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I read that if you want to delete messages from your iPad for storage reasons, but not your iPhone, you need to go to Settings>Messages>Send & Receive, and sign out of your Apple ID, then go into General>Messages and delete. That supposedly removes messages from iPad but not iPhone (which I want to maintain), but do I then sign back in with my Apple ID or leave it off?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Hello frankierayo,
Welcome to Apple Support Communities. Thanks for reaching out to us with this inquiry about deleting messages from your devices. Yes, signing out of the Apple ID and then deleting the messages on your iPad is the correct path to take. Signing back in to your Apple ID will allow you to use iMessage on the iPad. If you do not want the messages synced between the devices, you can disable Messages in iCloud on either device. This will allow you to delete messages from either device while keeping them on the other. You can find more info on that here:
How to delete messages in iCloud
Let us know if you have any questions.
Have a great day!
Hello frankierayo,
Welcome to Apple Support Communities. Thanks for reaching out to us with this inquiry about deleting messages from your devices. Yes, signing out of the Apple ID and then deleting the messages on your iPad is the correct path to take. Signing back in to your Apple ID will allow you to use iMessage on the iPad. If you do not want the messages synced between the devices, you can disable Messages in iCloud on either device. This will allow you to delete messages from either device while keeping them on the other. You can find more info on that here:
How to delete messages in iCloud
Let us know if you have any questions.
Have a great day!
In the response of March 3rd, 2:34pm, not sure where the 'more' is, is it after the 'messages' in Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Messages, or somewhere else? You also mentioned 'You can also go to Settings > Messages > Keep Messages and select 30 days. BUT it appears I have to sign back in with my Apple iD, so wouldn't that wipe them off my iPhone as well? I want to free up storage on my iPad but keep everything on my iPhone and MacBook. Thanks
Thanks for your reply. So once I've erased the messages and sign back in with my ID, it's safe to assume it will only accept new messages in sync with my phone and not reinstall all of the ones I've erased?
Thanks in advance.
Hi again frankierayo,
Actually, we reviewed your initial post and realized the steps are incorrect. Use Messages on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support -- When you go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Messages, there isn’t a way to delete them from there. You’ll need to tap the “More” icon which will put a selector next to each message conversation. Once you’ve selected the ones you wish to delete, tap the Trash button. You can also go to Settings > Messages > Keep Messages and select 30 days. This should remove all messages on your iPhone that are more than 30 days old which could drastically reduct the number of messages you’ll need to delete manually. Also, no need to sign out of your Apple ID.
Take care and be safe.
Hi frankierayo,
Thanks for reaching back out to us. We're happy to provide some insight into this for you. On the device you are wanting to delete the messages on, first go into the Messages app. In the upper right corner, tap the small circle with the three dots inside (that's the "More" option), and tap "Select Messages". A circle will appear to the left of every message on that page, and you tap the ones you want to remove. When you've made your selections, tap "Delete" in the lower right corner. And, changing the setting to remove after 30 days will only delete messages from other devices if you have Messages enabled in iCloud. If you do not have this enabled, only the messages on the specific device are deleted. You can get more info on that here:
Cheers!
Thanks again, clarification though please. Second last sentence, you mention 'remove all messages on your iPhone', you mean iPad right? I don't want to remove them from my iPhone, just the iPad.
Greetings frankierayo,
Allow us to clarify that for you. The steps apply to both devices. So you can preform the steps on the iPad, and still keep the messages on the iPhone. Hope this clears things up for you.
Cheers!
How to remove messages from iPad but not iPhone
