Group Texting

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Working with Group Text Messages:

Sometimes we need to send a message to several people, or a group. Think husband and wife, your employees, etc. RSS Texting offers that option. To create a group, click the “Add Person” icon under the first name, enter the info, and press add.

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Here’s how it all works:

Group texting

• A message can go to the main customer plus up to 8 more people. Recipients can be picked from existing contacts by name. Typing a new name and number creates a new contact automatically.
• Sending again to the same set of people continues the same group thread.
• Group threads show in the conversation list with their member count. Replies show who sent them, and an incoming group reply triggers the usual notification and sound.
• Replies to a group appear only in the group thread, not also in the sender’s 1:1 conversation.
• Group texts can only be sent from a shop’s US or Canadian local number. Carriers don’t support group texts from toll-free numbers.

Opted-out recipients

• If someone texts STOP, including from inside a group thread, they’re marked as opted out. Every contact record with that phone number is marked, not just one. Texting START reverses it.
• In testing, when one member of a group had opted out, the carrier rejected the group message for every member. So the app now blocks the send up front:
    – Send is disabled, with a banner naming who has opted out.
    – A new group can’t be created with an opted-out member.
    – An opted-out number can’t be added as a recipient.
• A scheduled group message that comes due after a member has opted out isn’t sent. It’s marked failed, and the reason shows in the thread.

Scheduled group messages

• Group messages can be scheduled like 1:1 messages.
• At send time, a scheduled message isn’t sent if the main contact is now inactive, the group is no longer active, or a member has opted out. The thread shows it as failed, with the reason.

Delivery status

• Each group message shows delivery status for each recipient (Sent, Delivered or Failed). A failure for any recipient raises an alert naming that recipient.

Attachments

• Outgoing group attachments are limited to 2 MB each.
• Incoming images, videos and PDFs are accepted. SVG images are blocked because they can contain scripts.
• Phones and carriers shrink large photos and videos before they’re sent. In testing, an 11.5 MB photo and a 100 MB video both arrived as about 1 MB.

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