How to Delete Messages in Spotlight Search History without Resetting or Syncing!!

Unfortunately, it didn't work for me either. Very frustrating how apple cannot fix this problem. I have sent them a message about it, hopefully something happens! Thanks anyways

It worked for me. And I did not have to turn off my phone multiple times. Just unchecked what I did not want and that was it. Using an iphone5 with OS7.1.1 Thanks alot.

I cant find saved messages on the spotlight search but one day i didnt lock my phone after usage and it was laying on my lap. I had picked it up to use it and on the screen was old messages and a bunch of them. These had appeared after i had removed all my msgs from my inbox in hopes of freeing up memory for IOS 8. These messages where on a black back ground and were certainly old deleted ones. As a habbit i clicked the home button and that screen was gone. Maybe that is where the saved messages are! Does anyone know what im talking about? or how to recreate that screen? Please help!

Go check the box again, they're still there. They aren't deleted by doing that, they are simply not searched. I want mine deleted so when the checkbox is checked, they no longer show up. I have deleted the email account they were originally created in, and they still show up in this search even though the account that sent them no longer exists in the phone.

This worked for me and I have an iPhone 6. Thanks!

Hey Amonymous86 ... so I see that your method works for some but not for others.. Unfortunately I was one of the "others" who it didn't work for... BUT.. no worries I have found a solution.. it may seem like kinda a pain in the *** to some but for me it was worth it and really not a big deal.

1. Go to your current texts or emails, delete whichever ones you don't want to show in spotlight history. The ones you delete will be permanently gone as well as those ancient texts and emails that have been stuck in your spotlight for centuries.

2. Go to your settings > reset > reset all settings (as long as you press the right one - "reset all settings" you don't need to worry about any of your pictures, music, contacts, info, anything. All this does is reset your settings.. so you will have to reselect your wallpapers, reset your passwords, etc... YOU WILL NOT LOSE ANY DATA. and if you are seriously worried about it, backup your phone right before you take these steps.)

3. Your phone should bring up the apple logo and a bar while it is resetting. When your lock screen pulls up, unlock it like normal and search your spotlight history. The only texts or emails that should show up are the ones that you left in the history before you reset all settings.

🙂 hope this works for all you nervous wreck people having a hard time deleting your spotlight history. 🙂 it worked for me on my iPhone 4 as well as iPhone 6. Sorry you have to reset your passwords, Wi-Fi settings.. re-log into facebook or social media and wallpapers but it may be worth it if you were in the same situation as me 🙂 good luck my fellow apple lovers. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THIS HELPED YOU!!!

It took forever, but I figured out how to delete my iMessages. The problem is that Spotlight needs to reindex iMessages again after you delete your messages (it doesn't because of a bug).

1. Go to General Settings > Spotlight Search, and uncheck Messages.

2. Turn on iMessages and log in.

3. Send yourself some random text like, "asdf". Alternately, you can just send yourself a blank space, " ".

4. Go back to General Settings > Spotlight Search, and recheck Messages. This will force it to reindex your messages.

5. Do a search for the random text you entered if you want to double-check that this worked. All the other messages will be gone.

6. Go to General Settings > iMessages and turn it off to log out.