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Level 1

1 points

How do I get rid of saved messages on iOS7?

I noticed this new feature in the Usage section of Settings. I have a whopping 8.8 GB of space taken up by Messages (always wondered what that "other" data was...). I tried getting rid of it by deleting conversations in messages (almost all of them, and especially the ones I knew had a ton of pics and videos in em) but after doing that and reopening the app, ALL my messages were gone. I didn't delete ALL of them. I restarted and then all my messages, even the deleted convos, were all back. How can this be??? I did this twice and the same result happened. Oddly though, my message data number went down by a few points to 8.2 GB.

I seriously need to get rid of these saved messages so I can reclaim my phone space and deleting them within iMessage doesn't seem to be doing the trick. Has anyone else noticed this happening? If so, how did you fix it? I figured I'd try asking here first before I go to the Apple store this weekend.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

Pooja

iPhone 5, iOS 7

Posted on Sep 18, 2013 7:12 PM

69 replies

Mar 14, 2014 2:11 PM in response to psha85

I have this problem also but when I delete my messages and back up my phone to iCloud then restart my phone I still have 3.4 GB of messages(saved) in my storage, and when I go into my messages they're still deleted.

Mar 19, 2014 5:17 PM in response to MaryMulvey

Yep. Mine is the same way. It's allllll still there😐

miamirw

Level 1

4 points

Mar 20, 2014 3:39 PM in response to psha85

Bless you Dan193 and Nickc25.

Worked perfectly for me. Make sure you're deleting from the right back up though. Did the edit to an earlier back up and ran the restore and still had the problem. I went back into Ibotbackup and selected the corresponding (most recent) backup listed by time in ITunes. Viola. No more 1.4GB messages (saved).

Thank you both again for doing what Apple themselves couldn't do.

May 4, 2014 5:51 PM in response to Nickc25

Nickc25,

Thank you for posting this! I was very reluctant to go this route, because I didn't want to download iBackupBot, but after wasting my Sunday afternoon researching and trying alternative methods, yours was the only method that worked!!!!! I just wish I hadn't wasted 5 hours trying other ways.

I am so grateful for your post!!!

Distei

Level 1

0 points

Jun 22, 2014 3:55 AM in response to psha85

actually, I much easier way to do it is to go onto 'compose message' and put in the letter 'a' then scroll down your options until you see one with a button that looks like an 'i' in a circle. click on that then press 'remove'. then you're going to have to do that for every one with the 'i' symbol on every letter of the alphabet. it takes about a minute or so. I literally just figured this out and now I have 8 free gig on my phone. try it!

Distei

Level 1

0 points

Jun 22, 2014 3:56 AM in response to MKiansel97

just try out what I wrote below: it worked for me! and it's much easier

Jun 24, 2014 10:05 AM in response to Nickc25

I went through the entire process, but when I go to restore my backup on iTunes it says it cannot be stored because not enough space is available on the iPhone.

How is that possible?

Himaryus

Level 1

0 points

Jul 31, 2014 9:04 PM in response to psha85

This is a good little app to check for duplicates and delete multiple messages

all at the same time: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/delete-duplicates-+- contacts/id508504148?mt=8

natv123

Level 1

0 points

Jan 10, 2015 5:55 AM in response to Nickc25

What if you don't have itunes on your computer?

How do I get rid of saved messages on iOS7?