If you want to delete some SMS/MMS or iMessages on your iPhone/iPad, that’s very much possible. However, keep it in mind that it won’t delete the messages on the device of the sender. So, no matter what the reason behind deleting messages may be, Messages app on your iPhone/iPad allows you to completely wipe it clean or set messages to expire after some time automatically. If you want to learn how you can play with different settings and delete messages on your device then read on to find out.
Jump To Section:
- How You Can Delete iMessages On Your iPhone/iPad?
- How You Can Delete Several Images From iMessage On Your iPhone/iPad?
- How You Can Set Up Messages To Expire After Some Time Automatically On Your iPhone/iPad?
- How You Can Change Expiry Settings For Any Audio/Video Messages On Your iPhone/iPad?
How You Can Delete iMessages On Your iPhone/iPad?
As mentioned earlier, messages can’t be deleted from others’ iPhone/iPad, and you can only delete messages from your device. Here is how you can do that.
- Open Messages app on your device
- Tap the conversation that contains messages that have to be deleted
- Tap the message that has to be deleted and hold it
- Now, tap on More in pop-up menu
- Tap the circle in front of message that has to be deleted or you can tap on Delete All in case if you intend to delete the entire conversation
- Tap the Delete button which appears like Trash Can
That’s all, desired messages or conversations have been deleted and you can continue to chat normally as you’d do otherwise.
How You Can Delete Several Images From iMessage On Your iPhone/iPad?
If there are images in your iMessages or SMS and you want to delete several of them, you don’t really need to go through each of the messages one by one. All of them can be blown away just in one go. Here is what you need to do for that.
- Open Messages app on your device
- Tap the conversation that contains images that have to be deleted
- Now tap the Details option towards top right side of the screen
- Tap an image from those that you want to delete and hold it. You can find them in Attachments section
- Now, tap More in pop-up menu
- Choose all images & attachments that you want to delete
- Now, tap on Delete button towards bottom right of the screen once all of them have been selected
- Tap Delete Messages now in pop-up menu for confirming the action
You also need to delete videos and images from iMessagesin order to save considerable amount of space on your device.
How You Can Set Up Messages To Expire After Some Time Automatically On Your iPhone/iPad?
With iMessage, you can set up messages to expire after some time automatically. This will allow you to reclaim space on your device automatically without any need of deleting them manually. Here is how you can do that.
- Open Settings on your iPhone/iPad
- Tap Messages
- Tap Keep Messages in Message History
- There are two options – 30 days and 1 year –tap either of them according to your preference
- Tap on Delete in pop-up menu for conforming that you want the messages to be deleted once the specified time period has elapsed. Remember, this action can’t be undone.
How You Can Change Expiry Settings For Any Audio/Video Messages On Your iPhone/iPad?
Audio/video messages that you receive on your iPhone/iPad are the ones that occupy most of the space on your device. So, iMessage allows you to setup faster periods for auto-deleting such messages. Remember here that the timer does not begin when the message is received. Rather, it starts once you have viewed or listened to them. Here is how you can change expiry settings for such messages.
- Open Settings on your iPhone/iPad
- Tap Messages
- Tap Expire in Video Messages and/or Audio Messages section
- Select desired setting from either of ‘After 2 Minutes’or ‘Never’
If you are always out of space on your device then it is, definitely, great for you to set such heavy messages to expire in two minutes. But if space is not a problem for you right now then you can choose the other option and change settings once you start facing space issues on your iPhone/iPad.
So, that’s how you can delete messages in iMessage app on your iPhone/iPad and play around with different settings. It is really a great feature and comes in handy when you are running out of space on your device.