# Groupchat by Chatbooks — Group messaging for families

> Family messaging app with organized chats, media sharing, events, and notes. (iPhone/iPad app by Chatbooks, Inc..)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/groupchat-by-chatbooks/id1628911774 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Chatbooks, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/542523202)
- Category: Social Networking, Lifestyle
- Price: Free
- Rating: 4.70/5 from 326 App Store ratings · 41 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 15.6 · 66 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2022-08-06
- Data updated: 2026-08-28
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/groupchat-by-chatbooks/id1628911774/reviews.md

## What is Groupchat by Chatbooks?

Your people. Your moments.

Stay connected with your groups using Groupchat, the best messaging app for families and other groups. Features include topic-based rooms, direct messaging, and seamless media sharing across all devices. Whether you're coordinating schedules, sharing photos, or just staying in touch, Groupchat keeps it all organized.

ORGANIZED CONVERSATIONS, NO MORE SCROLLING
Tired of losing track of important messages? Groupchat lets you organize chats by topic, making it easy to find recipes, trip plans, and more. Create Rooms (like channels on Slack or Discord) but with a friendly and clean layout, Groupchat is built specifically for families.

SECURE, PRIVATE MESSAGING
Your conversations are safe with military-grade security. We never sell your data, giving you privacy that rivals platforms like Signal and Telegram, without sacrificing family-friendly ease.

SHARE PHOTOS, VIDEOS & AUDIO WITH EASE
No more blurry images or broken videos. Groupchat ensures high-quality media sharing across all devices—like GroupMe or WhatsApp, but built for families. Send audio messages as well!

CREATE EVENTS & REMEMBER BIRTHDAYS
Plan gatherings and never miss another birthday with Groupchat's Events feature. Set shared reminders and keep everyone in the loop—no more scattered group texts. Polls help get everyone on the same page.

SHARED NOTES TO KEEP YOUR GROUP ORGANIZED
Need a place for emergency contacts, babysitter info, or grocery lists? Shared Notes make it easy to store and update important details, accessible to everyone in your family or group.

MULTIPLE GROUPS, MULTIPLE COLOR SCHEMES
Switch between different family groups effortlessly. Customize each group's color scheme so you always know which group you're chatting with.

REPLY, REACT, AND KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING
Add emojis, start message threads, and keep the group connected. Whether it's a quick heart or a detailed response, Groupchat makes staying engaged effortless.

NO ADS, NO SPAM
No distractions, no noise. Just a private, invite-only space for your family or group to connect.

PRINT MEMORIES DIRECTLY WITH CHATBOOKS
Turn your favorite moments into beautiful photo books. Groupchat integrates seamlessly with Chatbooks, making it easy to preserve memories with just a few taps.

Why Families and other Groups Choose Groupchat
• Organized, topic-based chats
• Safe and secure messaging
• Easy event planning and shared notes
• Multiple groups with custom themes
• High-quality media sharing

## Key features

- Topic-based chat rooms
- Direct messaging
- High-quality media sharing
- Event planning and reminders
- Shared notes
- Multiple family groups
- End-to-end encryption

## What do users think of Groupchat by Chatbooks?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- 👍 Great for family messaging
- 💡 Unique "rooms" feature
- 👍 Easy to invite family
- 👍 High-resolution image sharing
- 👍 Seamless cross-platform sharing
- 👍 Useful event feature
- 👍 Good for large families
- 👍 Better than GroupMe
- 👍 Works well on tablets/macOS

**Cons**

- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Login issues
- 🐛 Inconsistent performance
- 🐛 Confusing navigation
- 🐛 Poor branding/name change
- 🐛 Privacy concerns (phone number required)
- 🐛 Difficulty finding app in store
- 🐛 Ugly/awkward new UI
- 🐛 Lost functionality after updates

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Unable to send pictures
- Family members not showing up
- Spinning circle on login
- Room not showing up after creation
- Error message when creating duplicate room
- Unable to open specific rooms after update
- App not working on iPhone
- Shows new posts that aren't there
- Mark all as read button not working
- Report a bug feature not working
- App crashes on launch (macOS)
- Unable to get past verification code
- New update makes interface awkward/ugly
- Doesn't open to rooms tab
- Taking away reactions
- Annoying reply/reaction notification

**Most requested features**

- Admin option to manage groups
- Ability to add/remove members from groups
- Search icon for rooms and content
- Ability to lock rooms directly
- Multiple "fam menus" for different groups
- Ability to delete rooms (not just archive)
- Create polls within groups
- Ability to change group icons/colors
- Read receipt functionality
- Support for video messages
- Dark mode option

## Recent user reviews (10 of 41)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/groupchat-by-chatbooks/id1628911774/reviews.md

### 1/5 — STOP CHANGING THINGS

*2026-06-17*

Please for the love of all that is good and holy in this world CHANGE YOUR NAME BACK TO HEYFAM. YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE AMOUNT OF CONFUSION YOU ARE CREATING FOR MY ELDERLY PARENTS AND FAMILY MEMBERS. Why would you think that changing your name to something that is a word that people use literally all the time for multiple apps would be a good thing?? Your app doesn’t even show up in the App Store when I search “Groupchat” because it’s such an oversaturated SEO term used by EVERY OTHER MESSAGING APP. Easily one of the worst branding decisions I’ve seen in recent history. Including Elon renaming Twitter to X.

### 5/5 — Great family app

*2026-03-31*

The best family/memory centric app I’ve used to create different rooms to discuss different topics, share funny pictures, cute videos of kids, and so much more. Highly recommend!

