There is a big reason to use get_post_meta instead of ACF functions :
Way less queries to the database and less load on the frontend. Best if you disable acf on the frontend(search for it on google) and use only get_post_meta.
Tested it with Code Profiler and the difference is huge.
I searched everywhere and nothing found about how to use get_post_meta for group type fields.
After I did some tests found the follwing method:
For example you have a field type group named : group_field_type
Inside the ‘group_field_type’ you have two text type fields : inside_group_one and inside_group_two
to get the two text fields inside the group with get_post_meta in php would be:
$inside_group_one = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'group_field_type_inside_group_one', true );
$inside_group_two = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'group_field_type_inside_group_two', true );
echo $inside_group_one.'<br>';
echo $inside_group_two.'<br>';
You concatenate the group field name with the field name inside the group.
Hope it helps.
Best wishes
