How to Remove Someone from a Group Text

Written by Ivana Kotorchevikj Messaging

Linkedin Twitter - 5 min read

Group text messages are convenient when you want to chat with your friend group or family at once or inform several people at once about something.

It’s possible to add iOS and Android users in the same group text. However, in order to use group iMessage, all recipients need to be iOS users; while if there are Android users in the group chat, the message will be sent as a regular SMS.

However, what happens if someone shouldn’t be any longer part of that group message? In this post, we’ll explore how to remove people in a group iMessage or regular message for iPhone and Android users.

How to remove someone from a group iMessage on iPhone

Note: This remove option works only if everyone is using iMessage (blue chat bubbles). If someone is using regular SMS or MMS group chats (green chat bubbles), you won’t be able to remove them, i.e. you won’t see the ‘Remove’ option.

These are several other restrictions that might prevent you from removing someone from the group message chat in the iMessage app:

  • If there are less than three people in your group message.
  • If one or more of the chat members are using SMS messaging. (Note: An iPhone user may also be using regular SMS and still appear blue in the chat).
  • If people are using non-Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch).

If all people in the group text are Apple users, they are using iMessage and are more than three, this is how you can remove someone from a group iMessage chat:

  1. Open the chat in iMessages with the contact you want to delete.

Open the group message you want to remove the contact from

  1. Tap on the cluster of profile icons at the top of the iMessage group.

Tap on the cluster of profile icons

  1. Tap on the ‘i’ icon in the right corner to open the list of group members.

Tap on the ‘i’ icon

  1. Tap the gray arrow icon to the right or swipe left on the name of the person you want to remove.
  2. Then tap on ‘Remove’ when it appears to the right of the person.

Tap on 'Remove'

  1. In the slide-up menu, tap ‘Remove’ again.

Tap on 'Remove'

If you don’t see the ‘Remove’ option, check the restrictions above. If you can’t remove the person, there are no other options but to create a new message conversation without them.

How to remove yourself from a group iMessage chat

You can also remove yourself from a group chat in iMessage if you don’t want to be in if the above conditions are met.

  1. Open the group iMessage you want to exit.
  2. Tap on the ‘i’ icon below the profile icons at the top.
  3. On the information page, scroll down and tap on ‘Leave this conversation’.

If you don’t see this option, it may be because someone in the group isn’t using iMessage or the group has less than 3 members.

How to remove someone from a group message on Android

The options for deleting a person from group message on Android may differ depending on the phone model. The steps below are applicable for Samsung Galaxy models.

  1. Open the Messages app and tap on the group chat from which you want to delete someone.
  2. Tap on the three vertical dots in the upper right corner. Then, go to ‘Group details’.
  3. Tap on the person’s name you want to remove. Tap on ‘Remove’.

How to remove yourself from a group message on Android

  1. Open the Messages app on your Android.
  2. Tap on the group thread you want to remove yourself from.
  3. In the chat, tap on the menu (three vertical dots) icon in the top-right corner. Tap Delete on the menu.
  4. Alternatively, tap and hold the group message you want to delete, and tap on the ‘trash’ icon from the top menu to remove yourself from the chat.

Bonus: Explore also how to stop being added to groups on Telegram and how to delete a message in GroupMe, if you are using different messages services.