Free · No app needed
One number.
Everyone gets the message.
Your group gets its own phone number. Text it, and it goes to everyone in the group. They text back, and you get theirs. That is the whole thing.
Works on any cellphone that can send a text — including flip phones. No app to install, no account to make, no password to remember.
One message to the group number reaches every member.
How it works
Three text messages and your group is running. Nothing to download, nothing to sign up for.
Start the group
Text that to our main number. You get a reply with your group’s own phone number.
Text this: CREATE Shabbos CarpoolAdd people
Text that to your group’s number. They get a message telling them they’ve been added and how to reply.
Text this: ADD 555-010-4321Just talk
Anything else you text to the group number goes to everyone else in the group. Replies come back the same way.
Text this: Meeting tomorrow at 7
What you can text
Send any of these to your group’s number. Capital letters are not required — and if you forget, just text HELP.
- ADD 555-010-4321
- Add someone to the group
- REMOVE 555-010-4321
- Take someone out of the groupRequires group admin
- WHO
- See who is in the group
- INFO
- See the group name, size and number
- NAME Book Club
- Change the group's nameRequires group admin
- ADMIN 555-010-4321
- Let someone else manage the groupRequires group admin
- LEAVE
- Leave the group
- HELP
- See this list on your phone
- STOP
- Stop all messages from us
- START
- Start receiving messages again
Built for people the group chats left behind
Plenty of communities organise themselves by text message — carpools, shifts, minyan times, a street’s worth of neighbours. Then the group chat moves to an app, and the people without smartphones quietly drop out of the conversation.
GroupItUp runs on the plainest thing every phone can do: sending a text message. If a phone can text, it can be in the group.
- No smartphone required. Flip phones, old handsets and basic plans all work.
- Nothing to install. No app store, no updates, no storage space.
- No account or password. Your phone number is how we know you.
- No internet needed. It works anywhere you have a signal to text.
- Pictures work too, on phones and plans that support picture messaging.
- Call the group number and it rings the other members.
Free, and honest about it
GroupItUp is free to use. We pay for the phone numbers and the messages. There is no subscription, no trial, and no advertising — we will never text you anything you did not ask for.
Your own phone carrier may charge you for texts, exactly as it does for any other message you send. Check your plan if you are unsure.
You can leave at any time by texting LEAVE, or stop every message from us by texting STOP.
What it doesn’t do
- No video calling. Regular phone service cannot carry live video, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
- One group per person. Being in several groups at once gets confusing when every message arrives in the same inbox, so we keep it to one.
- Messages are not private from the group. Everything you send goes to every member, with your name on it.
- Text messages are not encrypted. That is true of all texting, not just ours.
Questions
Do I need a smartphone?
No. If your phone can send and receive text messages, it works. Flip phones are fine.
Does it cost anything?
The service is free. Your phone carrier may charge for texts under your own plan, the same as any message you send to a friend.
How do people join my group?
You add them. Text ADD followed by their phone number to your group’s number, and they will get a message explaining what happened.
Can I be in two groups?
No. Every message from every group would land in the same inbox with no way to tell them apart, so a person can be in one group at a time. Text LEAVE to switch.
Can I send photos?
Yes, where your phone and plan support picture messaging. Very large pictures and long videos may not get through — if that happens, the group is told so nobody is left wondering.
Who can see my phone number?
The people in your group. Your messages arrive with your name on them, or your number if nobody has given you a name yet.
How do I stop getting messages?
Reply STOP to any message from us and we will stop immediately. Reply START if you change your mind.
What happens if I text the wrong thing?
Nothing breaks. If we do not understand it, we treat it as an ordinary message to your group. Text HELP any time to see the list of commands.
Start a group in one text
Pick a name, send it, and you will have your group’s number within moments.