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Recently, I’ve been added to several group chats that I did ask to be a part of but have since changed my mind on. Another chat I’m somehow in I most certainly did not ask to be included, yet I am anyway. Google Messages is a wonderful app, but it does have a lot of things it needs to work out. While it’s gaining new features each month, it still lacks in some basics like removing yourself from group chats effectively. Today, I’m going to show you how to stop all of these unwanted communications.
Muting group chat notifications
Oddly enough, Messages by Google simply does not have a “leave group chat” button for MMS chats (it does for standard RCS chats!), so we’re going to have to use a workaround here. Actually, we’re going to have to abuse the tools a little bit, and you’ll soon see why. The first thing you’ll want to do to stop being pinged incessantly is to open the group chat you want to make vanish and tap the three vertical dots at the top-right corner of the screen.
This will pop open a context menu full of choices. Tap “Mute notifications”. You’ll be taken to a screen where it shows that notifications are currently set to “Default”. Tap “Silent” instead. You can also scroll down and toggle the “Pop on screen”, “Show notification dot”, and “Vibration” options. Additionally, there’s a “Not a conversation” button at the bottom that will remove it from the conversation section. I would recommend simply archiving the group chat after this process instead of tapping this last one though.
Pro Tip: You can also find these options by simple pressing and holding the group chat from the main messages list!
Abusing Google’s tools for lack of a better option
Tap the back button at the top-left of the screen and you’ll be taken back to the group message in question. From here, simply tap the vertical three dots once more and tap “Group details”. Remember when I said we’re going to abuse the system a little bit? Well, we’re at that part and it’s Google’s fault for not providing a simpler out for you. Tap “Report spam” and then tap the same thing again on the dialogue box that pops up. This will force the chat to go to the “Spam & blocked” section of the app.
Pro Tip: Archiving the group chat without reporting it as spam – even if you’ve disabled all notifications – will sometimes cause it to return to your messages list.
Okay, just like that, the group chat has been banished to the shadow realm! You may now carry on with your day and enjoy the peace and quiet. I find it appalling that Google doesn’t simply have the aforementioned “Leave group chat” button and Support threads have complained about it since 2019 or earlier. If the company wants others to adopt RCS (even though Apple won’t) then it’s going to need to step up its game a whole lot.
I just want the instructions!
1. Tap the group chat you want to banish to the shadow realm
2. Tap the vertical three dots at the top-right
3. Choose “Group details” and then “Notifications”
4. Select “Silent”, and toggle “Show notification dot” and other options below
5. Tap the back arrow at the top-left of the screen and go back to the group details
6. Go to “Report spam” and confirm the dialogue box
7. Sleep easy!
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