at the top of the group text, select "Add Contact," and choose a contact to add.
- Android (Google Messages): In the group text, tap ⋮, go to "People & options" > "Add people" and select a contact.
- Android (Samsung Messages): Tap the name of the group at the top of the chat, tap "Add/remove recipients," and choose who to add.
Steps
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Open the group text you want to add someone to. As long as the person you want to add is also using an iPhone or iPad with iMessage enabled, you'll be able to add them to the group text.
- If anyone in the group is using a non-Apple device like an Android, you won't be able to add someone to the group text. Instead, just create a new group text that includes the new person.[1]
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Tap the member icons at the top of the screen. This opens the group's details.Advertisement
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Tap + Add Contact. It's at the bottom of the page.
- If you don't see this option, tap the gray arrow to the right of the contacts first.
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Select a contact. If the person you're adding is in your contacts, their information will auto-fill as you're typing their name.
- You can also enter their Apple ID if you don't know the other information.
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Tap Done. You'll see this in the upper right corner of your screen.[2]
- That person, if they have an iPhone or iPad, is now added to the conversation. While they won't see previous messages, they can start chatting with everyone right away.
- If you have a lot of groups, it might be easier to give them nicknames so you can quickly identify them.
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Tap the More menu ⋮. You'll see this at the top of the conversation.
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Tap People & options. This shows you who is already in the group text.
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Tap Add people. Now you can add one or more new people to the conversation.
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Choose who to add and save your changes. Once you add someone to the group text, they'll start receiving messages that anyone sends to the group.
- The person you add will not be able to see messages that were sent to the chat before they were added.
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Open the group text on your Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet. If you're using the Samsung Messages app, you can easily add someone else to an existing group text.
- To add someone to the conversation, they'll need to have RCS enabled, as will everybody else in the existing chat.
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Tap the group's name at the top. This displays a list of who's already in the group chat.
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Tap Add/remove recipients. You'll see this at the bottom of the screen.[4]
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Choose who to add and save your changes. Once you add someone to the group text, they'll start receiving messages that anyone sends to the group.
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Open the Chats app or Gmail. If you want to have a group conversation with people who don't have Androids, you can create a chat in the Google Chat or Gmail app. The Chat app looks like two green chat bubbles, but you can also launch Gmail and tap the Chat tab at the bottom.
- An alternative is to use an internet-based messaging service like WhatsApp, which lets you add people to group chats at any time.
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In the group chat, tap the group name. The group name is at the top of the group chat.
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Tap Invite people. This will only work if you started the group originally. If you joined the group later, you'll see the option to start a new chat with the same people in the group and have the ability to add more.
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Enter the name or phone number of who you want to invite. You can also tap their Contact under Frequent.
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Tap Done. This is in the upper right corner of your screen and will add that person to your group text.[5]
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