Messages deleted on Mac are not deleted on iPhone and visa versa

Question

Level 1

38 points

Messages deleted on Mac are not deleted on iPhone and visa versa

I was running out of space on my basic 5G iCloud acct so a friend of mine suggested I no longer "store" Messages in iCloud but only use iCloud to sync them between my devices. I argued that if I disable Messages in iCloud, it would not sync between devices but he insisted it does and that is how his is set up.. ..ok, so I turned off Messages in iCloud on my iPhone and Mac.

I swear a day or so after doing that, it worked just like my friend said in that when I created and sent a Message on my phone or Mac it showed up on both devices and when I deleted a Message on one device it immediately deleted it from the other device but now, a week later, it's not syncing between my devices when I delete a Message but it will add a new Message on both devices when creating it on one. I have signed out and back in on both devices, didn't change a thing.

When looking on line I couldn't find anything definitive that separated the ability to sync between devices vs storing all my Messages in iCloud. I prefer not to have my Messages stored in iCloud but do want the syncing benefits both ways, adding and deleting. Is this possible?

MacBook Pro (2021)

Posted on May 2, 2024 6:04 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Bgnmarty Author

Level 1

38 points

May 2, 2024 5:13 PM in response to Bgnmarty

I talked with Apple Support about this today and was told that its working properly be design. So for those who stumble upon this topic, here is a summary of how Messages works with iCloud.. ..

If iCloud is turned on for Messages on all devices you will use Messages on;

Creating a new Message and sending it, it will populate on all devices and be stored in iCloud, same goes when you receive a new Message someone sent you
Deleting a Message that either you or someone else sent you will be deleted across all devices and eventually removed from iCloud. I think iCloud zaps it in 40 days if I recall.

If iCloud is turned off for Messages on all devices you will use Messages on;

Creating a new Message and sending it, it will populate on all devices you have it set for and be stored in iCloud, same goes when you receive a new Message someone sent you
Here's the difference: Messages that you delete will only be deleted on the device you delete them on. So, if you have multiple devices you will have to delete that same Message on each device one by one.
No Messages will be stored in iCloud

Reply