---
title: "Manage chat members and settings"
description: "How to administer an IoTFlows chat from its info panel: select the chat's name in the header to open the panel, which carries the chat picture and name, an Add button, a More menu, and the Members, Media, Files, and Voice tabs. Edit renames a group and changes its picture, capped at 80 characters, and any member can do it. Add Members picks people and teams from the selected organization or accepts a full handle like maria:acme. Hovering a member row exposes Make Owner, Remove Owner, and Delete, none of which the web client gates on ownership. Leave removes only you and keeps the chat for everyone else; Delete Chat is shown to either side of a direct chat and removes the chat and its history for both of them; the dashboard offers no Delete Chat on a group, so a group is deleted from iOS or Android. Read receipts run on iOS and Android in direct chats only, as one check for sent and two for read; the web shows none, and no group shows any."
category: "Manage"
source_url: "https://www.iotflows.com/docs/messaging/manage-a-chat/"
---
# Manage chat members and settings

Rename a group, change who is in it, and leave one properly.

Everything on this page happens in a chat's info panel, the same panel for a direct chat and a group. A *chat owner* is a member who can delete the chat for everyone; a group can have several, and the rest of the membership is flat.

**Before you start:** have a group chat. See [Start a direct or group chat](/docs/messaging/start-a-chat/).

## Open chat info
1. Select **Messaging** in the navigation to open `/chats`.
2. Select the chat in the list.
3. Select the chat's picture or its name in the header. **More** in the same header, then **Info**, does the same thing.

The panel replaces the thread. At the top sit the chat picture and name, then **Add** and **More**, then four tabs: **Members**, **Media**, **Files**, and **Voice**. **Back** at the top left returns you to the messages.

A direct chat has no **Add** button and no **Edit**, because its membership and its name are both fixed. See [Chat types](/docs/messaging/start-a-chat/#types).

![The info panel of a group chat with five members, showing the group picture and name, the Add and More buttons, and the Members tab listing each member with their handle](/images/messaging/msg-manage-01.webp)

*The chat info panel.*

The **Media**, **Files**, and **Voice** tabs list everything anyone has ever attached to the chat. See [Browse a chat's media, files, and voice notes](/docs/messaging/share-files-and-voice-notes/#browse).

## Who can do what
| Action | Member | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Rename the group and change its picture | Yes | Yes |
| Add members, including from another organization | Yes | Yes |
| Remove a member | Yes | Yes |
| Make or remove an owner | Yes | Yes |
| Leave the chat | Yes | Yes |
| Delete the chat | No | Yes, but not from the dashboard |

> **Warning:**
> **Why can I see controls I am not supposed to use?**
>
> **Make Owner**, **Remove Owner**, and **Delete** appear on every member row for everyone, including on your own row, and the server decides whether the request goes through. Treat the rows above as the intent, not as a lock.
>
> The dashboard's group **More** menu is **Edit** and **Leave** and nothing else, so an owner cannot delete a group from the web. Delete a group from iOS or Android. A direct chat is the reverse: its **More** menu is **Delete Chat** alone.

## Rename a group and set its image
1. Select **Edit** at the top right of the info panel, or **More** and then **Edit**.
2. Type the new name. The field holds 80 characters and stops there.
3. Optional: select the picture square above the name, then upload and crop an image for the group.
4. Select **Done**. A toast reads **Chat updated**.

**Done** stays inactive while the name is empty, so a group cannot be left unnamed. The new name and picture reach everyone in the chat, not only you.

![The Edit view of a group chat's info panel, with the group picture square above a focused name field holding the group name](/images/messaging/msg-manage-02.webp)

*Renaming a group and setting its image.*

## Add members
1. Select **Add** in the info panel. The **Add Members** dialog opens.
2. Pick people from **Users** and teams from **Teams**. Both lists come from the organization you have selected.
3. Optional: type into **Who would you like to add?** to filter the two lists by name, handle, or email.
4. Select **Add Members**.

Everyone you pick becomes a blue chip above the lists, and **Add Members** stays inactive until there is at least one. Anyone already in the chat is dimmed in the list and cannot be picked twice.

Adding a team adds it as one row in **Members** rather than as its people, so the chat follows the team. See [Create and manage teams](/docs/admin/teams/).

## Add someone from another organization
Type their whole handle into the search field, including the organization after the colon, then press Enter. A comma or Tab does the same thing.

