GroupMe Stories: Freshman Year

With college students across the country going back to campus this month, we thought it’d be a great time to feature the story of a group of students who used GroupMe to make their freshman year awesome. Lucas from Penn State told us all about how it went down.

“I began the group over last winter break because we all wanted to talk to each other, but group text messaging was too messy,” explains Lucas. “So I looked up group messaging apps and GroupMe was the best option.”

“Our group is named E-House because the majority of us lived near each other in the same hall at PSU — the engineering hall,” he says. And quickly, his group of 16 friends found that even when you all live near each other, it helps to have a quick way to communicate with everyone. “We usually use the app to collaborate as to which commons to eat at for lunch and dinner and to hang out afterwards,” says Lucas, “and just telling each other things that happened that day.”

As the school year wore on, though, they started talking more often, sharing pictures and planning more activities together. “GroupMe helped us get together for movies, games at the E-House common area, Netflix marathons, going to school games (especially football), playing tennis, and ice skating." 

By the time they reached the end of the semester, they had collected a lot of pictures of everyone in the group. Lucas logged in to the GroupMe website and hit the "Gallery” tab on his group, where all the photos from the whole semester were displayed easily. “I made a collage of us which could not have been done without the group gallery function online,” he says. 

Over the summer, the E-House family has kept in touch via GroupMe, talking about vacations and trips and maintaining their close connection — and when school starts up again next week, Lucas thinks they’ll be “using the app just as much as last year… and for all the same reasons." 

Going back to campus, or starting school for the first time? Try starting a group with your friends — just download the app and get started! Email us if you have any questions.

And of course, we’d love to hear your GroupMe story. Submit it here, and we may feature it here and send you a t-shirt — Lucas, yours is in the mail!

Fantasy Football Is Here

Football season starts next week, which means it’s draft week for fantasy leagues across the country. Are you ready? You might think you are, but are you sure?

Before you even get to draft day, start a group so you can start scheduling your draft, trading information, and most importantly… talking smack. We can’t tell you which player’s going to be a sleeper or a bust, but we can make it easy for you to complain to your league when something goes wrong.

Over the last few years, thousands of fantasy football team owners have told us their stories, or tweeted at us, telling us how GroupMe made their fantasy football season more fun and made sure everyone was involved every day. We’ve even heard from real NFL players (!) who use GroupMe to schedule games, share information, and make fun of each other for their Madden online league. 

So, yeah, what else can we say? Get your league together on GroupMe now, and thank us later. Just open up your GroupMe app and hit Start Group.

As the season progresses, be sure to tell us about it if something great happens in your league GroupMe — we’ll send you a t-shirt if we end up using your story here on the blog.

Shhhhhhhhh…

Hey, here’s a very helpful GroupMe feature that you may not know about. 

Ever get woken up in the middle of the night by someone blowing up your group? Or been unable to focus on your work because your friends just won’t stop chatting? We can’t help you make your friends less talkative, but we can help you ignore them for a little while! 

If one of your groups just won’t shut up…

Easy. Mute it! In the app, slide to the left to see the members drawer and flip the switch. Your phone won’t make any noise when this group is updated.

You might also want to consider putting the group in Office Mode, which turns off notifications for everyone in the group. It’s helpful if your phones are buzzing all day when you’re all actually just using the GroupMe website to chat, or if everyone checks the group often enough that nobody needs notifications. Turn on Office Mode by hitting Edit in the members drawer, or from the group settings on web.

If ALL of your groups just won’t shut up…

Need some sleep, huh? Slide to the right, and hit the gear icon. Tap “Turn off all notifications until…” and choose the length of time you need. GroupMe won’t buzz your phone for any reason until that time is up.

Just be sure to check in on those muted groups every now and then. You wouldn’t want your friends to think you’re ignoring them… would you? 

Have a question? Send us an email! support@groupme.com

Putting Links to Work

Have you shared a link with your group lately? Then maybe you’ve noticed the cool hidden feature in our iPhone app.

