IMPORTANT: Apple introduced a bug in iOS 14.2 which prevents message apps from sending to large groups as it should. There is a workaround- when the message window appears, tap the contact area (without selecting a person), tap the back key, then “return”- but until they resolve this bug we have withdrawn the app from sale.
TextShot lets you send text messages to many different groups of contacts. You can also save on typing by defining your own preset messages.
Index
In Brief…
Walkthrough
1: Create A Group
2: Create A Text Preset
3: Send A Message
Discover different ways to add contacts
2. Add Multiple Contacts From An Address Book Group
3. Add Multiple Contacts From A Checklist
4. Add Contacts Manually, To Avoid Adding Them To Your Address Book.
In brief…
After you Create a group by adding contacts from your address book, send a message like this:
- Select a group.
- Select a text preset (if you wish).
- Tap the “TextShot” logo.
This will open a message to that group in the Message app, containing the text you chose.
Soluble Apps 
My group appears in red and says 19 of 47. What does that mean?
Hi Matt
My group appears in red.
Please see Why do some groups or contacts appear in red? on the support page.
My group says 19 of 47
Please see Why does one of my groups appear as “Groupname (x of y)” ? on the support page
Is there a way to keep all of my group from getting all of the text replies to the ones I send?
Sure, disable MMS messaging on the Messages page of the Settings app. Group messaging is a feature of that system.
How can my group see contacts and reply so we all get the message?
Enable “Group Messaging” and “MMS messaging” (on the Messages page of the Settings app) to do this.
IMPORTANT
This will only work for groups of up to 10 contacts.
You would need to turn “Group Messaging” off to send to more than 10 again, as SMS.
This is an intentional design limitation of the international messaging system, to prevent large chains.
Can everyone in my group see each other name but not each other’s phone number?
(Replying here, as AOL is refusing your email)
It depends.
Textshot works exactly as if you had added these numbers yourself, one by one.
If your Messages settings allow it (by enabling “group messaging”), people can see each others’ numbers. (Unless they have that person in their own iOS contacts, in which case they will see a name )
On the other hand, If group messaging is disabled, no-one should see details for other recipients.
Note that Apple appear to have introduced some bugs in the group messaging switch in iOS11, so this may vary according to which version of iOS you are using.
Love this app but would love the capability to add a photo
Thanks for your kind comments.
You can include a photo when sending an MMS by tapping the photo icon next to the text box in the messaging window.
There are two messaging technologies included in the Messages system (three, if you count iMessage) SMS can’t send photos, whereas MMS will send photos, but will not send to groups larger than 10. This is a design limitation of the two technologies, but the details can vary between carriers.
Go to the Messages page of the Settings app.
If there is a switch for “Group messaging” visible, turn it off and leave MMS messaging on.
If there is no switch for group messaging, you have to choose between being able to send to groups larger than 10 (MMS Messaging switch “off”) or sending photos (MMS Messaging switch “on”)
I hope this helps.
Note that there is a bug in iOS 10 which is affecting us at the moment- No third-party texting app can add a photo to a text message.
Apple have been notified about this problem, and we are hoping they will resolve it soon.
TextShot is a great app. It is very useful for me. One request: I use the app with my iPad and iPhone. I’d like to see the TextShot display on a landscape format as well as portrait. Can that be accomplished?
It was originally released as an iPhone app only (to avoid people expecting to text using only an iPad.) But the code I wrote is probably all still in there for landscape support.
I’ll take a look.
It is 2020 and this app won’t let me set up so that all 22 people in my group can see all replies from all people? Please advise.
We, Apple (who send the message) and your text provider (who route it to the phone network) have to obey the internationally-agreed rules for how text messages work. These were designed decades ago, when data and bandwidth was very restricted. “MMS” messages are limited to 20 contacts in a “group” (and you need to send as a group to allow “reply all”)
To allow more than 20 contacts to “reply all”, disable “use MMS” on the Messages page of the Settings app on your iPhone.
This will use SMS (or iMessage) instead, which can be sent to much larger groups. But note that SMS messages are shorter than MMS, and cannot include images or other attachments. If this does not meet your needs, you should consider whether email is a more appropriate messaging system for your use, now that so many more people can receive it instantly on their mobile devices.
This Wikipedia article mentions some of the limitations with MMS that I covered above https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_Messaging_Service