The newest iOS 11.3 update enables a feature that asks if you're sure you want to delete a text message/iMessage once you choose the delete option. It's making me crazy! I tried searching through the settings to remove this deletion confirmation, but can't find anything on the topic. Is there any way to remove this feature?
iPhone 7 Plus, iOS 11.2.6, iOS 11.3
Dave in Oxford wrote:
Every so often Apple comes up with a "Feature" that so small and so annoying that begs the question as to whether they ever consult with a user. YES! Delete confirmation is an unnecessary addition to IOS and we can only hope that some security patch will remove it
No, Apple doesn't consult with users. Instead, they see what users do with their phones and often introduce features based on what they perceive as a real need. This is one such feature. Daily, multiple users come here to these user only forums begging for help to recover an accidentally deleted text message. In most cases, the only way to get the message back is to restore from backup, which often people simply don't have.
So, this very small change was introduced to help the countless thousands of users to ensure when they use swipe to delete that they truly do want to delete the message.
Are you aware there is another simple method to delete messages that will not ask you to confirm you want to delete? Yes, Apple provided the best of BOTH worlds to users. Simply use the Edit/Tap Messages(s)/Tap Trash icon and voila, message(s) delete without confirmation. That can't be any more cumbersome could it? It's three steps, just like it was before on swipe to delete.
herbPDX wrote:
Apple, please change back. It's not really helping. Too many steps.
Thank you
Apple is not here.
This thread is just one of the many that, I suspect, sparked the change:
Can I get a message thread back after I accidentally deleted it?
Everyone posting in this forum should go direct to Apple and voice their opinion about this 11.3 issue.
https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
Not sure if they troll the forums for insight, but I would hope they do check up on their feedback mechanisms.
FDCheck75 wrote:
Please get rid of the confirmation!! It wasn’t there previously...not needed now.
Some people would disagree:
Of course this is probably what drove this little nugget. I can only imagine someone having a meltdown at a club after inadvertently deleting that text they wanted to save forever.
And probably someone who had some pull got it into the development cycle without any attention to UX, despite the fact it is wholly inconsistent behavior with at least three apps (and that's without looking for any others), and extremely poor behavior.
Add it as an option like they do in Mail, or perhaps let people have a 'keep deleted messages for x days' or 'delete immediately' option in prefs.
But no, someone had some pull. More than anything it's THIS that feels like Android.
I did. Thanks! I tried to be nice, even said "please" twice. :-)
I understand this might be a nice feature for some (I'm thinking about my mom and mother-in-law, who use iOS devices). It just seems like something that is unnecessarily mandatory, when so many (I think) will find it annoying and/or inefficient. We will see! There won't be an Apple stock price-changing mass abandonment over this issue. But I do hope to see iOS 11.3.x eventually making this toggle-able.
zl9600 wrote:
And probably someone who had some pull got it into the development cycle without any attention to UX, despite the fact it is wholly inconsistent behavior with at least three apps (and that's without looking for any others), and extremely poor behavior.
It is quite possible that your opinion on what constitutes good UX design is not universal.
What I don’t understand is why did they add it? Because people complained about accidentally deleting their messages? And if you allow us to turn off delete confirmations in our Mail then give us the same option for our messages APPLE!!!
Klove1024 wrote:
That’s why there should be an option to turn it off and on for those that want the extra step
If Apple implemented an "option" for every feature that people post they want to be able to control, the Settings menu would be so huge and nested that you'd never be able to figure out where anything was. As Idris said, get your muscle memory trained, and you won't even notice it.
For example, are you still having conniption fits about how the Lock Screen now works? Do you even remember how it used to work? The way that so many people said was the only way that they could possibly go on using an iPhone? The way it worked before the new way destroyed so many peoples' existence?
Cheers,
GB
Ugh, yes apple please remove the confirmation feature or allow us to turn this feature off. It is an unnecessary step. If this was added for those people who accidentally delete a text messages and regret it. Then simply remind these people that these are text messages and not anything of any importance. Or maybe you can an a deleted folder for them like VM or email.
My argument would be those options or add-ons would be more consistent than what they did here.
Debating or positioning your point of view here is futile.
We are volunteers and are here to answer answerable technical support questions.
Like it or not, this is not a community for getting things changed. Debate and discussion are not its purpose. Although Apple hosts and monitors this community, it does not act on its conversations.
Apple asks for any feedback to be provided as shown below. Period.
Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://apple.com/feedback
Why are you telling me this? Tell the lawyers who asked for text messages from the users who posted they have accidentally deleted them.
Or the user who accidentally deleted a text message stream from a spouse who had died, and that they wanted to preserve?
Because it's quite clear from many who have whined like school children about a very simple and really not overly difficult to handle change, that they like to whine and they don't care about others needs.
Klove1024 wrote:
Lol a conniption fit? Why does it have to be all that when someone is just stating how they feel about something? 1st world problems is all this is lol
You hit the nail on the head Klove1024 😁
GB
mgrims99 wrote:
Then simply remind these people that these are text messages and not anything of any importance.
Maybe they are "not anything of any importance" to you but, to many people, they are very important. I very carefully archive my text message conversations to PDFs on my computer because at least some of them are very important to me. Just because they are not encrypted doesn't make them valueless. I find them a very unique opportunity to have an archive of sweet, romantic, funny, sad quotidian conversations I've had with people I care about.
mgrims99 wrote:
Text and iMessage is not a secure or encrypted communication method. You shouldn’t use for confidential or sensitive information.
Who are you to say how others should use their personal information?
iOS 11.3 - Delete Message Confirmation
