


Tap "Edit," select conversations, then hit the trash can icon.ĭeleting conversations will delete them from your device, and if you sync your messages with iCloud, it will also remove them from the cloud.Short-swipe left on the thread and hit "Delete.".Swipe down the conversation list with two fingers to auto-select multiple threads at once, then hit "Delete," and "Delete" again.Īlternatively, you can go to the "Top Conversations" list in Option 2 above, then:.), choose "Select Messages," select threads, hit "Delete," then "Delete" again.Long-press the thread, hit "Delete," then "Delete" again.Left-swipe the thread, hit the trash can, then tap "Delete.".You can do that from the Messages conversation list in any of the following ways. If you don't care about the text-based portion of conversations in Messages, you can delete it along with everything else in the conversation. Delete multiple items by tapping "Edit," select the items you want to delete, then tap the trash can.ĭeleting attachments or conversations from here will delete them from your device, but if you sync your messages with iCloud, they will also be removed from the cloud, just as in Option 1. Delete individual items by swiping left on the attachment. Tap "Photos," and you'll find the same type of page we see in Option 1 your photos sent and receive in messages will appear sorted by file size, largest to smallest. You'll see the total amount of data that each category takes up so that you'll know if it's something you want to look into. Other: includes other types of attached files such as PDFs, Word documents, etc.GIFs and Stickers: includes all animated GIFs and stickers.Photos: includes any photo, screenshot, etc.Top Conversations: includes messages from what iOS deems your top conversations.You can find these by visiting the same place in Settings (General –> iPhone Storage –> Messages) under the Documents header. Option 2: Choose from Documents CategoriesĪnother way to delete attachments in your messages is to sort through them by category. If not, tap "Messages," then tap "Review Large Attachments" from there. If you see the "Review Large Attachments" suggestion, tap it. To start, open Settings, then head to General –> iPhone Storage. Unfortunately, Apple doesn't offer a smart way to manage your messages in iCloud. Interestingly, deleting these attachments works the same whether you're using Messages on iCloud or not. That's why you can end up having way more "Messages" data in iCloud than you do on your actual iPhone. If iOS determines you don't have enough room internally, it begins deleting that content from your device. Those items also remain on your iPhone, so long as you have enough internal storage to keep them. Every iMessage and SMS, as well as every MMS, GIF, video, picture, and other types of media files you might send and receive, are all right there in the cloud as you have available iCloud storage to fill.

With Messages on iCloud, Apple stores your entire messaging history on its servers.
#Apples messages for mac keep some conversations on top free#
But if deleting message after message doesn't free up your storage much, it's likely because "Messages" doesn't really mean messages.

When iOS starts barking at you that you've run out of iCloud or iPhone storage, a quick trip to your settings to see what the culprit is may show that Messages is one of the worst offenders.
