Reuvain Borchardt

The shutdown of a popular free group-texting app is causing shuls and similar texting groups to scramble to find alternatives that come with a price tag.

Microsoft announced that its GroupMe messaging service will now only be usable with its app, which makes it useless for the shuls that had used the service specifically because it worked with SMS messaging on flip phones.

A petition on Change.org titled “Urge GroupMe to Continue Supporting SMS Messaging” has garnered well over 5,000 signatures.

“Many people, for moral, ethical, or privacy reasons, refrain from using smartphones,” the petition reads. “In addition, many parents understandably limit their children to only basic phones. Vulnerable seniors are another segment of the population that utilize basic phones… Removing SMS capabilities would exclude an entire group of users from an essential communication tool.”

The petition says its signatories understand that maintaining such a network is costly and is hoping Microsoft keeps it even if that means charging “a nominal fee.”