How To Leave A Group Chat On Iphone

For over a decade, iMessage or the Messages app has been the most widely used chatting app on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. The service offers all the traditional messaging features like sending texts, pictures, videos, documents, and group texts with up to 32 people. Group messaging has been popular on iMessage for being seamless when it comes to having a conversation with your friends, family members, colleagues, or recent acquaintances with whom you talk on a certain topic.

Like any group activity, sometimes you may find yourself stuck in a conversation that you want to escape out of. If you're that someone who wishes to exit a group text on iMessage, in this post, we'll help you find a way to avoid it from distracting you in the future.

Related: How to Share Your Live Location with Someone over iMessage

How to leave a group text on iMessage (2 Ways)
What happens when you leave a group on iMessage?
Why can't I leave an iMessage group?
How else can I avoid groups texts on iMessage without leaving?

How to leave a group text on iMessage (2 Ways)

If you wish to leave a group text on the Messages app, it's important that this group is made of contacts who are all using iMessage from their iPhones or iPads. That's because you cannot quit groups that consist of non-Apple users. These are users who don't use iMessage to send a message but their texts are sent to you through traditional SMS/MMS as the ones sent on an Android device.

You can check if the group you're a part of is an iMessage group by simply looking at the conversation bubbles' color, which will be blue for groups filled with Apple users and green if any one of them isn't an Apple user.

1. On iPhone/iPad

To leave a group on iMessage, open the Messages app on your iPhone/iPad and make sure you can see all your chat threads by going to the 'All Messages' section on the app.

On this screen, tap on the group chat you want to leave.

When the group chat opens on the screen, tap on the group icon or name at the top of the chat thread.

This will open the group info screen. Here, scroll down and select the 'Leave this Conversation' option.

In the prompt that appears at the bottom, confirm this process by tapping on 'Leave this Conversation' again.

2. On Mac

If you wish to leave a group text inside iMessage on macOS, you can do that by launching the Messages app from the Applications folder, Launchpad, or Spotlight. When the Messages app opens on your Mac, select the group thread you no longer want to be part of and tap on the 'i' icon at the top right corner of the Messages app window to open the group's Info screen.

In the overflow menu that appears on the right side, scroll down and click on the 'Leave this Conversation' option.

You can confirm this process by clicking on the 'Leave' option inside the prompt that appears on the screen.

You will now be removed from the iMessage group.

What happens when you leave a group on iMessage?

When you use the 'Leave this Conversation' option, you will be removed from the group chat you wanted to quit. Leaving a group conversation won't notify other members of the group, similar to when you delete a chat thread on iMessage. Others will only know that you have exited the group when they check the group info screen on their iPhone or Mac. A group that you left will have a message that reads "You left the conversation" at the bottom of the screen when opened.

The group thread will continue to exist inside the Messages app for you to access at any later time, for as long as you wish to keep it. As for the messages that are visible within the group, you have access to all the messages that you and others shared during your time on it. However, no new messages will appear inside the group chat and you'll only see the last message that was sent to the group before you left it.

Why can't I leave an iMessage group?

The 'Leave this Conversation' option can instantly remove you from an iMessage group inside the Messages app. However, this option may be grayed out when there's someone in the group text who isn't using iMessage or if they don't have an iPhone. If one member of a group text sends conventional SMS/MMS texts, then there's no way you can leave that group.

Apple doesn't provide an explanation for why you cannot leave such a group, especially when SMS texts have become dated in present times. If you're wondering how to differentiate between an iMessage group and an SMS group, there's an easy way to know that. iMessage groups are the ones you can choose to leave from and chat bubbles sent by you in this kind of thread will appear blue in color.

If you're part of an SMS/MMS group on the Messages app, chat bubbles of your messages in the group will be colored in green. In such cases, it means that one or more members of this group aren't iPhone or iMessage users.

How else can I avoid groups texts on iMessage without leaving?

Although Apple makes leaving an iMessage group a simple affair, exiting a group might not be the best-suited option for you for ethical reasons. If you feel that you're part of a group you cannot permanently escape from, the least you could do to prevent being blown up with this group's messages is by muting all of its notifications. Muting notifications of group messages works similarly to that of muting a message thread on iMessage as it silences all future messages that you receive via the group. This can also be helpful for SMS/MMS groups that you, otherwise cannot leave from.

To mute a group text on iMessage, open the Messages app and select the thread you want to mute notifications from.

When the group text opens up, tap on the group icon or name at the top of the screen.

This will open the group info screen. Here, scroll down and enable the 'Hide Alerts' toggle.

This way, you will continue to receive messages in the group but you will no longer get alerts for each and every message that's shared in it. When you 'Hide Alerts' for a group, no one in the group would know that you have muted alerts for the group.

That's all you need to know about leaving group texts on iMessage.

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