Anytime someone in your group posts a message that is just a link, the app will automatically fetch the title of the page, so you have some idea of what you’re clicking on before you do it! Like this: 

Maybe it’ll save you from clicking on something you don’t want to see someday. Who knows.

Certain types of links get an even fancier treatment. Look at what happens to this YouTube link:


becomes…


Nice! You get a thumbnail and title preview for video links posted from YouTube, Vimeo, Vine, and World Star Hip Hop.

One last thing. If you post a link to a tweet, we’ll just show it right there so you don’t have to click through at all. 


Pretty cool, huh? Some of these also work when you’re chatting with a group from our website as well, so go ahead and try them out. Share some links with your friends!

Have feedback about this feature, or anything at all? Let us have it! Send us an email at support@groupme.com anytime.

GroupMe Stories: Fantasy Football

With football season in full swing, we’re taking this opportunity to let one group of friends share the story of how GroupMe changed the game for their fantasy football league when they started using it last year. DJ took us through how it all went down.

“We all use GroupMe for staying in touch, and have multiple other groups,” he explains. “But we started this specific group for conversations restricted to only football and our fantasy football league." 

"We are all professionals, many of us engineers, and not your typical football fans,” he says. “Friends, and friends of friends… basically everyone in the first and second degree connections who love watching and following football." 

Since their league is spread from Charlotte to Knoxville to the San Francisco Bay area, their group on GroupMe quickly became the place for them to discuss football, DJ says. "Any sort of group communication or planning happens on GroupMe, period. All of us are really passionate about our progress in the league, events, opinions, play calls, injuries, last minute decisions… it’s all on GroupMe.”

The result is a busy group that always has something new to discuss. “The group is hyperactive, and in a good way,” he says. “I would guess an average of 100-200 messages during game days, and more like 350 messages on Sundays — very happening." 

And as you might expect, sometimes football makes things even crazier than that. "It goes especially silent on Tuesdays since waiver wires get processed that night and no one wants to give away a hint of what claims they are planning. You can almost feel the tension stemming from a silent group! Then it bursts again on Wednesday morning when waivers get processed and folks have something to say about someone snatching their player away,” DJ says. “We all are friends and it’s a friendly competition but without GroupMe, that kind of craziness wouldn’t have been possible. Who says crazy ain’t good?!”

Looking for a new way to keep in touch with your fantasy football league, or just chat with your friends during the game? Try starting a group — just download the app and get started! Email us if you have any questions.

And of course, we’d love to hear your GroupMe story. Submit it here, and we may feature it here and send you a t-shirt — DJ is keeping his as a prize for the winner of this year’s fantasy league! 

Our iPhone app was just updated with a few really great new features. 

First of all, we’ve fulfilled one of our most common requests: you can now clear your group chat history. Messages in your group that you don’t want on your phone? Just swipe over to the right drawer in any group, scroll past all the members, and tap “Clear Chat History”. The rest of the group will still be able to see them, but now you don’t have to look at them anymore, even if you sign in on a different device.

The new iPhone app also lets you share and save animated GIFs in your group. Enough said.

And finally, in our iPhone app and on the web, we’re introducing a really fun feature that has deep roots in our office culture. Now, you can make memes to share with your groups. It’s easy and delightful. Just try it and see!

In the iPhone app, simply tap the paper clip icon, choose a photo from your roll, and then tap “Meme”. Type any text you want for the top and bottom of the photo, and it’s added in real time. 

Boom. Ready to share with the group. 

We’ve made it just as easy on the web, as well. Just drag an image file into the chat…

Click Meme…

And add text. 

We can’t wait to hear what you all can do with this. Tweet us screenshots!  

If you need some inspiration, click the meme below to read about how we use them here at GroupMe HQ. 

Update your iPhone app now to get these new features, or log in on the web at app.groupme.com to start sending memes to your groups!

