I’m running out of space on my phone (64GB) and am considering the “delete old messages” option suggested in settings, which says it’ll free up about 15GB. I have synced these with my MacBook, and backed up the MacBook to an external hard drive. If I delete the messages on my phone, will it keep them on the MacBook, or will it notice the setting change and delete the old messages there too?
MacBook
Hi evilpotatochip,
Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities. I know it's important to make sure your messages are safely preserved. I'm happy to see if I can answer your question.
It sounds like you want to know if your messages will be deleting from your Mac if you delete them on your iPhone. This will depend on what you mean when you say you synced your messages. If you're using Messages in iCloud, deleting a message on one device will delete it from all synced devices: Keep all your messages in iCloud. You can check by tapping Settings > [name] > iCloud, and seeing if Messages is switched on.
I hope I've answered your question.
Take care.
Hi evilpotatochip,
Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities. I know it's important to make sure your messages are safely preserved. I'm happy to see if I can answer your question.
It sounds like you want to know if your messages will be deleting from your Mac if you delete them on your iPhone. This will depend on what you mean when you say you synced your messages. If you're using Messages in iCloud, deleting a message on one device will delete it from all synced devices: Keep all your messages in iCloud. You can check by tapping Settings > [name] > iCloud, and seeing if Messages is switched on.
I hope I've answered your question.
Take care.
Hi evilpotatochip,
Thanks for replying. To answer your question, if you turn Messages in iCloud syncing off, messages deleted from one device will not be deleted from your other devices. With that in mind, you could use the "automatically delete" settings on your iPhone without affecting your Mac.
Best wishes.
thank you. Following the thees you suggested, Messages is off. I want to clear space from my phone by activating “delete old messages” but keep a record of those old messages somewhere. When I receive a text on my phone, I see it on my MacBook as well, and I can send texts from my phone and MacBook and see what I sent on the other. I’d like to keep that functionality.
So in short, will turning in “auto delete old messages” to save space on my phone delete those messages on my MacBook, knowing that the iCloud functionality of that is off?
Thank you! That’s exactly what I was hoping for. Great help
iMessages and syncing
