Re: Removing members from text messaging group

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:
 

This DOES have something to do with the Google Messages app -- should
you decide to install it to replace your current bundled text app on
your phone.  Your current and bundled text app has no means to delete a
recipient once added to a group. The Google Messages APP does.

 
Where's that then?
 
Within Google Messages I can see how to add people to a group, and view
the group details to see who's in it, but under the "obvious" place
[...] per contact there is no option to remove them, only to edit them.

From my reply for Message-ID: <1hegi7ruj8dpq.dlg@v.nguard.lh>, I cited
what I found online with Google's AI-assisted search.  Also,

https://teacherscollege.screenstepslive.com/a/1345224-remove-members-from-a-google-group

looks to be editing your "group" under Google Groups, not of editing a
"group" in the SMS app.  The term group gets way overused, so I got
misled to the wrong directions.

While Google Messages is an SMS/RCS texting app, it organizes into
conversations.  Its "group" is a list of contacts used within a
conversation (aka chat), not a group of contacts, so "group" really
doesn't mean what we think it means.  It's not something stored to be
reused later for a new conversation, but a list of recipients for a
particular conversation.

I thought the Google Messages app might grab groups defined in the Phone
app (under its Contacts tab where I can add groups of contacts), but
that test failed.  A group defined in the Phone app did not show up in
the Google Messages app to let me select it as a recipient list.

From what I can see and test in the Google Messages app, "group" is a
per-conversation object, not something you can reuse for other
conversations withe the same recipients.  If you want to keep using that
"group", you must not delete the conversation where the "group" was
defined.  If you delete the entire conversation, the "group" disappears.

So, do delete a recipient in a "group" means deleting the conversation
to delete the "group" to get rid of the recipient.  However, since a
"group" is specific to a conversation, it's not something you can reuse
to define recipients in a new conversation.

I couldn't test the default Messages app (bundled by LG on my phone)
since it bitches that another app (Google Messages) is the default
messaging app.  Possibly in that app a "group" would be a list of
contacts that could get reused across multiple and new conversations,
not something defined for just a particular conversation.

Once I'm done texting with someone, it is not very long until I delete a
conversation.  It isn't relevant, anymore.  A conversation about a
grocery delivery is irrelevant after the groceries got delivered.  A 2FA
code I need to complete a web site login is a worthless conversation
after I've used the 2FA code to login.  My conversations aka chats aka
texts aka SMS message threads don't survive long, so neither would any
"group" defined for the recipients for a particular conversation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ChSDXBed_k

This guy says "group *chat*", not "recipients group".  That fits with my
testing that shows a "group" only survives as long as the conversation
survives.  Delete the conversation, and the "group" is gone.

You create a "group" when you create new conversation.  You can add
recipients to the group, but not delete.  The thread has already been
created.  Deleting the conversation gets rid of the "group", because the
"group" were the recipients in THAT conversation.  You would have to
keep around old conversations to retain the "group".  I'm a neat freak,
so conversations never last long on my phone.

You need to use some other SMS app that keeps a group of *contact*
available for reuse in later and new conversations.  I found:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=crazy.pradeep.multismssender&hl=en_US&pli=1
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.MSMS&hl=en_US

Never used them, so no idea if it is reliable.  Maybe it does what the
OP wants, which is to define a "contacts group" that is reusable in
separate conversations, or after deleting a conversations and later
starting a new conversation where the OP wants to specify the same
collection of recipients.  That is, perhaps they create sending lists
reusable for separate conversations.

This were "group" means a list of contacts in the Contacts app (or
Contacts list in the Phone app) versus "group" in SMS messages being a
list of recipients within a conversation.

I don't have a moto g phone to know what features or deficiences it has.
Google Message doesn't save contact groups for later reuse.  A "group"
is a list of recipients within a conversation, not a separate reusable
object to use in new conversations.