We recently released a new version of our web app, and so far people have been loving it. Have you tried it yet? It’s perfect for times when you can’t use your phone, like when you’re at work or school. Or for days when you’re sitting at your desk all day and would rather type on a real keyboard than tap away at your phone. 

It brings everything you love about GroupMe to your browser. Share pictures, use our amazing emoji, and chat with all your groups, without leaving your desk. 

Here’s what a group looks like on it. A really great group.

Everything you love about GroupMe is accessible from here. That icon in the upper-left corner opens a drawer that lists all your chats, groups and DMs alike. There’s also a handy search that helps you find the one you’re looking for quickly. 

Any groups that you’ve had open recently appear in the top bar. When those recent groups receive new messages, they’ll pop up briefly, so you don’t miss a thing. If you have a big screen, you can open multiple groups at the same time and have them all on the screen side to side.

Plus, you can roll your mouse over any group in the top bar and missed messages will pop down. Like this:

The chat window itself has a details section over to the right that includes the group avatar, members list, and links to the photo gallery and settings for your group. Pretty self explanatory. Hit the three dots up top to hide the details tray.

Likes work how you would expect. Click the heart. This is easy stuff. Right? Roll over the heart to see the avatars of everyone who liked a message. 

The smiley face lets you choose from our amazing emoji and the camera icon lets you share a picture. You can also just drag and drop a photo onto the chat.

From there, you can meme your photo or just post it as-is.

What’s that? Haven’t heard of meme-ing? Read up on it! It’s fun.

Click any user’s avatar to DM them. Aaaaaaand that should do it! 

Pretty great, right? Now get to your computer, if you’re not there already, and try it out. Any questions? Send us an email at support@groupme.com. We’re here to help.

Start a group for Thanksgiving and we’ll give a dollar to help feed families in need.

Whether you’re traveling thousands of miles to see your family or just hanging out with friends, GroupMe is the perfect way to plan your Thanksgiving and stay connected to the people who are most important to you.

Plus, once again we’re using this holiday as an opportunity to give back to our home, New York City. For each new group created between today and next Friday (11/29) with the word Thanksgiving in the group name, we’ll donate $1 to a local food bank, up to a maximum of 5000 groups. For every $1 donated, 5 meals can be provided to New Yorkers in need. With your help, we’ll help thousands of hungry families this holiday season.

Try starting a group now and adding everyone who’ll be at your Thanksgiving feast this year. Whether they’re coming from near or far, you’ll always be in the know: who’s arriving when and who’s bringing what. Maybe you’ll even be able to avoid that thing where everyone brings brussels sprouts. 

PLUS: Our new pack of Thanksgiving emojis is out, and they are awesome. Spread the holiday spirit with these (mostly food-related) little guys.

Note: you may have to scroll the bottom bar over in order to see the leaf icon!

From all of us on Team GroupMe, happy Thanksgiving!

Ever tried to find an old photo someone shared in a group? You can scroll back forever and ever and eventually it’s just not worth it.

Here’s a tip: just use our handy gallery view! It’s a quick and easy way to see every photo ever shared in any group. From our web app, just click the Photo Gallery button in the details panel, and boom — you’ve got quick access to all your group’s photos.

In our iPhone and Android apps, pull over to the right drawer. Then hit the photo icon (iPhone) or tap “Gallery” (Android) to see them all.

Hopefully this helps you find some old memories to dig up and share with your friends. Have fun! 

It’s a holiday miracle! We just released the newest version of our iPhone app with some really great new features for you and your friends.

First off, there’s premium emoji. Now, you can access even more exclusive emoji packs!

There’s the Most Wanted Pack, available for 99 cents, which includes all the most-requested emojis from the last few months.

Then there’s South Park, with plenty of faces from Cartman, Kenny, and the rest of the gang.

Finally, we’ve got packs for fans of the University of Alabama and the University of Texas. Don’t see your favorite team represented? Send us the schools you want to see next! 

