Q: How do I delete saved text messages that are taking up storage on my iphone?

I had to erase all contents and settings on my phone, and THEN do restore from backup via iTunes done via method 1. All the space being taken up by "saved messages" (5.4 GB) was wiped clean. But without erasing the phone, it would not let me do the backup, because I didn't have enough space. Pain to do it this way, am hoping that this doesn't fill up again and I have to redo the whole thing.

Had the same issue but was solved by deleting conversations that used iMessages that were somewhat long and with pictures in it.  After deleting just did a normal restart and the taken space was significantly lowered.  The thing is that iMessages take up a lot more space than a normal sms and is stored on the iphone.  If you dont want space used up just disable iMessages and it should stop storing messages.

How did you erase the messages in storage?  I can't find them anywhere.

Lucerova  is a legend

How to fix it:

1. 1. Select Settings > General > Spotlight Search
2. 2. Un-Check Messages in the Spotlight Search
3. 3. Delete all text messages that show in the Messages app
4. 4. Open the multi-tasking bar by double tapping on the Home button
5. 5. Close ALL running applications
6. 6. Restart your phone

*You may have to repeat this process multiple times depending on how much storage yourMessages app is currently using. In Settings > General > Usage, You may only see the mb or gb drop by a few hundred mb each time (don't panic). You need to continue repeating this process until the Messages app is only utilizing 20mb or less. --If you get stuck and you still have a significant amount of data used by Messages and noMessages to delete, Simply backup and restore your device at this point to empty the remaining caches and allow you to permanently remove the remaining data.

**Also be sure to re-enable Messages in your Spotlight Search. Select Settings > General > Spotlight Search

Preventative Tip:

Always ensure to clean out your Messages often, as well as restarting your device often. iOS has self maintaining functions that only run on startup. As long as you don't allow your message threads to over-populate after extended time periods, you will not need to repeat these steps.

Enjoy

I repeated this three times and it emptied my text cache which freed up 3 gig of space.

(with each time of doing the process it emptied a large part of the stored text data)

This is by far the quickest and easiest way to free the space I personally found I  tried Nick's way (ibackupbot) but ran into the problem as most will that my phone is so full due to having loads of photos and videos that I want to keep that it wouldn't let me restore as it kept saying I haven't got enough space on my phone.

The above technique worked for me on the third go it did delete all my current texts but its worth it for 3 gig of space

P.S still think apple should sort this out as my emails is also doing the same thing and i cant delete them

By trying any of these methods, do you actually get storage space back?

Yes mate 100% the above way works

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5345138?start=75&tstart=0

Click on the link takes you to another apple discussion I've posted on that one as well as it's took me ages to sort it out so I have posted it on all apple threads on this topic to help out.

It won't let me put a screen shot on this forum but I have freed 2.1 gig of space using the above technique and have no trapped data in saved text messages.

Mate just click the above link let me know if you still can't sort it

Cheers kurt

I have already posted on several other apple forums as if your like me and have had an I phone 5 16gb and have over the past 13 months have been sending loads of pictures via text and email, when you go into settings/ general/ usage a large part of your memory is taken up in saved text messages ( I had about 3 gig) also in saved emails I had 2.5 gig both trapped in the I phone cache which you can't access.

I like most others have searched forums to find an answer to get the valued memory back I firstly found that most people found the Ibackupbot worked so I gave it ago however on the last step it kept saying that I didn't have enough space to restore my phone. The problem is that you need quite a few gig to restore your phone but when you only have 13 gig to play with when you first have your phone and then nearly 5 gig trapped it don't leave much space to play with so I found that the Ibackupbot didn't work for me as I believe that process works better with a 32 gig phone as you have loads more memory to play with.

After loads of digging I found these two techniques to get your trapped storage back.

Text cache

Before you start the process check how much memory is being used in usage on saved text messages I also synced my phone with I tunes ( not sure if it makes a difference).

1. Select Settings > General > Spotlight Search

2. Un-Check Messages in the Spotlight Search

3. Delete all text messages that show in the Messages app

4. Open the multi-tasking bar by double tapping on the Home button

5. Close ALL running applications

6. Restart your phone

Remember to reset your phone by holding the on/off button and the home button until you see the apple logo then go back in settings / general/ usage and see if the storage has reduced. ( every time I repeated the above process I noticed that a chunk of memory was given back to me it took me three times and I had freed all 3 gig.

On the third go I did delete all my current texts but a small price to pay to get 3 gig back.

To get email cache back

When I went into my sent emails even though I had deleted them all it said at the bottom there was 935 unread emails and in spot search you can still see my old emails I had sent months ago but you can't access them.

I have a hotmail account so this what I will use for my example. Basically make sure you uncheck mail and texts in spot search then delete you email account in settings/ mail.

Don't worry as all your emails you want to keep are still in the hotmail main server as your phone is only an access point to see your emails (for hotmail anyway) so reinstall your email on your phone in settings/ mail and you can upload your emails back from your inbox.

I now have 5.5 gig of space back an can install some of my apps and not worry about taking pics and videos

I hope this helps let me know if you get stuck

Cheers kurt

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5345138?start=90&tstart=0

Click on this  and read the forum

I can confirm Kurty's way does work and also seems like less hassle not having to restore or dl any third party software of any sort. Thanks a lot!

Hey buddy just so I can help a couple of people did you do exactly what I wrote above your post or did you look at the other forum that I've been trying to help people on?

Also can you let me know if you did anything extra that I havnt mentioned as some people can't get it to work.

Cheers Illogik

This is a very late response as i just looked into it, if any one sees it it will be great. Well the problem is that messages were still get archived and so the attachments you were sent through sms or imessage. Now that the jailbreak is out, i was scrolling around in my phone through ssh. I was also wondering why theres 2.2GB of saved messages when i had deleted all my messsages? So i found the path to the sms folder though ssh ( lucky guess lol ) And then i deleted the attachments that were archived from years back and old drafts that had no point because they were old. So here is the fix. First have a jailbroken iPhone. SSH into, if you dont know how, youtube it. Go to Private/Var/Mobile/Library/SMS . Here you can go inside the Attachments folder and delete everything inside. Do the same for the Drafts. LEAVE THE REST ALONE. Go to your settings and watch your regain your GB's. Hope it helps !

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4137?viewlocale=en_US

The above is all you need to do.

Brilliant... option 1 is a great fix.  thank you so much!!  3+ GB gained back.  You rock. 

Neither Nickc25's (not enough space to restore) OR Kurty999's (nothing at all happened) worked for me.

This is so frustrating. 5.3 GB of space totally wasted. 2 hours wasted on trying to sort this out.

Apple really needs to fix this. This is ridiculous.

Tasha not sure if you're had a look at the link I posted above and read page 7-8 this is the main thread about this problem.

To complete Nic's way mate you need to have 3-4 gig  of space to complete a restore from iTunes remember the stuff you delete such as apps and photos will come back on the restore just not the saved text data.

Note that if you delete an app and then restore it you may loose data like progress on a game.

Also if I was you just copy all your pics and vids onto a computer just in case.

Once you have deleted enough space then restore in iTunes should work mate.

( just look on the other forum as I took pictures step by step of the ibot back up process to make sure your happy before you make the restore)

Cheers Kurt hope you get it sorted took me hours to