How to Delete Messages in iMessage

Lee Stanton May 5, 2023

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iMessage is a great instant messaging solution for iOS users, integrated into iOS and Mac devices. It also has more features compared to other built-in messaging applications, making it one of the most common messaging apps on iOS.

If you use iMessage a lot, you might need to trim off some messages to improve navigation and offload some iCloud space.

In this article, we’ll walk you through deleting unwanted iMessage messages. We’ll also show you how to recover messages if you accidentally delete them. Keep reading to find out more.

How to Delete iMessage Messages on a Mac

To delete iMessage messages on a Mac, follow these steps:

Launch the Messages app.
Open the conversation that has the iMessage text you want to delete.
Select and right-click the specific message you wish to delete.
From the options, choose “Delete.”
In the confirmation window, press the “Delete” button to finish.

Alternatively, you can use the menu to delete a message. To do so, follow these steps:

Open Messages.
Open the chat that has the message you want to delete.
Select the specific message you want to delete.
Navigate to the menu and select “Edit.”
From the options, select “Delete.” Alternatively, you can press the “Delete” key on your keyboard.

How to Delete a Whole iMessage Conversation on a Mac

Sometimes you might want to delete a whole conversation and not just a single iMessage from it. To do so, follow these steps:

On your Mac, launch the Messages app.
Select the conversation you want to delete.
Right-click the specific iMessage you’d like to get rid of.
From the options widget, select “Delete Conversation.”

How to Automatically Delete iMessages on a Mac

The Messages app also allows you to automatically delete messages after a predetermined time. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about messages taking up unnecessary space on your iCloud. Here’s how to automatically delete iMessages on a Mac:

Launch the Messages app.
Go to the menu and click on “Messages.”
Open the “Preferences” menu.
Expand the dropdown menu next to “Keep messages.”
Select how long you want to keep messages on your computer.

The default option is forever, but you can choose to delete messages older than a month or a year ago.

With the setting above, your messages should now be deleted automatically once the specified time frame has elapsed. Deleting messages from a single device won’t remove them from your iCloud unless they’re synced.

How to Permanently Delete iMessage Messages on a Mac

All of the above steps merely delete messages temporarily. You’ll always find the messages elsewhere because your iMessages are backed up on iCloud by default. If you want to remove iMessages permanently, follow these steps instead:

On your Mac, close Messages.
Press “Command + Shift + G” to open up the “Go to Folder” widget.
Type “~/Library/Messages” in the “Go to folder” text field and click the “Go” button.
Remove “chat.db-wal,”“chat.db,” and “chat.db-shm” folders.
Restart your Mac, then go to messages and verify that all the messages have been deleted.

Unfortunately, the above process only deletes messages, not the attachments sent along with them. To also delete attachments, follow these additional steps:

Press “Command + Shift + G” to open the “Go to Folder.”
Type the “~/Library/Messages“ command inside the “Go to the folder” text field and press the “Enter” key.
Select the files you want to get rid of and delete them just like any other file.
Restart your Mac for the changes to take effect.

How to Delete iMessage Messages on an iPhone

In this section, we’ll look at how you can delete a single iMessage, multiple iMessages, or a whole conversation on an iPhone.

To delete one or more iMessage messages from the same conversation, follow these steps:

Open Messages.
Open the chat with the iMessage you want to delete.
Find and long-press the specific iMessage that you want to delete.
From the options, tap on “More…”
You can now tap on any additional messages you want to remove. Each selected message will be check-marked.
Once all messages are selected, press the trash can at the bottom left corner of the screen.
Click on “Delete Message” (the pop-up shows a number for multiple messages) from the pop-up to confirm the action.

How to Delete an iMessage Message for Everyone on an iPhone

The above steps show you how to delete an iMessage for yourself only. If you want to delete the message for the other person (effectively undoing it), follow these steps:

Open the chat with the iMessage you want to delete.
Tap and hold the iMessage that you want to unsend.
From the options, select “Undo Send.”

Please note that for the message to be deleted on both sides, both the sender and the receiver need to have their Apple devices running on the latest OS version – iOS 16. If the receiver is still using an older version of iOS, they’ll still see the message even if it’s deleted on your side.