 

Don’t worry, we’ll still give you lots of free emoji packs! Only certain packs will be available for purchase. Premium emoji is available today on iPhone, and will be coming to our other platforms in the near future.

Today’s iPhone update also includes the ability to add nearby users to groups. Now, the app can automatically find people near you who are also using GroupMe. It’s perfect for starting groups with your classmates, or with people you meet at conferences! Just tap the add member button, and nearby users’ avatars will appear at the top.

That’s today’s iPhone update; we hope you like it! Send us your feedback anytime: support@groupme.com. 

Hey there, Android users! We want to let you in a on a little secret…we’ve been working on completely redesigning our Android app and we want YOU to help us test it!

We’re not quite finished building out this version, but here’s what you can expect starting today:

• GroupMeme - meme or re-meme images uploaded to the chat 
• See GIFs animated (up to 3mb) sent from your gallery or via a link
• Save GIFs your friends send in the chat to your gallery
• Use GroupMe direct messages to have private one-on-one messages with any of your friends using the app - find the full list in your Contacts
• Clear chat history for groups and direct messages
• Explore your Chats Archive
• Major improvements to battery usage, notifications, emoji download, picture sending, and generally just more awesome all around

And coming soon:

• Robust in-app notifications
• Links to Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo and more will display the content in the chat
• The ability to change your phone number and email address within the app
• Improved registration and PIN delivery
• Support for 22 languages
• + lots more!

You’ll need to sign up for GroupMe to try out the beta. Already use GroupMe? Here’s how to get access:

FIRST join this Google+ community

SECOND become a tester. If you get an error on this page, make sure you’ve joined the community first!

THIRD check for an update to GroupMe in the Play Store on your device. Be patient - it may take a little while for you to see the update.

Then, just login with your email and password and start using the app. You can invite your friends to join the beta community too! Feel free to post on the G+ community with any and all feedback you have. We want to make this the best version of GroupMe yet and we can only do that with your help.

Thanks!

Love, Team GroupMe #)

Say it like ‘gift’. Jk, we’re not going to get into that right now.

When it comes to communicating over the internet with friends, the gif is one of the most enjoyable ways for us to express ourselves. So a few weeks ago, when we decided that the next big feature to come to GroupMe would be gif search, our faces were all:

After a lot of hard work, we’re proud to annouce that gif search is available today on iOS (we even took it a step further by adding video and image search into the mix as well). We call it Media Search. Head to the App Store and install the lastest version of GroupMe to give it a try.

Building Media Search

So how did this all go down?

First, we partnered up with Giphy and Bing to provide the best gif, image, and video search experience:

Next, the design team came up with the fresh designs:

The dev team met with the product manager to review the designs and plan out the work:

After that, it was time for coding:

Some people even worked through their lunch break:

When the new feature was completed, it ran through the QA gauntlet to make sure it was bug free:

We managed to find a few bugs, but the team squashed them with ease:

Next up, we submitted the app to Apple and patiently waited:

And when the app was finally approved:

How does Media Search work?

Tap the attachments to reveal the new Search button.

Tap the Search button and the new media search will slide up with today’s most popular gifs front and center. With a swipe to the left or right, you can also browse through images and videos.

If you’re looking for something specific, tap the search input at the top and start typing. We’ll give you some search suggestions to make it that much easier.

Hit search on your keyboard to see your results and tap one you like to get a full screen view.

If you’re happy with what you see, tap the checkmark to continue.

Your gif is ready to go, but maybe add some witty text first?

Last thing to do is hit send.

We hope you have fun with Media Search. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

We are excited to announce that sharing on GroupMe just got easier.  We are partnering with If This Then That (IFTTT), a service that connects different apps and services, such as Instagram, ESPN, DropBox, and GroupMe to each other.  Now you can automatically share content from these apps directly to specified groups on GroupMe.

Here are just some of the fun ways to use IFTTT:

Let ESPN tell your friends know when a game starts and send updated scores.

