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User profile for user: rayshea8
rayshea8 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Deleting iMessages from iPhone but not iCloud

I have several iMessage conversations that are taking up far too much storage on my device, however I don’t want to lose them.


I know my iMessages are already stored in iCloud because I can see how much storage they take up, but will deleting these messages from my iPhone also delete them off of iCloud? Will I still be able to access them from my iPhone through iCloud after they are deleted from my phone storage?


Really I want them to be stored similarly to my photos so they aren’t taking up storage on my device but are still accessible. Any tips?

iPhone 11

Posted on Aug 4, 2022 4:46 PM

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User profile for user: LD150
LD150
User level: Level 10
91,483 points

Posted on Aug 5, 2022 12:22 AM

SMS messages are by their nature not a permanent record, but iCloud allows you to share them between devices. However if you delete from the phone they will be deleted from iCloud.

iCloud Photos reduces phone storage by reducing the image size on the phone and keeping the original in iCloud, and also optimising storage if you have too many.


Messages cannot be optimised in the same way and you cannot selectively move them elsewhere.

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User profile for user: LD150
LD150
User level: Level 10
91,483 points

Aug 5, 2022 12:22 AM in response to rayshea8

SMS messages are by their nature not a permanent record, but iCloud allows you to share them between devices. However if you delete from the phone they will be deleted from iCloud.

iCloud Photos reduces phone storage by reducing the image size on the phone and keeping the original in iCloud, and also optimising storage if you have too many.


Messages cannot be optimised in the same way and you cannot selectively move them elsewhere.

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Deleting iMessages from iPhone but not iCloud

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