{"id":130472,"date":"2025-08-09T01:16:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T01:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/130472\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T01:16:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T01:16:16","slug":"ios-26-solves-a-group-message-issue-youve-probably-been-putting-up-with-for-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/130472\/","title":{"rendered":"iOS 26 solves a group message issue you\u2019ve probably been putting up with for years"},"content":{"rendered":"

I use group messages on my iPhone every single day. Between different friend groups, family messages, and hockey teams, I can barely go an hour without receiving some kind of group message \u2014 sometimes from the blue bubbles and sometimes from the dreaded green ones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Due to the group messages with various hockey teams, I end up in group chats with people I don’t know almost every season (we use these threads to get a head count before the game). Before iOS 26<\/a>, adding people in the thread to your contacts was a pain \u2014 not only did it require a bunch of extra steps, but it also required some degree of memory, a skill I’m sorely lacking.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With Apple’s significant iOS updates coming to the next version (the first with the new naming convention<\/a>), you can now add people to your contacts list directly from a message thread, making it easier to identify who’s who and store their information in your phone for future reference.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Doesn’t sound like a big deal to you? Let me explain why it’s awesome.<\/p>\n

iOS 26’s new group messaging trick<\/p>\n

In iOS 18<\/a> (and other previous iOS versions), adding someone to your contacts was a tedious process. In the case of my hockey teams, we’d have everyone in the thread say their name in a message, making it so we know who each person is.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

Actually putting them in the contacts was frustrating. Here’s what you had to do:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Note the name and number of the person you want to save (either in your memory or jot it down somewhere).<\/li>\n
  2. Click the Info button for the thread.<\/li>\n
  3. Find the number you noted down (hopefully you remember it, and there aren’t too many other similar numbers).<\/li>\n
  4. Click the button next to the number.<\/li>\n
  5. Click Create new Contact.<\/li>\n
  6. Enter the info for the person (their name and whatever else).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Here’s the step-by-step process in iOS 26:<\/p>\n

    Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Note the person’s name.<\/li>\n
    2. Click Add next to the message in the thread.<\/li>\n
    3. Tap Create New Contact or Add to Existing Contact.<\/li>\n
    4. Create the contact as normal.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \"New<\/p>\n

      (Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

      That’s it. If you’re added to numerous group chats with strangers and would like to have those strangers enter your contact list, you’ll be excited to download iOS 26 to your device.<\/p>\n

      Of course, with the iOS 26 public beta<\/a> already available, you don’t even need to wait (as long as you’re willing to deal with beta software and some of the kinks that come with it.<\/p>\n

      Follow Tom’s Guide on Google News<\/a> to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.<\/p>\n

      More from Tom’s Guide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I use group messages on my iPhone every single day. Between different friend groups, family messages, and hockey…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":130473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[611,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-130472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114996168906077414","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}