I am currently going crazy trying to figure out why I can't make certain pictures/videos go away for good. I delete them in iMessage, but then when I conduct a search they still show up, full res original image/video. I can delete them from there if I go to the person's contact card and their photos, but then when Messages next reindexes they simply reappear. This problem happens on both iPhone and iPad, iOS 17, 18, and 26. I have everything synced via iCloud, but I delete them from one device and they remain on the other until I also go in and remove them. The sender has also deleted them from their device and it seems to make no difference, for them they are permanently gone. My Recently Deleted in Messages has been emptied.
Some of the attachments are as old as 14 months, and I deleted them 14 months ago... I do not use iCloud Backup, only Messages in iCloud. The items are not in my Photos library. I have tried to enable/disable Messages content showing up in search about 10 times and it instantly brings the deleted items back. I have attempted to change my device language to force a re-index but it makes no difference.
Also, the iPhone is affected by a seemingly separate issue, where certain attachments that were deleted but are not affected by the above issue, still show up in iPhone search from the home screen. These seem to be stale Spotlight entries, because they are not full size images, only thumbnails that show a white exclamation mark. If I attempt to save them it fails. If I click the Messages icon in the corner it jumps to the part of the conversation but no image is shown. These also will not go away despite one of them having been deleted 22 months ago...
These are private photos and I am immensely frustrated that my ability to remove them is so neutered. I don't know what the fix is because there are multiple overlapping issues at play it seems. I am trying not to resort to deleting all of my messages and just starting fresh but it's seeming like the only option. Just curious if anybody has any idea what I can do to fix this. Even if I could just get rid of the stale Spotlight thumbnails that would be a win. I do not use iCloud or Messages on any of my Macs. Only iOS.
Some of the attachments are as old as 14 months, and I deleted them 14 months ago... I do not use iCloud Backup, only Messages in iCloud. The items are not in my Photos library. I have tried to enable/disable Messages content showing up in search about 10 times and it instantly brings the deleted items back. I have attempted to change my device language to force a re-index but it makes no difference.
Also, the iPhone is affected by a seemingly separate issue, where certain attachments that were deleted but are not affected by the above issue, still show up in iPhone search from the home screen. These seem to be stale Spotlight entries, because they are not full size images, only thumbnails that show a white exclamation mark. If I attempt to save them it fails. If I click the Messages icon in the corner it jumps to the part of the conversation but no image is shown. These also will not go away despite one of them having been deleted 22 months ago...
These are private photos and I am immensely frustrated that my ability to remove them is so neutered. I don't know what the fix is because there are multiple overlapping issues at play it seems. I am trying not to resort to deleting all of my messages and just starting fresh but it's seeming like the only option. Just curious if anybody has any idea what I can do to fix this. Even if I could just get rid of the stale Spotlight thumbnails that would be a win. I do not use iCloud or Messages on any of my Macs. Only iOS.