Your iPhone or iPad running iOS 12 comes with a special feature on the Messages Application. This feature lets you organize your friends into groups of interest and you can send messages to them at once. These group messages which include Group MMS, Group SMS, and Group iMessage, come in handy but sometimes can be annoying depending on the occasion.
Apple also understands that this is a matter of perspective. This is the reason why you might be excited about communicating in real-time and this is for a group of friends. Under some circumstances, you might not have an interest in the topics being discussed by the participants. This is the main reason why you will have the mute option allowing you to use it on a particular group. Whenever the discussions become too much for you, you can always exit the group.
With that information on the options available when you feel bothered by a group, it is important to explore each one of them further. In our tutorial, we will begin with the temporary option because the second option which lets you leave the group will be irreversible.
Steps on How to Mute Apple`s iMessage on Group Chats
- Tap on the Messages App to launch it
- Browse for the particular group you want to mute discussions
- Tap on the group
- Click on the details tab
- Look for the “Do Not Disturb” button
- Tap on the button to activate it.
Through the above steps, you have activated the mute option. This is for that group alone. If there is any other group (s) you want to apply this action on, use the above steps so long as it is on an Apple device that is running iOS 12. This lets you still be a member of the group and you will receive all the messages that your friends send. You can check the chat history and you will be able to see the messages that were sent while you were away.
What will not happen is that you will not be able to receive any alerts when a new message is sent. Hence, there will be no sound, the device will not vibrate, and no notifications will be shown on your device when a new message arrives. This feature can always be activated or de-activated when you wish.
Procedure for leaving an iMessage Group Chat on Apple Devices
- Click on the Messages Application to launch it
- Tap on the group that you want to exit
- Tap on the details tab
- Browse through the group details which includes chat participants, location settings and also the attached files
- You will see a text written “Leave this Conversation” which appears in red font
- Hit on the text and confirm your action.
In case you find that the red font is all grayed out and that nothing happens when you tap on it, then this is bad news because that is a mixed group and it is not an exclusive group. Therefore, you don’t have the option of leaving that group. Therefore, you can only use the mute feature. We have already shared the instructions on how to mute the conversation. Therefore, there is no other option for you other than just activating the “do not disturb feature”.