Delete and Download iCloud Messages

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Level 1

11 points

Delete and Download iCloud Messages

I switched over to a new iphone a while ago and doing so synced my messages to the cloud. However, the messages file is well over 5GB, so my iCloud storage is full. I would like to delete them from the cloud and download them back to my iPhone storage. When I go in to manage iCloud storage, it gives this message, "If you want to stop using Message in iCloud and recover your iCloud storage, you can disable it on all your devices. You will then have 30-days to download your messages." I've never done this before and I want to make sure I do not lose anything. If I click Disable & Delete, will it prompt me right away if I want to download them back to my phone? Or how do I download them back to my phone? Thanks!

iPhone X, iOS 12

Posted on Nov 28, 2018 10:20 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 29, 2018 4:17 AM in response to Erglor07

I can't remember if you'll get another prompt or not but, even if you don't, it will cause Messages in iCloud to download to the device. It'll say "Downloading" below or at the bottom of the conversations list in Messages while it's downloading; at least that's how it was with iOS 11.4, I believe. If you have any other devices with Messages in iCloud enabled with the same Apple ID, you'll have to do the same thing on those to ultimately free up the storage in iCloud.

I can't feature how Messages in iCloud gets enabled by itself by itself under any circumstance but it's good to know that it does.

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Answer 2

Erglor07 Author

Level 1

11 points

Nov 29, 2018 8:53 AM in response to Toot Uncommon

Thanks for your help. I went ahead and hit the disable and delete button and it came up with a message that said the messages would be downloaded automatically. I didn't see anything that said "Downloading" when in the messages app, but I assume they are. I'm not sure exactly how to check that. Thanks again!

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Answer 3

Nov 30, 2018 9:18 PM in response to Erglor07

You're welcome and thanks for heads up. That downloading can happen almost instantly under certain circumstances. How much stuff there is to download depends on how much stuff was offloaded (uploaded) to iCloud in the first place and then how much of that remains invisibly cached within device storage. All of which, in turn, depends on how much storage the device has available and how long Messages in iCloud had been enabled on the device. If you disable it and it confirms it and your library appears to be all there, done deal right there because there was very little, if anything, to download.

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Delete and Download iCloud Messages

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