How do I remove this 3.7GB of messages stored on my phone with iOS 7?

The data is corrupted and you're getting spurios usage results. The only way to clear it is to Restore the iOS in iTunes.

First, try restoring the latest backup as well. However, the backup may contain the corrupted data as well. In that case, restore as new,

iTunes: Restoring iOS software

No. You need to restore without using the backup.

I have the same problem and I opened a post this morning about it.

I don't think is a corrupted file or folder becuase there is a lot of iphone users with the same problem, search on google shows the same thing, about a bug in iOS, also this problem was reported on iOS 7 betas.

So restore from zero will not solve the problem.

I don't think is a corrupted file or folder becuase there is a lot of iphone users with the same problem, search on google shows the same thing, about a bug in iOS, also this problem was reported on iOS 7 betas.

Wrong. The "bug" if any is that iOS 7 spuriously reports corrupted data as messages. Restoring as new will remove it - something that you obviously didn't try.

A friend of mine did it, he is in worst situation with over 3GB of message (saved). He restored from zero, tested the messages with several contacts, deleted all messages and messages (saved) shown on him 230 MB.

Very frustating....

Thanks in advance....

I had this problem and solved it. Your phone saves messages in some internal storage area even though all messages might be removed. I first synced my phone to save all my pics and videos just to be safe and had computer automatically delete from phone once downloaded. I then went to my icloud on my phone and looked up storage and backup. Then I deleted backup and storage. I got all of my storage back to 5 gb. I then went back and turned my icould backup back. This worked. Hope it helps . Did me because you cant find the answer anywhere! lol

I'm not sure if you've figured this out yet or not, but I had the same issue (4+ GB of "saved messages"). I deleted all of my conversations, synced, backed up, syned again and it only went down by 0.3 GB. I read somewhere in the WIDE WIDE World wide web that you need to wait a few minutes. I checked again about 20 min later and they were gone. I only have 212 MB of messages. I'm guessing that's the messaging program itself.

Hope it helps

OMG this worked!! This has been buggin me for a while now that 4GB of my storage was just gone!!! Apple should really fix this!

But pretty much you just delete your iCloud backup and then you can turn it on again later.

but then it starts building back up again.

I set my phone to factory and set it up as new. All the saved data for messaging was gone. But as soon as I started sending texts, it started building back up.

I have messages turned off in spotlight.

this needs to be fixed

Snowden has already commented on this. Messages are stored on Apple devices until they are uploaded for screening to the NSA. Apple holds these messages on your device and on the cloud service. Once the information has been uploaded to NSA, the messages then delete off your device. In order to not arouse suspecion, the device will always show you some amount to data as space being occupied on your device. Theorecically this data could be over written and not protected if they were on hidden sectors of your memory. The information stored on this "messages" partition is actually more than messages, thats why this space commitment can easily reach 3 gigs. Any computer science specialist will tell you that ASCII characters only use minimal kilobytes of data. Apple complies with this request to upload your personal data as outlined in the Patriot Act. The only way to delete this "messages" data hold is by doing a complete wipe of your device and not conducting a restore. It will clear the space off your device, but NSA actually has the information from the cloud service regardless.

And...do they know what I ate for breakfast as well?