Also, you only have two minutes to delete a message for everyone once it’s sent.

How to Delete a Single iMessage Chat on an iPhone

To delete a single conversation of iMessage, follow these steps:

On your iPhone, open the Messages app.
Scroll down to the conversation that you want to delete.
Swipe left on your screen.
From the options, select “Delete.”

How to Delete Multiple Chats on an iPhone

The Messages app also allows you to delete multiple conversations at once. Here’s how to go about the process on an iPhone:

Go to Messages.
Tap the “Edit” at the top of the screen.
From the options, select “Select Messages” to Select the chats you want to delete.
Tap on “Delete” in the bottom right corner of the screen.

How to Recover Deleted iMessages on an iPhone

Sometimes you might want to recover a message you accidentally deleted. Fortunately, doing so is easy, provided that you have the messages option enabled in the iCloud backup. Here are the steps to follow to recover deleted messages on an iPhone:

Go to “Settings.”
Tap on your profile.
Open the iCloud menu.
Tap the “Messages” option.
Select “Disable and Download Messages.”
Wait a few seconds, open your messages app, and confirm that the messages have been restored.

Keep in mind that this only works if your iCloud has synced the messages beforehand. If the “Messages” option was disabled from syncing, the deleted messages are lost.

How to Delete iMessage Messages on an iPad

If you want to delete an iMessage message on an iPad, follow the steps below:

Go to Messages.
Open the conversation that has the message you want to delete.
Find and long-press the specific message you want to delete.
From the pop-up that comes up, choose “More.”
Press the trash can at the bottom left corner of the screen.In the confirmation window, select “Delete” to finish.

If you’re using an iPad and would like to delete an iMessage message for everyone, follow these steps:

Navigate to Messages.
Open the chat that has the message you want to unsend.
Long press the message you’d like to unsend.
From the options, tap on “Undo Send.”
Now the message should be deleted for the other person.

Please note that for the above process to work, both your device and that of the recipient must be running on iOS 16. The message also needs to have been sent in the past two minutes. Otherwise, the message will still be available for the other person.

How to Delete All Messages at Once on an iPhone or an iPad

To delete all iMessage messages at once, follow these steps:

Open “Settings.”
Scroll down to “Messages.”
Go to the “Message History” section and tap on “Keep messages.”
From the options, select “1 Year.”
Press the “Delete” key to continue.

Alternatively, you can follow these steps:

Open the Messages app.
Tap the “Edit” in the top left corner of the screen.
Once all the messages are selected, tap “Delete.”

Additional FAQs

Are iMessages available on Android?

No, unfortunately, iMessage is only available for iOS users. Plus, you can only use it to exchange messages with other iOS users.

How do you prevent iMessage messages that are on a Mac from showing up on your iPhone?

To stop the messages on your Mac from showing up on your phone, follow these steps:

1. Open Messages on your Mac.

2. Select “Messages” in the top left corner of the window.

3. Go to “Preferences” and navigate to “iMessages.”

4. Uncheck the “Enable Messages in iCloud” option.

Please note that the setting above won’t affect the messages synced up earlier.

What’s the difference between an iMessage and a regular text message?

Let’s start with the apparent contrasting factor– the color. iMessages are distinguished by a blue bubble, while regular text messages are wrapped in a green bubble.

Another difference between an iMessage and a regular text message is that iMessages are solely exchanged between two iOS users.

The last difference is that for regular text messages, you have to pay the SMS cost for each SMS for it to be delivered. However, for iMessages, all you need to deliver your iMessages is an active internet connection. Data charges may apply in case you’re using a carrier plan rather than Wi-Fi.

Get Rid of the Clutter

Deleting iMessage messages can be an excellent way to free up some space on your computer. Fortunately, the process is relatively, and it should by no means cause a headache. In addition, iOS 16 has brought up some robust features that give the app more flexibility. For instance, you can now undo recently sent messages and also recover deleted messages.

Regardless, we hope that you can now delete your iMessage messages irrespective of the device you’re using the app with.

Have you tried deleting iMessage messages on any of your Apple devices? How about recovering them? Please let us know in the comments section below.