TS2755: If you can't send or receive messages with your iOS device

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kmalone40

Q: Why do deleted messages still take up 5 GB of space?

I have seen many forums about this, but short of restoring my phone... how can I permanently removed text messages that are taking up 5.0 GB of space. I have deleted them on my new iphone 5s that is running 7.0.4. While they no longer show up, they are still taking up valuable memory and preventing me from backing up with icloud unless I purchase more memory.

iPhone 5s, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Jan 16, 2014 1:08 PM

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Q: Why do deleted messages still take up 5 GB of space?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by tonefox,

    tonefox tonefox Jan 16, 2014 1:17 PM in response to kmalone40
    Level 6 (9,298 points)
    Jan 16, 2014 1:17 PM in response to kmalone40

     

    but short of restoring my phone...

    There is no big deal about restoring your phone, as long as you have taken the huge amounts of advice about ensuring all your data is backed up and thus easily restored.

  • by kmalone40,

    kmalone40 kmalone40 Jan 16, 2014 6:10 PM in response to tonefox
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 16, 2014 6:10 PM in response to tonefox

    I restored but no progress. Still 5 gb used by messages when I don't have any messages. It's maddening! I know others have this problem because there is a lot of chatter about it. Do I have to just go to the genius bar and admit defeat? This is ridiculous.

  • by lp125,

    lp125 lp125 Jan 22, 2014 6:18 PM in response to kmalone40
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 22, 2014 6:18 PM in response to kmalone40

    Any luck on this yet? My 5 has 10.7 GB in saved messages!! Crazy, huh? HELP!

  • by mec424,

    mec424 mec424 Mar 22, 2014 9:47 AM in response to kmalone40
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 22, 2014 9:47 AM in response to kmalone40

    AFTER MONTHS OF STRUGGLING, I FINALLY DISCOVERED A FIX FOR THIS! TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

     

    To fix this, I followed everyone's instructions and simply tried to just delete the messages, but whenever I reset my phone, the messages would just reappear. I attributed this to the fact that my iCloud was still on. The obvious solution to this seemed to be to just turn off  my iCloud backup briefly so the messages I wanted to delete would no longer reappear. I did this but the space taken up by Messages in the Usage section of Settings did not decrease, and the deleted messages ended up reappearing. In a final attempt to resolve this issue, I went into each individual message and used the "Delete All" option. This seemed to be the only way that I could delete messages, gain back the space taken up by the messages, and not restore my phone. Tedious but effective.

     

    Impatient readers skip to here: I turned off my iCloud backup temporarily and individually deleted all messages from WITHIN the message threads themselves. I subsequently turned back on my iCloud backup and all my iPhone problems were solved! 

  • by jamiechicago1,

    jamiechicago1 jamiechicago1 Oct 28, 2014 3:45 PM in response to kmalone40
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 28, 2014 3:45 PM in response to kmalone40

    Go to Setting>Messages>Message History> Choose 30 days.  It will delete the ones taking up your storage.  You can switch it back to Forever if you don't want your new messages deleted in 30 days.

  • by dccorrell,

    dccorrell dccorrell Aug 14, 2016 1:34 PM in response to kmalone40
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 14, 2016 1:34 PM in response to kmalone40

    Go to iTunes and try to buy or rent a movie with more memory needs than your device has available.  Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers requires more than 6 gigs.  You will be informed you do not have enough memory, and this will clear memory caches, especially email ones, freeing up more memory.  Do this more than 1 time.

    D

  • by iTashja,

    iTashja iTashja Sep 28, 2016 12:44 AM in response to jamiechicago1
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 28, 2016 12:44 AM in response to jamiechicago1

    You are a genius, thanks for this. I struggled forever & came across this reply - thanks! (Now to just delete all my emails to also free some space....let the head scratching begin!)