Deleting iMessages forever (they keep coming back from the cloud)

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Level 1

45 points

Deleting iMessages forever (they keep coming back from the cloud)

I have repeatedly followed the instructions to turn off iMessage in the cloud and delete the messages. I then go through the messages on my phone (iPhone 13 mini, now using iOS 26), deleting the ones I no longer want. The old messages in the cloud are shown as deleted (with the option to recover being available for 30 days). If I turn iMessage in the cloud back on, ALL of the old messages come back to my phone. ALL of them, over 30k of them. I can't figure out how to stop this from happening. I would like the option to use iMessage on my phone and my Mac with iMessage in the cloud turned on, but I don't want the old messages to keep returning. Several returned after the upgrade to iOS 26, before I again turned off iMessage in the cloud. This is extremely annoying. I tried logging out of my icloud account on my phone and logging back in, but that too is extremely annoying because I then have to re-customize my backup. What am I missing here?

Posted on Sep 19, 2025 8:48 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

LD150

Level 10

103,332 points

Sep 20, 2025 9:30 AM in response to sk8gal

You need to keep iMessage sync’d with iCloud then delete them on the phone. It cannot show them as deleted from theniCloud because you are not syncd with the iCloud. The phone is isolated and standalone in that unconnected state.

Connecting back to the iCloud will assume you want them all back.

I assume you want them deleted from iCloud and everywhere else also. If you want them only deleted on your phone but kept elsewhere, you don’t have that choice.

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Answer 2

sk8gal Author

Level 1

45 points

Sep 23, 2025 6:11 AM in response to sk8gal

After a call to tech support and a visit to the Apple Store, The only solution was to manually remove the messages, not only from Messages for the umpteenth time, but also from the recently deleted folder and then re-sync again. I had to do this three or four times. There is no known answer for why I have had to do it this way several times. The support staff were very good - professional, dedicated. I appreciate that.

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Answer 3

sk8gal Author

Level 1

45 points

Sep 20, 2025 11:09 AM in response to LD150

Ok but many of these are ones I deleted (from my phone) ages ago. It doesn’t make sense to have to delete them over and over again. If I wait 30 days (the length of time the cloud backup is kept) and do a new backup with just the messages currently on my phone, will this effectively solve the problem?

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