# 1-to-1 Chat Issue — Always Creating New Group Channels Instead of Reusing Existing One-to-One Chat

**URL:** <https://community.sendbird.com/t/1-to-1-chat-issue-always-creating-new-group-channels-instead-of-reusing-existing-one-to-one-chat/11261>\
**Category:** iOS\
**Tags:** ios\
**Created:** [December 11, 2025, 12:44pm UTC](https://community.sendbird.com/t/1-to-1-chat-issue-always-creating-new-group-channels-instead-of-reusing-existing-one-to-one-chat/11261 "2025-12-11T12:44:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![James\_Oesten](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.sendbird.com/james_oesten/32/5929_2.png) [@James\_Oesten](https://community.sendbird.com/u/James_Oesten)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2025, 12:44pm UTC](https://community.sendbird.com/t/1-to-1-chat-issue-always-creating-new-group-channels-instead-of-reusing-existing-one-to-one-chat/11261/1 "2025-12-11T12:44:15Z")

</div>

**[Problem/Question]**  
1-to-1 Chat Issue — Always Creating New Group Channels Instead of Reusing Existing One-to-One Chat

* * *

Hello, I am facing an issue with creating a one-to-one chat in Sendbird.

I have one business user and multiple customer users.  
Example:

- Business ID: `businessOwner509`

- Customer IDs: `p1660`, `p2345`

My requirement is:  
👉 **Business + Customer should always have only one 1-to-1 chat channel**  
But my current code always creates a **new GroupChannel** , even when a channel already exists for the same two users.

Here is my code:

```auto
let businessId = self.business_chat_data.value(forKey: "chat_id") as? String ?? ""
let customerId = self.user_chat_data.value(forKey: "chat_id") as? String ?? ""

let params = GroupChannelCreateParams()
params.isDistinct = true
params.userIds = [businessId, customerId]
// params.channelUrl = "chat_\(businessId)_\(customerId)" // optional

GroupChannel.createChannel(params: params) { channel, error in
    if let error = error {
        print("Error:", error.localizedDescription)
        return
    }
    self.openChat(channelURL: channel!.channelURL)
}

```

Even with isDistinct = true, a new channel is created every time.

What am I doing wrong?  
How can I ensure that Sendbird reuses the existing 1-to-1 channel for the same two users instead of creating a new one?