Hello erodrig4,
When searching a contact to share a photo or other information to in Messages, you should still see the existing message thread with that contact and the groups that contact is associated with. Since the groups aren't showing, you'll want to restart your iPhone first. While restarting is a simple step it is very helpful in resolving many issues. You can find the steps for restarting your iPhone 14 Pro Max below. These steps are also outlined in the following article.
- "Press and hold either volume button and the side button until the power-off slider appears.
- Drag the slider, then wait 30 seconds for your device to turn off. If your device is frozen or unresponsive, force restart your device.
- To turn your device back on, press and hold the side button (on the right side of your iPhone) until you see the Apple logo."
Restart your iPhone
In addition to restarting your iPhone, make sure you're running the latest iOS. Apple has recently released iOS 16.0.2, and it can be equally as helpful in resolving this issue. The steps for updating are listed below for reference.
- "Back up your device using iCloud or your computer.
- Plug your device into power and connect to the internet with Wi-Fi.
- Go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update.
- Choose the software update that you want to install. You can choose to stay on iOS or iPadOS 15 and still get important security updates. Or you can choose the option to upgrade to iOS or iPadOS 16.
- Tap Install Now. If you see Download and Install instead, tap it to download the update, enter your passcode, then tap Install Now. If you don't know your passcode, learn what to do."
Update your iPhone or iPad
Let us know how that goes!