Don’t make your family and friends plead for your vacation photos. Send Instagram photos of your latest excursions to the people who matter most.

Always have the latest revisions. Coworkers can share their public Dropbox files so that everyone has the most up-to-date documents.  

Never forget another team practice, meeting…or happy hour. A Google Calendar notification of upcoming events keeps your group on track.

Send and share images and articles from Pocket, Instapaper, and Readability to any of your groups.

You can also combine recipes:

SMS => Google Calendar => GroupMe allows you to create a Google calendar event via text message then share that event with your group!

Getting Started:

1. Sign up for an account at IFTTT.com
2. Click on any of the above examples to get started
3. Authorize IFTTT to post messages in GroupMe by logging into GroupMe when prompted

Enjoy!

Team GroupMe #)

It has arrived….

World Cup? Warm weather? Memorial Day weekend? Nah.

GroupMe for Android is here!              

Download now

We’re super excited because the new version is faster and has significantly improved battery efficiency and notification reliability.  But most importantly…you can now search for and send GIFs!

Don’t stop the party, you say? No worries. You can also meme (or rememe) images

View content from shared URLs within the chat so you’ll always know what tweet, video, or article you’re tapping on.  

We listened to all of your suggestions, concerns, and issues.  Starting from a blank page, we completely redesigned and rebuilt the app.   

Here’s a full rundown of what’s new in Android 5.0:

• Media search (GIFs, videos, images)
• Inline content (shared content from url’s now can be seen within the chat - tweets, videos, articles, etc)
• Meme (or rememe) images
• Improved battery efficiency, notification reliability, and emoji download  
• Direct messages to anyone with the app (find full list in your contacts)
• Clear chat history in group and direct chats
• Available in 20 languages

We love it, and hope you do too!  Enjoy!

xo

Team GroupMe #)

It’s Emoji Day!  In honor of the most important day this summer, excluding Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, the day you start your vacation, sign a new apartment lease, visit your grandparents, and, oh yeah, actually make it to the pool….Ok, in honor of maybe the 8th most important day this summer, we’re celebrating our exclusive emoji (which also turn 1 year old today)!

For a highly amusing and entertaining interpretation of Beyonce’s Drunk in Love using only GroupMe’s exclusive emoji, check out

Drunk In Emoji from GroupMe on Vimeo.

.  Thank you to Jesse Hill for the inspiration behind this video, and of course, Queen Bey.

We have hundreds of emoji with which to express yourselves. Here are some of Team GroupMe’s favorites:

Let us know what your favorite emoji are!

Happy Birthday, GroupMe emoji! Happy Emoji Day!

Happy Back to School!  You are happy, right?  Who needs entire days of hanging out by the pool, sleeping in on weekdays, and balmy 80 degree weather?  Over it.  We’re super excited about new text books, all-nighters, clubs/organizations, and of course, being reunited with school friends.    

We know that you might use GroupMe to stay connected with your fraternity, sorority, and athletic team, but here’s a list of groups in your life that you might want to keep in touch with as you return to campus:

- Family: Remember those people who you ask for money when you’re at school? Oh yeahhhh.  Your parents.  They want to hear what’s going on in your life…and if they’re invited to Parents Weekend.

- Clubs: Maybe your club meets every week…or every semester.  Be in-the-know about meeting times, events, and what you can do to make it the most successful year ever for your organization.

- Dormmates: You’re in the best.dorm.ever.  Decide when to grab dinner, which dining hall to go to, or if it’s just going to be a Domino’s night.

- Study Group: Midterms creep up before you know it.  Keep up with all of your work by having a study group for your classes.  

- Roommates: Is it your turn to take out the trash? Probs.  Make sure that your room or apartment is, um, habitable.  Whether it’s heading to the party together or dividing up chores, with GroupMe, everyone is on the same page.

- Hometown friends: Make new friends, but keep the old.  Don’t wait until Thanksgiving to see what’s going on in your friends’ lives.  

