why doesn't my phone have the 'add contact' feature

Hi Steelman1951,

Thanks for clarifying the concern.

It's likely you're dealing with an MMS message and not an iMessage group.

With an MMS message group, there is no way to add someone to the group in this instance.

Learn more about MMS messages and iMessage differences here:

About iMessage and SMS/MMS

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.

Hi Steelman1951,

Your iPhone will try to use MMS always unless it's unavailable. Most commonly this happens when a message group includes someone without an iPhone.

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.

Hi Steelman1951,

It seems you're having trouble adding a contact and we can help.

Normally, you would see the add contact on the individual numbers of the people who contacted you, as a whole group can't be a contact.

Let us know if that helps.

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.