"Phantom" text messages? It says I have unread texts when I don't (I have tried everything)

I just had the same problem. Also, on the Text symbol I can see unopened messages, but once when I go into the texts, there are none that are unopened. So I scrolled all the way down and erased, randomly, couple of old texts from before. Surprisingly, it solved my problem. 🙂

I used Siri to fix my problem as another post suggested. I just asked her to read my unread messages and replied no if I wanted to respond. I'm not sure why it still showed it unread since I had read it but it may have been due to it being a group message. Problem solved, no more "1" in the red bubble on my iPhone text message icon.

I followed the first comment of asking Siri "read my unread messages" and it found the message and the notification went away. I realized it was actually coming from the "Unknown senders" tab at the top of your Messages app. So if you're getting these, double check that portion of the app and delete/read any messages that are in there.

If one/both of these don't resolve the problem, i'm unsure what else to suggest as a phone restart or hard reset did not solve the problem for me (but it also wasn't technically "phantom" since i just wasn't paying attention that it actually existed within the "unknown senders"

Daveemmons had best solution. I had this same problem when I updated to the new iOS software last year. It obviously restored some old message that I may/may not have deleted, but was flagged as ‘unread’. i too went through all my messages (a lot easier on the iPhone 6 plus) and eventually found one from 2012?? I deleted this message which was automated from a service provider and now the alert is gone.

Ask Siri to read your unread text messages and she will read you the unread text and then she will ask you if you want to respond to the text;

tell Siri NO and the phantom text will be gone. This worked for me.

Have you tried:

Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings

I had the same problem. I tried deleting messages, etc, etc. THIS IS WHAT ACTUALLY WORKED FOR ME AND IT DID IT INSTANTANEOUSLY.

Have Siri help you find the offending message that is causing all the problems. Ask Siri, "Siri, read me my unread messages". She will read the message that is giving you the phantom text notification. She will ask if you want to reply. Just say no. When you return to your homescreen, the unread text notification will be gone. Simple.

I just had this on iOS 7.1.2

I was saw a message notification come through from somebody I knew, read the snippet and a few minutes later when I tried to read in the message app, it was not there (despite the red unread message notification symbol). Coincidently, I accidently copied too much content to my phone at that time and was getting storage full notification on my iPhone, so maybe that screwed up how messages handles unread messages.

I thankfully was able to delete a few messages from that send, which deleted a whole bunch more than I wanted, but it fixed the problem. I then just asked them to re-send their messages.

How would I tell who sent the message? I've scrolled through my messages top to bottom and see nothing that is unread.

I wasn't up for deleting message threads or hunting through message threads...

I tried:

- Quit Messages

- In terminal: killall Dock

- Restart Messages

No joy.

So, I then went to System Preferences -> Notifications and located Messages in the list.

I then unchecked "Badge app icon" then checked it again.

That worked.

For anyone struggling with how to do this in iOS 8.1 (where it's woefully hidden):

• Go to your message stream for an individual (one of the last few people you were messaging, when the problem showed up -- you're going to have to make an educated guess which is the problem message stream).
• Touch the individual message (the little speech bubble around the words), and HOLD until you see the black popup bubble that says "copy | more ...
  "
• Select "More..." in that popup bubble.
• You'll see little circles slide in to the left of all the messages in the stream. The circle next to the message you were touch-and-holding when you clicked "More..." should be blue and have a check mark in it -- it's been selected. Select any others you want to try deleting, to fix this badge count problem. You can click the message bubble, not the circle, in case you have big thumbs like me. When you've selected all that you want to delete:
• Click on the trash can icon in the very bottom left corner of the screen.

Your final task: wish for a new head of UX with Steve-Jobs-like vision for simplicity and intuitiveness, so that it doesn't take someone with two decades of experience in interaction design to decipher this kind of interface.

<hoping> <hoping> <hoping> 🙂

I have the solution. Go to the person who sent you the text messages. In the conversation, delete a few of the messages that they sent you, then close the App. This should correct the problem. I just had the same problem with the App showing I had 17 unread messages, and now its back to normal. Best of luck!

Brilliant solution!!! And so simple!!! I cannot thank you enough. My phantom message has been driving me nuts the past few weeks. I can finally sleep better at night 😛

Actually, i read this somewhere else, and my fix was to send myself a message and when i received it (immediately), deleted the conversation with myself, closed the message app. And poof it was gone

hope this helps