You might want to delete plain text messages because of the storage space they use. Also, you may want to delete messages for privacy reasons or just because it keeps your Messages app better organized. Plus, texts with images actually can take up a fair amount of space.
By default, your iPhone and iPad save every iMessage and SMS text message that comes your way. As a result, you could have years of messages synced to iCloud that follow you for the rest of your life, taking up valuable space. Fortunately, there’s a way to delete old text messages automatically. Lets explore how this is done.
This is for the iPhone and iPad. Screenshots are from an iPhone
First, lets check how much storage you are using for messages and attachments (like photos on an iPhone). Go to
Settings > General > iPhone Storage > (scroll down to) Messages
Notice the amount of storage used by Documents & Data, and tap on Review Large Attachments for more detail. Refer to below image where I can save 145 MB by deleting them:
Now, exit back to Settings (the gear icon) on your iPhone or iPad. See below image:
Now, in Settings, scroll down and tap the Messages option. See following image:
Next, in Messages, scroll down and tap the Keep Messages option. Refer to below image:
By default, Messages is set to keep your SMS text messages and iMessages forever. Next, tap either 30 Days or 1 Year depending on how long you would like to keep your old text messages. See below image:
After tapping your preference, you will see a pop-up dialog asking whether you want to delete all messages older than the time period you specified. If you are sure, just tap the Delete button. See following image:
Next, exit Settings. From now on, Messages will automatically delete any messages once they hit the 30-day or 1-year mark, depending on which option you specified. Note! The default, Forever, will remain checked until you tap the Delete button.
Now, head back to
Settings > General > iPhone Storage > (scroll down to) Messages
and check your Messages storage for the amount of space you reclaimed.
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