(contact) can't be added until they accept your contact request

Question

I'm trying to add a contact to a group chat, but I'm getting this error message:

(contact) can't be added until they accept your contact request.

I've tried removing (contact) from my list and re-adding him, but I keep getting the same error. Meanwhile, someone else in the group is trying to add (contact) but they're getting a different error message:

 (contact) can’t be added to this conversation due to his/her privacy settings

But his privacy settings are as open as they can be:

So we got someone else in the group (who didn't have this person in their contacts list) to add him to their contacts list. After they added each other and exchanged a few messages, this other person tried to add (contact) to our group but they're getting the same error message as me, that they can't be added until they accept the contact request.

We started a new group and tried to add him, but we're getting the same error messages as before. This person re-installed their operating system and the error persists.

What is going on and how can we get our friend to join our group?

Answer 1

You need one member of the group who is a friend with all of the other members of the group, and he has to start the group chat (by adding all the other members).

The friends status must be confirmed, ie the others must accept the request-just sending a request is not enough.

Also all the members' privacy settings must be set as the picture you uploaded in case any of them aren't friends with any other of the members.

Also refer here:

the user that you are trying to add to a group chat is not on YOUR contact list, so you cannot add them to any group chat.