GroupMe App Guide for Parents, Educators, & Students (2026)

GroupMe: Small App, Big Risks for Teens

• Large group chats can include classmates, teammates, and people your teens don't know well
• Cyberbullying, rumors, and inappropriate content can spread quickly through group conversations
• Constant notifications and active chats can increase social pressure and fear of missing out (FOMO)
• Many GroupMe chats aren't moderated, allowing harmful conversations to go unchecked
• Messages, photos, and screenshots can easily be shared outside the original group

The App That's Replacing Group Texts for Many Teens

GroupMe Is Different From Regular Text Messaging

• GroupMe is a free messaging app that allows users to send direct messages and participate in group chats from a smartphone, tablet, or computer
• Users can share photos, videos, GIFs, files, polls, and events within conversations
• Some colleges and universities offer GroupMe Campus, allowing students to connect with others using a verified school email address
• Users generally must verify a phone number when creating a GroupMe account

The Side of GroupMe Parents Don't Always See

• GroupMe chats are often created and managed by students, meaning there may be little adult oversight or moderation
• Students can share photos, videos, files, and messages that may be difficult to remove once shared
• Location sharing features may reveal personal information about where your teen is or who they are meeting
• Because GroupMe messages happen within the app, parents may not see conversations through traditional texting or phone records
• GroupMe does not use end-to-end encryption, which means messages may not have the same level of privacy protection as some other messaging apps

4 Ways to Help Protect Your Teen on GroupMe

• SmartSocial recommends teens turn off the location-sharing feature and discuss with students why it’s not safe to share your location with others through apps
• Remind students that messages sent privately are never truly private because anyone could take a screenshot of a message and share it with other people
• Encourage students to turn off “Enable sharing” from their profile to keep their account more private
• Since GroupMe messages are separate from text messages, parents should remember to open the app to monitor messages

Hidden GroupMe Features Parents Often Miss

• Group members can add others to the group chat that don’t have the app, as long as they have a phone number.  GroupMe messages can be sent through SMS messaging which means that students don’t have to have the app on their phone to view or respond to messages from a group chat
• There is no way to delete messages sent within the app, although users can “hide” messages on their own device that they have sent to others
• Microsoft also owns Skype, and GroupMe users are able to video chat with others (privately or within groups) through the app using Skype
• Spam is prevalent on GroupMe and students may receive messages from unknown users or from bots
• When searching for GIFs and videos to share through the app, students may easily come across mature content

Who Is GroupMe Really Designed For?

Apple App Store rating: 13+

Google Play Store rating: T (Teen)

Owned by Microsoft

Privacy Policy

Services Agreement

3 Conversations Every Parent Should Have About GroupMe

• Remind students that GroupMe can comply with government requests to reveal personal messages if they are asked to do so (Source: Screenrant)
• Remind students that they should not respond to messages received from unknown users.  Create a SmartSocial Family Media Agreement WITH your student and talk about your family’s plan for how to handle interactions with strangers and how to appropriately use this group chat app

Change These GroupMe Settings First

Turn off Location Sharing

• Tap the person icon in the bottom right corner of the app
• Tap “Settings”
• Scroll down and tap “Open settings app” to take you to your device settings for GroupMe
• Tap “Location” and make sure “Never” is checked

Do not allow GroupMe to access phone contacts

• Go to the GroupMe “Settings” menu 
• Scroll down to “Sync contacts to server” and turn off (gray)

Turn off "Enable sharing"

• To keep their account more private, students can turn off "Enable sharing"
• Tap the person icon in the bottom right corner
• Tap "Edit Profile"
• Make sure "Enable sharing" is turned off (gray)

Turn off notifications

• To decrease distractions for students, consider turning off all notifications
• Go to the GroupMe “Settings” menu
• Under “NOTIFICATIONS & SOUNDS,” turn “Enhanced notifications” to off (gray)
• Consider turning notifications off from the phone settings menu
• Tap “Open settings app”
• Tap “Notifications”
• Turn “Allow Notifications” to off (gray)

How to block another GroupMe user (Private Message)

• Tap the message icon at the bottom left 
• Tap the message
• Tap on the other user’s icon in the top right corner
• Tap the three dots for More
• Tap “Block”

How to block another GroupMe user (from a group)

• Tap the message icon at the bottom left 
• Tap the group message
• Tap on the user’s photo to the left of their message
• Tap the photo in the top right corner
• Tap the three dots for More
• Tap Block

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Why GroupMe Has Raised Concerns in Schools

[A sorority at the University of Central Florida] has been suspended after allegations of its members posting an explicit photo, offering payment to complete schoolwork and swapping IDs to buy alcohol [on GroupMe]. - Yahoo! News

After information about an upcoming test was posted in an introductory anthropology class GroupMe chat, about 70 students at the University of Texas at Austin are facing either automatic failing grades or expulsion for being members of the group message. - The Cougar, student-run newspaper

Why Students Prefer GroupMe Over Regular Texting

• GroupMe is an easy method for students using Android, Apple, or Windows devices to communicate together and not have to worry about the different functions of each type of phone (Apple’s blue text bubbles vs. Android’s green bubbles)
• Students can be a part of large chat groups with the ability to remove themselves from the groups and they can participate in multiple chat groups within one app
• Compared to other group chat apps, GroupMe makes it very easy to search and share GIF’s, images, and videos
• GroupMe messages do not get recorded on parents’ phone bills, which some students may find attractive

Conclusion

GroupMe is a popular group chat app that many students use to communicate with their friends, school groups, clubs, or sports teams.  Parents should be aware of the features of this SmartSocial Gray Zone app and make sure that they are having continuous conversations with their students about the potential dangers of using the GroupMe app.

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