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How do I delete "Saved Messages" from an iphone?

I'm trying to free up space on my phone.


When I go under USAGE it shows me there is 2.2 gbs of memory being used up by SAVED MESSAGES. These are usless to me and I would like to delete them but have not been able to find out how.


Can someone please help me with this?

iPhone 5, iOS 6.1.4

Posted on Jun 25, 2013 8:11 AM

Reply
34 replies

Oct 1, 2013 3:55 PM in response to zproulx

Hi.... i have iphone 5 and updated to iOS 7.0.2, when i go to SETTINGS > USAGE my Messages show 77.7 GB and when i click on it it takes me to another screen with Messages (Saved) 77.7 GB. Now back to USAGE, the Storage under Usage shows 24.4 GB Available 32.7 GB Used. This is preventing from my iphone to backup on icloud and i have purchased 55GB storage space, which is now going to waste!

Can someone please help me with how to delete 77.7GB of Messages (Saved) from my iphone. I tried deleting and reinstalling Facebook, Watsapp, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, etc. But nothing has changed. I called Apple Support Hotline and the rep said to restore the phone to factory settings, but that doesn't solve this issue, so can someone tell me something helpful here...thanks.

sam.

Oct 1, 2013 4:14 PM in response to zproulx

@dumpster6666


Unfortunately no one has been able to answer this question. I asked a tech agent today as well. They recommended the same steps- factory reset. After the reset and before updating. Was the status still showing as xamount? The next step was to call back and have apple escalate the issue. I feel as though this is a common issue that no one has noticed until updating to iOS7 as the previous iOS did not show saved msg storage space. If you find out how to resolve the issue please re post as I will do the same. I have 2.2gb stored, your 77 GB is even more extreme than mine. I will be contacting apple and having them escalate the issue as well.

Oct 1, 2013 5:06 PM in response to zproulx

I deleted all of my messages on all my devices (iphone with IOS 7.0.2, iPad, and message app on Macbook). I then re-synced to iTunes quite a few times and backed up. My next step was I downloaded the irobot back-up (forgot the name as I quickly deleted it). I did attempt to use the software (and steps provided above) but when attempted to restore i was unable to and received and error message after typing in my encrypted password key. Anyways I had already deleted all my content and restored the phone to factory settings. I restored from my latest back-up via iTunes (took about 30 minutes) and it actually worked. The 3.1 GB of Messages usage went down to 2.6 MB.😎



Sidenote @dumpster6666, how do you even have 77.7GB when the largest size iphone is 64GB (scratches head)

Oct 16, 2013 3:10 AM in response to zproulx

Firstly you DO NOT have to do a factory reset / wipe device, it is simply not required to get the space back!!


Mine had 3GB and I just got rid of it all, here is how:


  1. Make a backup in iTunes
  2. open iBackupBot (Google it)
  3. Go to the relevant backup
  4. Click on Multimedia File Manager and click on the other Multimedia files tab
  5. Sort by filename by clicking the Filename tab
  6. Find MediaDomain/Library/SMS/Attachments and highlight all of them, then press delete. You can also click to export to a folder of your choice, if you want to save them that is.
  7. Then go to System Files>MediaDomain>Library>SMS>Attachments
  8. They will be all listed here, highlight them all and press delete
  9. Then just restore that backup using iTunes!



Tadaa! Space recovered, your messages are still there but without the attachments!


P.S You may want to make two backups in case you get any of the above steps wrong, but it is simple to follow the above and not do anything wrong!

Oct 16, 2013 12:36 PM in response to Nickc25

This worked great. Thought I was going to have to read a "how to" in order to use the program ibackup bot but your instructions and it's interface was really easy. I really appreciate it. Thank you!🙂

Nickc25 wrote:


Firstly you DO NOT have to do a factory reset / wipe device, it is simply not required to get the space back!!


Mine had 3GB and I just got rid of it all, here is how:


  1. Make a backup in iTunes
  2. open iBackupBot (Google it)
  3. Go to the relevant backup
  4. Click on Multimedia File Manager and click on the other Multimedia files tab
  5. Sort by filename by clicking the Filename tab
  6. Find MediaDomain/Library/SMS/Attachments and highlight all of them, then press delete. You can also click to export to a folder of your choice, if you want to save them that is.
  7. Then go to System Files>MediaDomain>Library>SMS>Attachments
  8. They will be all listed here, highlight them all and press delete
  9. Then just restore that backup using iTunes!



Tadaa! Space recovered, your messages are still there but without the attachments!


P.S You may want to make two backups in case you get any of the above steps wrong, but it is simple to follow the above and not do anything wrong!

Oct 20, 2013 12:35 PM in response to zproulx

I finally figured this out. For me, most of the "documents & data" storage was actually in the Text Messages on my phone. Even when I deleted them, the space still seemed to be used. So then I synced the phone. After the sync, the storage space cleared. So the messages aren't 100% deleted from the phone until you sync. For me - it was a matter of deleting the texts, then syncing the phone. It opened up about 5gbs of space for me.

Oct 28, 2013 11:20 AM in response to vb112

So I've downloaded ibackupbot and have gone through all the sms attachments and deleted them. Any idea why these sit on the phone memory even when the sms/mms is deleted on the phone? I think it's weird that I have to go into this program and pick appart the attachments to delete them permanently. Apple doesn't even seem to be aware of the issue.


I tried to restore the back up after modifying it with ibackupbot but it say's there's not enough room on my iphone to restore it..i followed your steps exactly and deleted 2.0 gbs of mms storage.


any ideas?

Oct 28, 2013 11:35 AM in response to zproulx

I've read so so so many articles on this issue and I guess when you delete something the phone has a "cached" like memory of what was deleted. The actual deletion takes place when it is synced with iTunes. The problem we are having occurs (I'm assuming) because we restored our iPhones with our previous backups and for some reason our backup made our transferred SMS as "saved messages". Probably because it was transferred over. The glitch is that we can't delete it in "manage memory" and that it's retained as saved messages. Again, this is what I've pieces together as I've read article after article and because I work in the wireless industry I had to figure it out so I can explain it to my customers. I could be completely wrong but this is my logical unprofessional guess/explanation.


About the restore. Be sure you saved the modified changes in ibackupbot before restoring. 2 make sure you made that copy (just in case) 3. Wipe your iPhone manually from your device then plug it in and there should be no memory issue since it's a empty phone.

How do I delete "Saved Messages" from an iphone?

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