Annoyed by a Group iMessage Conversation?
A family member recently reached out to me and asked whether it is possible to leave a group message thread in Apple’s Messages app.
That is a great question, and I too have been caught in some group message conversations that seem to go on forever with comments that don’t even pertain to me or the original thread topic.
Sometimes the group message ends up being an ongoing conversation between two members, in which everyone else in the group gets notified each time a comment is made. Other times, my devices are constantly alerting me of new messages, which end up being continuous responses to the same discussion thread.
Maybe you have experienced this same group messaging annoyance.
Luckily, Apple has provided a couple ways to help you silence a group message conversation or completely remove yourself from a group message.
How to Silence a Group Conversation in Messages
OK…you are a member of a group conversation in Apple’s Messages app and group messages are flying back and forth. The problem is that you are at work, in a meeting, trying to sleep, or busy doing something else and the constant message notifications on your device are becoming a distraction. You don’t want to stop receiving the messages, but you wish you could stop receiving the message notifications.
Sure, you could turn on ‘Do Not Disturb‘ on your device, but that turns off notifications for all apps. If you could just turn on ‘Do Not Disturb’ for a specific Message conversation, that would be great! Wouldn’t it?
http://littlemagonline.com/tag/sculpture/ How to silence an individual message conversation
If you don’t want to leave a group message conversation in the Messages app but want to stop receiving notifications, Apple provides an option to turn on Do Not Disturb for individual message conversations.
- Open the Wijk bij Duurstede Messages App
- Tap on the message conversation you would like to silence
- While looking at a conversation tap the ‘ i‘ (letter i) icon in the top right. This will reveal those that are taking part in the conversation, which is handy if it’s a group message. It will also reveal message options to manage your message conversation experience.
- Next, swipe down to where you see the ‘Do Not Disturb‘ option
- To silence notifications from this conversation, simply toggle the adjacent switch to on (it will change to green)
- If you do want to receive notifications again, return and disable ‘Do Not Disturb‘.
Remember, this only silences the message conversation you tap on. All other incoming message notifications will alert you. If you are wondering whether you can silence more than one message but not all, yes you can by performing the steps above on each message you wish to silence.
How to Remove Yourself from a Group Message
OK…this time you are super annoyed by the group message conversation and you wish you could just slip out the back door and leave it all together. You could try deleting the message thread, but it will return each time a new comment is shared with the group because you are still a member of the group.
That being said, Apple does provide you a hidden back door to help you bail on a conversation. Yeah!
How to leave a group conversation
To leave an iMessage conversation, do the following:
- Open the Messages App
- Tap on the Message conversation you would like to leave
- While looking at a conversation tap the ‘i‘ (letter i) icon in the top right.
- Next, swipe down to where you see the ‘Leave this Conversation‘ option (text is formatted in red)
- To remove yourself from a group message conversation, simply tap ‘Leave this Conversation‘.
- By doing this, you will be completely removed from the conversation and no longer annoyed by it.
NOTE: The ‘Leaving this Conversation’ option is only available when all group members are using Apple devices. If there is an Android user in the group, you’re out of luck and can’t leave the conversation. Your only option is to turn on ‘Do Not Disturb’. (Darn Android users!) 😉
There you go! I hope you learned something in this post. If you did, go show off to your family and friends. You deserve it!
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“Get Your Mobile On!”©
iPad (Group Message) Expert Dave 😉
iPad Expert Dave
@iPadExpertDave
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