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How do permanently Delete Messages?

sheetrock321

sheetrock321

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 1, 2008
47
4
Ok so I've looked at other threads and what I found was mostly ways to "hide" messages.

I'm using iOS7 and the most I've got has been to delete messages off my phone. I talk to my girlfriend a lot this way, so there's pages and pages and pages of texts.

My phone usage says that it's STILL taking up 1.6GB! Anyway to delete this permanently?

I swiped left(?) to reveal the delete, and hit it. But it doesn't seem to affect deleting off the phone's hard drive.
 
sheetrock321

sheetrock321

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 1, 2008
47
4
Ok but, I have to use 3rd party software to delete things off my smartphone?? That doesn't sound right.
 
ugcop

ugcop

macrumors 6502a
Mar 15, 2012
599
103
Traveling @ Warp Speed ...... USA
You have to plug the phone to your computer and it will delete and clean a long list of temp files etc. the problem I have with it is that it also deleted some documents that I had stored in an app and protected by a password. Other than that it worked pretty good.

I also regularly run an app called iShredder that overwrites stuff that has been deleted but is still showing up in searches.
 
sheetrock321

sheetrock321

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 1, 2008
47
4
Ok thanks. I'll sync the phone, haven't done that since I deleted.

Geez, I wish the iPhone functioned like my iPod. Just drag and drop, or just delete. :( Oh well.
 
C

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
sheetrock321 said:
Ok thanks. I'll sync the phone, haven't done that since I deleted.

Geez, I wish the iPhone functioned like my iPod. Just drag and drop, or just delete. :( Oh well.
Click to expand...
It does delete it, it's just that all that space that you have is quite possibly from older messages from previous iOS versions where there was a bug that attachments and perhaps even messages themselves would get retained somewhere else and not get deleted when they were deleted from the Messages app.
 
sheetrock321

sheetrock321

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 1, 2008
47
4
Why can you NOT permanently delete private texts/messages off your phone?

That's unbelievable, and unacceptable.
 
C

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
sheetrock321 said:
Why can you NOT permanently delete private texts/messages off your phone?

That's unbelievable, and unacceptable.
Click to expand...
If it's in relation to what I was talking about, then that was due to a bug that was fixed in an iOS update not too long ago, but the messages that were previously deleted while the bug existed still got stuck taking up all that space, which is why a third party program of some sort is needed to clean them up (unless you do a restore and not put any backup data back on).
 
sheetrock321

sheetrock321

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 1, 2008
47
4
So you're saying phone clean will delete the messages (I just never bothered to delete them until it started taking up space)?

Is that program freeware?

I'll check it out.

I synced my phone, and the hard drive space didn't seem to get any cleaner.

Seems absurd that you have to use 3rd party (freakin' Apple) but Thanks for the tip.
 
C

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
sheetrock321 said:
So you're saying phone clean will delete the messages (I just never bothered to delete them until it started taking up space)?

Is that program freeware?

I'll check it out.

I synced my phone, and the hard drive space didn't seem to get any cleaner.

Seems absurd that you have to use 3rd party (freakin' Apple) but Thanks for the tip.
Click to expand...
You can register PhoneClean for free via http://www.imobie.com/news/christmas-giveaway-of-phoneclean.htm to get its full features. There are also other programs that provide similar features, like iBackupBot, iFunBox, iTools, etc.
 
sheetrock321

sheetrock321

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 1, 2008
47
4
Yeah, that link for the free registration has expired.

Crap, I hate having to research freakin' software when this should be integrated already.

Thanks anyway, and I'll look up those programs.

I already have iExplorer and Wondershare Dr. Fone. But those are mostly just data retrieval, pretty sure.
 
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