The lookup is exact rather than a search, so `maria` alone finds nothing and `maria:acme` fails if their organization's handle is `acme-mfg`. A handle that does not exist reports **No matches found**, and a handle you have already added reports **User already added**. See [Add someone from another organization](/docs/messaging/start-a-chat/#external).

An external member carries a small orange marker on the bottom right of their avatar in **Members**. Hovering their name lists the organizations they belong to.

## Remove a member
1. Open the **Members** tab.
2. Hover the member's row. **Make Owner**, **Remove Owner**, and **Delete** appear on the right.
3. Select **Delete**, in red.

There is no confirmation step: the row disappears and a toast reads **User has been removed**, or **Team has been removed** for a team. Everything that person wrote stays in the thread, and they keep no access to the chat.

![A member row in the Members tab under the pointer, with Make Owner, Remove Owner, and a red Delete revealed at the right of the row](/images/messaging/msg-manage-03.webp)

*Removing a member from a group chat.*

To put them back, add their handle again.

## Owners
An owner is marked by a green shield on the top right of their avatar, labeled **Owner** on hover. Ownership decides one thing: who sees **Delete Chat**.

Hover a member row and select **Make Owner** or **Remove Owner**. A toast reads **Owner Added** or **Owner Removed**, and the shield appears or disappears on the row. Both buttons show on every row whatever the row's current state, so read the shield rather than the buttons.

Give a group a second owner while the first is still in it. A group whose only owner leaves has nobody who can delete it.

## Read receipts
Read receipts are a mobile feature, and they cover direct chats only.

| Where | What a message you sent shows |
|---|---|
| Web | Nothing, in either chat type |
| iOS and Android, direct chat | One check once the message reaches IoTFlows, two checks once the other person has read it |
| iOS and Android, group chat | Nothing. The signal describes one other reader, so a group has nothing to say |

Every client reports how far you have read, whatever it displays. That position is stored against the chat rather than against the device, so reading a thread on the web clears its unread count on your phone and reopens it at the same **Unread Messages** divider. See [The chat list and unread counts](/docs/messaging/search-messages/#list).

A message that has not reached IoTFlows yet shows a clock instead of a check. See [When you lose connection](/docs/messaging/send-messages/#offline).

## Leave a chat
1. Select **More** in the info panel or in the chat header.
2. Select **Leave**.
3. Read the dialog, which names the chat, and select **Leave**.

A toast reads **Left chat with** the chat's name, the chat drops off your list, and the dashboard returns to `/chats`. The chat, its history, and your messages stay exactly as they are for everyone else. You cannot rejoin by yourself: someone still in the chat has to add your handle again.

**Leave** appears on groups only. A direct chat offers **Delete Chat** instead.

![The info panel of a group chat with the More menu open, showing Edit and Leave, with Leave highlighted](/images/messaging/msg-manage-04.webp)

*A group offers Leave. The chat stays exactly as it is for everyone else.*

## Delete a chat
1. Select **More** in the info panel or in the chat header.
2. Select **Delete Chat**, in red.
3. Read the dialog, which names the chat, and select **Delete**.

A toast reads **Chat deleted** and the dashboard returns to `/chats`. The chat disappears for every member, taking its messages, its pins, and its attachments out of reach.

On a direct chat, either person can delete it, and it goes for both of them. **On a group, the dashboard offers no Delete Chat at all**, to an owner or to anyone else: the group **More** menu carries **Edit** and **Leave** only. Delete a group from iOS or Android, where the owner check runs against a payload that carries it.

![The info panel of a direct chat with the More menu open, showing Delete Chat as its only item, highlighted](/images/messaging/msg-manage-05.webp)

*A direct chat offers Delete Chat instead. There is no Leave.*

> **Info:**
> **Leaving or deleting?**
>
> Leave a chat rather than deleting it when other people still need the history, which is almost always the case on a group that ran for any length of time. Deleting removes it for everyone, and there is no way back. Delete when the chat was a mistake, for example a group created against the wrong handle before anyone posted to it.

Nothing in the dashboard brings a deleted chat back, so move anything worth keeping before you delete: download the attachments you need, and put the decision in the work order it belongs to. See [Chat versus work-order comments](/docs/messaging/overview/#chat-vs-comments).

## See also
- [Start a direct or group chat](/docs/messaging/start-a-chat/)
- [Create and manage teams](/docs/admin/teams/)
- [Search and organize your chats](/docs/messaging/search-messages/)
- [Switch organizations](/docs/get-started/switch-organizations/)
- [Share photos, files, and voice notes](/docs/messaging/share-files-and-voice-notes/)