How To Remove Yourself From a Group Text: An Easy Guide

For the longest time, texting was limited to two participants. The convenience of texting was often preferred over calling, but only being able to text one person could be tedious at times. 

Coordinating a group event involving eight different people meant having eight separate text threads. Eventually, texting technology caught up to the desire for expanded texting abilities, and group texts became a reality in the early 2000s.

Unfortunately, there can be downsides to group texts. You can be included without consent and be flooded with messages if it’s a particularly chatty group. A heated argument between two or more people in the group can leave with a nightmare scenario in terms of message management. You’ll be buried in unread messages that you can’t delete fast enough. 

The good news is that there are some options for getting out of a group text. The bad news is that it’s not always possible to leave.

Here are a few ways that you can try to leave a group text or at least silence your notifications for it:

How To Leave a Group Text on an iPhone

As of now, Apple users are the only people who can successfully escape from a group text. However, a few strict requirements need to be met to make it possible: Namely, everyone involved must be using an Apple device and on iMessage. 

If that’s the case, then leaving a group text is very easy: 

1. Open the iMessage app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Select the group text message thread that you want to leave.
3. Tap the group icons located at the bottom of the thread.
4. Scroll down and locate the “Leave This Conversation” option.
5. Click on it, and you’ll be removed as a group member. 
6. For iOS 14 or earlier, you’ll have to select the “Info” button that looks like a lowercase “i” first. You should see “Leave This Conversation” on the next screen that appears.

What To Do if You Don’t See “Leave This Conversation”

If you don’t see the “Leave This Conversation” option, it means you don’t meet the requirements mentioned above. In that case, you won’t be able to leave the group text.

However, you can mute the text notifications for it by completing the following steps: 

1. Open the iMessage app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Select the group text message thread that you want to mute.
3. Tap the group icons located at the top of the thread.
4. Scroll down and locate the “Hide Alerts” option.
5. Click on it, and you’ll stop receiving notifications when someone texts the group.
6. For iOS 14 or earlier, you’ll have to select the “Info” button after selecting the group icons. 

You could also swipe left on the group thread in your list of messages. It should bring up the “Alerts” button that looks like a bell with a slash through it. For iOS 14 or earlier, the icon will be a crescent moon instead.

Other Ways To Quiet Group Messages

You may also choose to mute group texts for a while. For a Mac, right-click on the list and tap “Hide Alerts.” For the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, find the list or group name, hold your finger down, and click “Hide Alerts.”

Note: If you want to block a caller on your Mac, you must do it from your phone.

How To Leave a Group Text on an Android

The “iPhone vs. Android” debate is unlikely to ever be settled as both sides of the battle are holding steadfast. But when it comes to leaving group messages, even proud Android users must admit that the iPhone is better.

As of this writing, it’s not possible to leave a group text if you use an Android device. All that you can do is mute the conversation or “hide” it, as Google calls it. 

Here is how you can do that: 

1. Open the messaging app.
2. Tap the group text conversation that you want to hide.
3. Select the down arrow at the top of the screen.
4. Click on the “Hide Conversation” option to mute notifications from the group thread. 

Since there are a ton of phone manufacturers that make Android phones, the experience is far from universal. In some cases, you might not be able to mute a group text using the steps above.

If you didn’t see those options on your phone, here is an alternative solution: 

1. Open the messaging app on your Android.
2. Tap the group conversation that you want to mute.
3. Select the “Menu” icon (three vertical dots) in the top right corner of your screen.
4. Click on the “People & Options” that appears on the drop-down list.
5. Toggle the “Notifications” option on the next screen to mute the notifications for this thread.

How To Leave a Group Text on Facebook

Facebook has been dominating social media for a very long time. It was the first social network to reach one billion users and currently boasts more than 2.9 billion active monthly users.

One of the most popular features of Facebook is having access to Facebook Messenger. It’s an easy way to stay in contact with the people you’ve befriended on your account. Like phone texting, you can get roped into yet another new group chat.

The good news is that it’s much easier to leave a group chat on Facebook:

1. Open the Facebook Messenger app on your phone.
2. Click the names of the people in the group chat at the top to open a “Settings” page.
3. Scroll to the very bottom of it and locate the red button that says “Leave Chat.” 
4. Tap “Leave Chat” followed by “Leave” to exit the conversation entirely, or you can tap “Ignore Messages” to mute the conversation instead.

How To Leave a Group Text on WhatsApp

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. It’s especially popular for people that want to stay in contact with someone who lives in another country. Whatsapp includes the option to create group texts just like any other text messaging app. Fortunately, you can get out of them just as easily as you can with Facebook Messenger:

1. Open the WhatsApp app on your phone. 
2. Swipe left or long-press the group text that you want to leave.
3. Tap “More” and scroll down to the bottom of the new page that appears.
4. Click “Exit Group” to leave the conversation. 

Conclusion

Group texts are a bit of a blessing and a curse. They can be extremely beneficial when you need to send a single message to a large number of people. A group text announcing a pregnancy is much more convenient than individually texting every single person that you want to tell. 

The downside is that you can get trapped in a group text and buried with messages. In that scenario, the best option is probably to text someone in the group and ask them to create a new one without you. It might be a difficult conversation, but the only alternative is muting the thread or blocking everyone that’s a part of it. 

On the other hand, you could start using a second phone number to keep your current one private. A second phone number makes it easier to slip out of the chains of a group text. You can also turn off notifications momentarily with the Do Not Disturb feature.

You simply “burn” your second number whenever you want to leave and get a new one right away. You’ll still have the contact information for everyone in the group thread so you can just text them your new number. Only this time, be sure to tell them that you don’t want to be a part of any group texts. Join Burner to get your second number today!

Sources:

Global social networks ranked by number of users 2023 | Statista

15 years of text messages, a 'cultural phenomenon' | The New York Times

The Past, Present And Future Of Messaging | Forbes

How to remove yourself from a group text or mute the ones you can't leave | Business Insider

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