As you head back to class, we want to wish everyone a happy, healthy, productive school year.  

xo

Team GroupMe #)

Oh, hey, gorgeous. Don’t look behind you!  We’re talking to you…and the brand new GroupMe for iOS.

We’re excited to release the 5.0 version of our iOS app with a new design and features that are beautiful, simple, and fun.   

Adorable…

An emoji is the response to a friend’s message?  Now, it appears even larger to give your emoji-only messages some extra punch.  

Popular…

Keep track of messages that you like and the most-liked messages in your group chats with “Popular”.  Relive the hysterical, sentimental, or simply awesome moments shared in your group.

Smart…

  One tap creation of a group or direct message? Check.

  Ability to block people? Check.

  Direct message someone right from your contact list? Check.

  View which groups you share with someone? Check.

All these new features in addition to your favorites (we know sending GIFs during fantasy football season is clutch) are available today!

Download now

xoxo 

Team GroupMe 

Introducing Calendar. We are thrilled to announce our newest feature to help groups stay together.  Whether organizing get-togethers among friends, coordinating meetings in a club, reminding families about annual bbq’s, Calendar helps you keep connected with your group.

Organizing group events can be a really cumbersome process. Since you’re already using GroupMe to talk about upcoming events, Calendar event invites alleviate the constant back and forth, while providing an easy way to keep the group organized and everyone in-the-know. Send an invite to your group, set up automatic reminders, keep track of who is going, and view all of your group’s events in a single place.  

Here’s how it works:

Then, 

And, 

Whether you’re an organizer or attendee, GroupMe Calendar is a simple way to schedule events with all the groups in your life.

Download it now: 

iOS , Android, WP

xo

Team GroupMe  

The semester is almost half way over and you know what that means, SPRING BREAK!  Use GroupMe to decide on a location, set the date in the Calendar, coordinate travel plans, and share the excitement.

We’ll be on campuses, giving away FREE SWAG, including sun glasses, Xboxes, and frisbees. Whether we visit your campus or not, you’ll also have the chance to win a FREE Spring Break!

To enter the sweepstakes,

1. TAKE A PIC of your Spring Break group
2. TAG IT #groupme #beachbreak #sweeps
3. SEND IT to @groupme on Twitter or Instagram

So get your Spring Break group together on GroupMe and check out all of the Spring Breakers on https://groupme.com/BeachBreak                            

University of California, Santa Barbara                                                      

Date: 3/6/2015                                                                                               

Location: Lot 22 Patio                                                                                           

Cal State University Long Beach                                                                

Date: 3/9/2015                                                                                             

Location: In front of the bookstore                                                                   

UCLA                                                                                                                  

Date: 3/10/201                                                                                             

Location: Bruin Plaza                                                                                   

University of Southern California                                                                    

Date: 3/12/2015                                                                                           

Location: USC Noontime Show                                                                           

San Diego State University                                                                              

Date: 3/17/2015                                                                                           

Location: Camponile Walkway                                                                             

UNLV                                                                                                              

Date: 3/19/2015                                                                                             

Location: Pida Plaza                                                                                               

Hello, GroupMe users! We’ve got some exciting news to share - GroupMe is now available for Windows 10 mobile! You can get it from the Windows store here: http://aka.ms/groupmewin10

We’ve completely rewritten the app from the ground up for Windows 10. We think you’ll love it! The new app is built to integrate perfectly with your Windows 10 phone – you can quickly reply to messages with interactive notifications, share photos and links directly to GroupMe, seamlessly log in with your Microsoft account, and soon, you’ll even be able to see your GroupMe groups right in the People app!

We’ve included lots of the features you’ve come to know and love about GroupMe! Our exclusive emoji are here, along with your groups, direct messages, photo sharing, memeing, animated GIFs, and more.

We are still hard at work, and will be bringing you all of the features you love from the other GroupMe apps, like photo gallery, video sharing, @mentions, and calendar. Stay tuned #)

Team GroupMe