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If “keep messages” on iPhone is set to 30 days are earlier messages preserved in iCloud and on other devices?

I want to conserve storage on my iDevices but still maintain a record of all my Messages and have them available on my iMac. If “keep messages” on iPhone is set to 30 days are earlier messages preserved in iCloud and on other devices? Apple support documents aren’t clear on that.

iPhone SE, iOS 13

Posted on Jan 17, 2021 2:08 PM

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Posted on Jan 17, 2021 10:05 PM

Thank you, but that’s not a real specific answer. I know that the messages will be kept for 30 days on the device where I enable that setting. I’m wondering, specifically, if the setting applies only to the device it’s enabled on or to the messages in iCloud.


It doesn’t make sense that the setting on one device would apply to iCloud messages. If that were the case, a setting on one device of “30 days” would overrule a setting on another device of “1 year” or “Forever” effectively making it a universal setting and te settings on different devices irrelevant.


Is this just poor interface design or poor documentation? Someone from Apple responding would be helpful.

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 17, 2021 10:05 PM in response to zinacef

Thank you, but that’s not a real specific answer. I know that the messages will be kept for 30 days on the device where I enable that setting. I’m wondering, specifically, if the setting applies only to the device it’s enabled on or to the messages in iCloud.


It doesn’t make sense that the setting on one device would apply to iCloud messages. If that were the case, a setting on one device of “30 days” would overrule a setting on another device of “1 year” or “Forever” effectively making it a universal setting and te settings on different devices irrelevant.


Is this just poor interface design or poor documentation? Someone from Apple responding would be helpful.

Jan 18, 2021 10:29 AM in response to Scott Spinola

Scott Spinola wrote:

Thank you, but that’s not a real specific answer. I know that the messages will be kept for 30 days on the device where I enable that setting. I’m wondering, specifically, if the setting applies only to the device it’s enabled on or to the messages in iCloud.

If you are using the Messages in iCloud feature and have messages set to be kept for 30 days, then they will be deleted after 30 days on all devices.

If “keep messages” on iPhone is set to 30 days are earlier messages preserved in iCloud and on other devices?

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