Saved messages problem in iOS 7

Unfortunately I heard it actually keeps growing. Nothing will fix this other then a fix from apple. That was told to me by a Genius Bar tech. Unless you wipe your phone clean and start from scratch. Meaning that you WILL NOT LOAD YOUR PREVIOUS DATA. That means you go back and download all the programs but unfortunately you will lose all the saved memories that are dear to you. The problem is when you backup your iphone your actually backing up the corrupted software to. So when you reload the previous backup all you do is simply put it back on your phone. There is no actual "fix" for this problem. I have rebooted my phone now over 3 times, doesn't fix it. Apple has to come out for a fix for this through an iOS patch, It's the only way. Please someone prove me wrong but do not keep saying just reboot your phone. That seems to be the answer to a lot of questions and yes it may fix 90% of issues but unfortunately it does not fix this VERY BIG PROBLEM. I am so close to dumping the iPhone all together cause of this issue.

You are correct Z63amg, apple will have to come out with a patch for this defect. I went ahead and wiped my phone and that was the only way to free up the used space. Now I will have to perform the same 'fix' on my wife's iphone. I too am thinking of moving to an android phone because of this issue. To think that someone's phone is losing space on their phone that isn't expandable due to deleted messages is alarming.

Same issue, only way to resolve it is delete backup, and start all over. Which means no restore from Itunes or Icloud, because you will only get that same corrupt file with the "saved messages." I'm kind of wondering if this is a ploy to make you purchase more backup from Icloud.

Same issue here. It says I have 3.2 GB of "saved messages". I already restored my phone, no go. I can't take anymore photos or videos because of this stupid problem.

Apple. Hurry up and acknowledge the problem.

Apple has acknowledged the problem. The issue is caused from a bug in iOS 6, which was fixed in 6.1. Under iOS 6 when you would delete a text message conversation, the attachments within the conversation, such as pictures and videos were not deleted. We are now just seeing that as the saved message space. In order to clear it you must restore your phone to new, without restoring from a backup. It has nothing to do with iOS 7. iOS 7 is just making you aware of the previous bug.

If that's true and it's a bug from iOS6, there is still no good reason Apple cannot or shouldn't not create a fix with in iOS7 or any other iOS for that matter. This is an unacceptable problem that needs to be corrected. This isn't a small data issue, this is GB we are taking about.

Basically I monitor the restore process and cut it off when it wants to try and dump 7GB of "saved messages" on my phone. This is how I solved it:

(Might not be ideal for everyone but it worked for me. Good luck)

1- I deleted all my text messages, not sure if this helped.

2- Let the restore do its thing. Get the heart of the phone up.

3- Apps then start restoring...

4- Camera does its thing, could take awhile.

5- Second camera is restored go into settings and cut it off!! iCloud and stop the restore process

Voilà

If I restore from new, I will not have my contacts. This is becoming a issue, because the "Saved Messages" keeps taking more storage by the attachment that's being sent to me.

Apple ***** on android it's two clicks in the system file.

You can store your contacts on your computer, or multiple cloud services, such as Google. Then once you restore your phone all you do is redownload the contacts. My saved message data is only taking up 153MB so its not worth my time to go through the hassle of restoring as new and resetting everything up. But people are talking about several GBs of storage space, so restoring would be the only way to retreive that space.

To All!

Follow these instructions. Works perfectly. Don't even need to restore. Edit the backup and click restore from backup in iTunes. Takes 10 minutes, don't lose any data but gain back all your space. Just tried it on my iPhone 5S and iPad 2!

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=17973804&postcount=19

I deleted that large back-up file, saved what I wanted to save as far as apps or pics, then restored as a new phone. Once I set it up my contacts showed up along with my events in the calendar. May have something to do with also having an IPAD.

Of course I had to fiddle with the settings and move apps around a re-download a few, but overall it took care of the 2.9gb of saved messages.

Still believe this needs to be fixed, because they will keep saving and I will probably need to do this in a few months.

It amazes me this isnt a bigger issue. My file is 4.2 GB on a 32GB phone, which is a huge chunk of space. We pay for a premium product and expect premium operation. Frustrating.

That's not true, you don't have to wipe your device:

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:

METHOD ONE:

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! METHOD TWO:

1. Backup your device in iTunes and then to iCloud
2. Go to Settings>iCloud and toggle Documents & Data to OFF
3. Then do a 2nd backup to iTunes and iCloud
4. Then restore the device from iCloud and the message attachments should be gone, turn Documents & Data back on again in the settings

PLEASE NOTE: Method two is a much longer process but some users may feel more comfortable with this method.

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!

P.P.S You could also just go through every single conversation and delete the attachments one by one, but if you have hundreds or thousands of attachments, this will take a VERY LONG TIME!!!

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:

METHOD ONE:

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! METHOD TWO:

1. Backup your device in iTunes and then to iCloud
2. Go to Settings>iCloud and toggle Documents & Data to OFF
3. Then do a 2nd backup to iTunes and iCloud
4. Then restore the device from iCloud and the message attachments should be gone, turn Documents & Data back on again in the settings

PLEASE NOTE: Method two is a much longer process but some users may feel more comfortable with this method.

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!

P.P.S You could also just go through every single conversation and delete the attachments one by one, but if you have hundreds or thousands of attachments, this will take a VERY LONG TIME!!!