Sending group text messages and emails from my Contacts app

[twinlesstwin]

I just sent this feedback and I'm hoping some of y'all and help me figure out how to send group messages when they sing to have done away with the ability to easily send those anymore or at least I can't find how to do it anymore since my phone updated to Android 15. THIS IS WHAT I SENT: 

I am a little bit confused because my Samsung Galaxy S4 FE 5G updated to Android 15 recently and even though Contacts still allows groups to be set in individual contacts, it did away with the 3 vertical bars on the left side that allowed us to easily send text messages and emails to people in our groups. But somehow Android 15 did away with those 3 vertical lines and there is no easy way to send group text messages or emails anymore. I have way too many contacts. I can't even find group settings anymore so I am hoping that you will do something to bring it back so that we can easily see and select group settings so we can easily send group text messages and emails. Please. I just don't understand why you allow groups to be set in individual contacts but did away with the ability to send group messages and emails easily. Thank you very much for your consideration.

[twinlesstwin]

Out of all my contacts, about 75 are favorites but it's still a lot to look past to get to Groups. I still have contacts from two estates that I administered and I still have some contacts when my aunt lived with me for 2 and 1/2 years. And I always put places like department stores or gas stations in my Contacts so next time I don't have to look up the phone number or look up the address again. I do try to delete some of the contacts periodically. Plus a lot of it is because I do genealogy and if I find a cousin doing genealogy then I always add them and keep them and their relationship to me. So I have 136 cousins that I have found doing genealogy,. I have 117 under the genealogy group. I do try to delete periodic. Every one of those 1600 contacts is in a group.

[twinlesstwin]

And why in the world would updating to Android 15 make it so much more difficult and so many more steps and have to do it every single time I want to send a text message or an email! It doesn't make a lick of sense, not to mention that nothing you mention is even on my S24 FE. 😵‍💫

[twinlesstwin]

My 24 FE HAD A PLACE IN CONTACTS ON THE TOP RIGHT SIDE That I could click on to get to Groups. Android 15 did away with that and I did not know their Groups was also under Favorites. So until somebody told me, I thought I was going to have to select each individual in a group separately because I didn't know there was a Group setting below Favorites. I had a whole bunch of favorites so I never noticed so I got rid of a bunch of my favorites so I could easily get to Groups. You maybe just never had a reason to notice that Groups used to be up there.

[realaud]

The structure in the contacts app was changed in Android 15/OneUI7 to match the structure of the contacts tab in the phone dialer app.  That structure was always the groups being between favorites and the letter A.  I  rarely opened the contacts app because I was able to easily access my contacts through the dialer, so the change was nothing to cause me to have apoplexy over. 

I only actually ever opened it to assist people with an action, that's the only way I knew the apps differed. To me that was simpler than having to slide out a tab to access the groups.  It also never made any sense whatsoever to me that contacts that start with a number are listed last, when in the real world numbers come first, but I deal with since I have only 2.

i also keep my favorites on the people edge panel. So, I suppose if one were to use the edge panel (or a widget/stack of widgets) for their favorites and un-starred their favorites in the contacts app, the groups would appear first and, thus, be easier to access.

[twinlesstwin]

I have never used edge and I looked at it the other day and I'm at a complete loss. 😵‍💫

[realaud]

OK.  To enable edge panel, go to settings/display/edge panels and enable them.  Tap the text "edge panels" to see a display of available panels and choose the ones you want.  You will have to set up the panels you choose.  So, for instance, if you choose the "people" panel, you would choose the edit text underneath it and add the contacts you wish to have there.  Once the panel is added to the edge of your screen, you can choose whether to have it on the left or right.  If you wanted to call or text one of those contacts, you would tap their picture/name and tap the appropriate icon.  The edge panels slide out from the edge of your screen via a handle that very subtly appears on the edge of your screen (hence "edge" panels).  Another good panel to use is the apps panel (again, you would edit and choose which apps you want there).  This panel is convenient when you have favorite apps but there is a limit on how many you can put on the quick access row at the bottom of your screen. Edge panels are very convenient.  Sorry, you can't actually see the edge panel handle in the screen shot, but that's where I positioned it on my screen.