How to mass text from your iPhone

The short answer

For a handful of people, send the text one by one, or save it and paste it into each chat. For more than that, send everyone their own separate text with a tool, either a texting service with a business number or an app like TextDirectly that sends from your own number. Avoid putting everyone in one big group text.

Group texts in Messages, and their limits

The quickest idea is to start a new message in the Messages app and add everyone to the To line. That creates a group conversation, and it has real limits:

• Group size. Apple doesn't publish a firm size limit for iMessage groups, and big groups get hard to manage fast. Once anyone in the group doesn't use iMessage, the whole group becomes a regular (green) group text, and your carrier caps those, often far lower. Some carriers stop at 10 or 20 people. Ask your carrier for your limit.
• Mixed phones. When Android and iPhone users share a group, messages can arrive late, out of order, or as separate texts, and pictures may not come through well.
• No personal touch. Everyone gets the exact same words. You can't start each text with the person's first name.
• Nothing to track. You can't easily see who replied, who asked to stop, or who you already texted last week.

Why reply-all group texts backfire

Even when a group text goes through, it usually causes more trouble than it saves:

• Everyone sees everyone's number. Your customers didn't agree to share their phone numbers with each other.
• Every reply goes to the whole group. One "Thanks!" or "Who is this?" sets off a buzz on dozens of phones. People mute the chat or leave it, and some report it as spam.
• Leaving is hard. In a green group text, people often can't leave at all, so the only way out is to block you.
• It looks careless. A message to 25 people in one thread reads like a mass message, because it is one. A text sent to just them gets read and answered.

A one-to-one text is better for both sides. Each person gets a normal text from you, and their reply comes back to you alone.

Your options for sending separate texts

1. Send them by hand

Write the message once, copy it, and paste it into a new chat for each person, changing the name as you go. It is free and personal, and fine for 10 or 15 people. Past that it gets slow, and it is easy to skip someone or text the same person twice.

2. Build a Shortcut

The Shortcuts app on iPhone can loop through a list and send a message to each person. It can work for small lists, but it takes some setup, can be fiddly, and doesn't keep track of who replied or asked you to stop.

3. Use a business texting service

Services like SimpleTexting, EZ Texting and Textedly send your texts from a business number they set up for you. They work on any computer or phone, handle large lists and offer team inboxes. You usually pay a monthly plan that includes a set number of texts or credits, and the number has to be registered with the carriers first. Your contacts see a new number rather than the one they have saved for you.

4. Send from your own number with TextDirectly

If you have a Mac, TextDirectly sends each person their own text from your iPhone number, through the Messages app on your Mac. It is built for lists of a few dozen up to a couple hundred people a day.

How TextDirectly does it

1. Connect your iPhone. On your Mac, sign in to Messages with the same Apple ID as your iPhone, and turn on Text Message Forwarding on your iPhone (Settings > Apps > Messages > Text Message Forwarding) so your Mac can send regular texts too.
2. Bring in your list. Import a CSV file or pick a group from Mac Contacts. TextDirectly skips numbers that look wrong, repeats, and anyone on your do-not-text list.
3. Write your message. Add First name, Your name and Business name with one click, so each text can start with the person's name. An opt-out line is added for you.
4. Send. TextDirectly sends one text at a time at a careful pace, during the hours you allow. It tries iMessage first and sends a regular text when iMessage is not available.
5. Answer replies. Replies come back to your iPhone and your Mac like any other text, and show up in the app's replies inbox. Anyone who replies STOP goes on your do-not-text list right away.

The Free plan sends up to 45 texts a day. Pro is $19 a month or $149 a year. It starts at 100 a day, grows to as many as 200 a day as your number warms up, and adds scheduled sends, follow-ups and template packs. You can try Pro for 7 days in the app. You need a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) on macOS 13 or later, and your iPhone.

Consent basics

Whatever tool you use, the rules of good texting are the same:

• Only text people who know you. Customers, members, clients and people who asked to hear from you. Don't text bought lists or numbers you found online.
• Say who you are. Start with your name and your business, so nobody has to ask "Who is this?"
• Honor STOP every time. When someone replies STOP, or asks you to stop in their own words, don't text them again. Tell people how to opt out, for example "Reply STOP to opt out."
• Pick decent hours. Text during the day, not early in the morning or late at night in their time zone.
• Keep it useful. A few texts people want beat a lot of texts they ignore.

Texting laws and carrier rules apply to every sender, and you are responsible for following them. This guide is general information, not legal advice. See our terms for more.