**Developer response:** Thank you so much for this review! We love that you're a part of our HeyFam family!

### 5/5 — Great app!

*2026-03-09*

Fills a niche needed for families too big for a group chat but who still want to stay close

**Developer response:** We love to hear this and are glad that HeyFam is able to fill your family needs!

### 5/5 — Great for family messaging

*2026-03-06*

Love this app, use it for group message with my family! Miss when they were updating it more/use native writing. It had fewer bugs and was better.

**Developer response:** We love to hear this and are happy you're a part of our HeyFam fam!

### 4/5 — Overall good

*2026-01-25*

I wish it was possible to add or remove someone from a group. Currently, only the individual can do that. There’s not an admin option to manage the group.

**Developer response:** More features are in the works! This is one on the list!

### 5/5 — Best App for family messaging!

*2025-12-03*

The app is easy to use, family friendly and best of all it’s easy to invite your family to join. I love the event feature, the separate channels that can be made “rooms”, and the notification options. Highly recommended from our fam to yours.

### 5/5 — The Best Messaging Fam App!

*2025-12-01*

The whole famdamily is on this app and we love it! Invite everyone! If some in the fam are a little less social during the day and need to be heads down they can modify notifications. Got that aunt that wants to send pics and emojis all day long she will love it because the image sharing is hi res and easy. Have a suprise party you are planning you can create a private room and invite the party planners to go all out. The family has a lot of events. This app allows you to easily create an event, share and add to the calendar. Now everyone is in the loop. The family convo is continuing and it took 1 link and 1 text to share the app with the whole family! HeyFam 👋 is awesome. 👏 Nicely done Chatbooks!

### 1/5 — Trash website

*2025-07-18, version 3.2.8*

This is the worst app I have ever used, it should be banned

### 1/5 — Couldn’t sign up without a phone number, even though it says you can

*2025-04-16*

Privacy matters to me, and this app doesn’t appear to respect that. It shares contact info and turns on third-party marketing by default. I didn’t want to give them my phone number, but even though it says you can sign up with just email, that didn’t work. The “magic link” never opened the app like it’s supposed to, so I couldn’t finish signing up. My phone number is tied to my business, and I’m not going to risk handing it over when basic privacy isn’t respected.

### 3/5 — Has been great

*2025-01-20*

This has been the best app to keep up with multiple conversations at once. The last few months though, I haven’t been able to send pictures. Please six this and I’ll update my rating to 5 stars!

**Developer response:** Hey, Becky! We've been in contact with you through email and appreciate your feedback as we continue to better this app! We're hopeful the latest updates from our Dev team will have solved these issues.

## Frequently asked questions about Groupchat by Chatbooks

### What is HeyFam?

HeyFam is a private messaging app designed specifically for families to stay connected. It offers organized, topic-based chat rooms, direct messaging, and seamless media sharing across all devices. The app prioritizes security and privacy with end-to-end encryption and an ad-free experience.

### What are the key features of HeyFam?

Key features include organized conversations through topic-based rooms, secure direct messaging, high-quality photo and video sharing, event planning with shared reminders, shared notes for important information, and the ability to manage multiple family groups with custom color schemes.

### Is HeyFam free to use?

Yes, HeyFam is a free application. The description explicitly states 'NO ADS, NO SPAM — JUST FAM', indicating that the app is provided without any cost to the user and without advertisements.

### What devices is HeyFam compatible with?

The app description mentions seamless media sharing across 'all devices', implying compatibility with a wide range of mobile devices, likely including both iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. Specific operating system versions are not detailed.

### How does HeyFam help families stay organized?

HeyFam helps families stay organized by allowing them to create topic-based chat rooms for different subjects like recipes or trip plans, eliminating the need to scroll through long, disorganized conversations. It also features an Events tool for planning gatherings and Shared Notes for storing essential family information.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 3.5.4 — 2026-08-17

Additional controls for Rooms.
Fixes for Video playback.
Other polish and improvements

### 3.5.3 — 2026-07-24

See exactly where you left off in a chat with a new "unread messages" line.
Attachments got an upgrade — photo picker is more prevalent, and videos load smoothly with no more blank screen.
Search now lets you filter by person in messages, links, and videos, not just photos.
Reactions with different skin tones on the same emoji now group together.
Skin tone selection added to emoji search.
Various bug fixes and performance improvements.

### 3.5.2 — 2026-06-27

Bug fixes and performance improvements

### 3.5.1 — 2026-06-12

Heyfam is now Groupchat!

- Bug fixes and performance improvements

### 3.5.0 — 2026-06-01

Heyfam is now Groupchat!

Polished DM Avatars: Group DM avatars have been updated to match the rest of the app.
Icon change: Updated the audio recording icon to be a more recognizable.


Bug Fixes & Performance

Sticky Draft Mentions: Fixed a bug where tagged mentions would disappear from a draft message if you left the conversation and came back later.
Reliable Notification Routing: Improved deep-link routing so that tapping a notification takes you exactly where you want to go—especially when jumping straight into a specific thread or message.
Synced Reactions: Resolved a visual sync issue where reactions on a thread's parent message would look different depending on whether you were viewing it from the main chat or the thread view.
Smarter DM Targeting: Fixed an issue where routing to a DM with a user who is in multiple groups with you could cause the DM to close.

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## More apps by Chatbooks, Inc.

- [Chatbooks](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chatbooks/id734887606)
- [Chatbooks Fireplace](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chatbooks-fireplace/id1442288635)
- [Tilt-Cam](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tilt-cam/id1462195187)
- [Reel Time by Chatbooks](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/reel-time-by-chatbooks/id1484884781)
- [Emoji Memories: By Chatbooks](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/emoji-memories-by-chatbooks/id1508592659)

All apps by Chatbooks, Inc.: https://appshunter.io/developer/542523202

## Related topics

[groupchat by chatbooks](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/groupchat-by-chatbooks) · [group chat family](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/group-chat-family)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-28.*