Awkward texting

Using. Priv with Verizon Message+. Texting used to be very easy and streamlined but a bunch of months ago something changed. If I don't have a current text on my Conversations screen, after I click the create message bubble, I have to click the contacts icon, then the search icon in Contacts, then type in the name I want. If I want to send text to more than one person I have to jump through these hoops again for each person. I used to be able to just type the names in the To: field. Is there a fix for this?

Not familiar with Verizon's built-in apps but there's no shortage of SMS apps in Google Play. You can try them out until you find one you like - https://play.google.com/store/search?q=sms&c=apps. This is the default Android messaging app - https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...apps.messaging