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User profile for user: Willmason
Willmason Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Deleted SMS text messages found in search

I regularly delete SMS (text message) conversations. When I search my iPhone, however, I find that conversations I have deleted are discovered by the search.

If I select a deleted message that is discovered by search, the phone jumps to the Messages screen but the deleted message does not appear. The deleted messages are only visible in search mode.

How can I ensure that messages I delete are genuinely deleted from my phone's memory and will not show up when I search my phone? I've tried switching the phone on and off but that doesn't work. I've also synced the phone to my computer. That has no effect.

I'd be really grateful for any advice!

Thanks!

MacBook Pro 2.66 GHz Core i7, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 4GB RAM

Posted on Sep 18, 2010 2:44 PM

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76 replies
User profile for user: foreversteven
foreversteven
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jan 13, 2014 5:26 PM in response to Willmason

Hi, even though it is an old thread. I am still willing to share with you my recent experience about recovering issue.


I lose most of my data while I connected my phone with the PC as it auto went to restore mode.


I was shocked and felt helpless. Then later I calmed down and try every mean to search some program for recovery.


Thank God I backup my phone every week.


Hope that would help!


<Link Edited By Host>

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User profile for user: Daiya
Daiya
User level: Level 4
1,666 points

Sep 22, 2010 7:26 AM in response to Willmason

I think the issue is that Spotlight has already indexed that information and the index doesn't get updated for some reason (the same thing happens with Mail and Contacts, people report).

I haven't tried it, because I don't delete stuff anyhow, but I wonder if turning Search Messages in Spotlight off and back on would force it to re-index the messages? Maybe with a reboot or two in the middle of the off/on process?

Send feedback to Apple, since it's really a bug they need to fix:
http://apple.com/feedback

Conceivably a google about clearing caches on the iPhone, or maybe force update spotlight index, might turn something up.
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User profile for user: Willmason
Willmason Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Sep 23, 2010 1:21 AM in response to Willmason

What you say makes perfect sense!

I tried turning off message search in spotlight, restarting and rebooting but with no success. When I rechecked message search the deleted messages reappeared. I also left the message search line in spotlight unchecked for several hours but when I rechecked it deleted messages are still "found".

I googled "reindex spotlight" etc etc and though I found advice on how to do that on my MacBook, I couldn't find anything about how to do it on the iPhone.

I'll follow your advice and send a note to Apple.

Thanks for your help!
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User profile for user: ithangover
ithangover
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 29, 2010 11:13 AM in response to Willmason

There is a solution...kind of. For jailbroken phones you can SSH into the phone and delete these directories and it will force Spotlight to recreate them:

Location:
/private/var/mobile/Library/Spotlight/
Folders:
com.apple.MobileSMS
com.apple.SpotlightTopHits

If you're phone isn't Jailbroken, hopefully Apple includes a way to do this from the interface soon.
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Deleted SMS text messages found in search

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