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Messages deleted on phone still on the watch

user1234

user1234

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 3, 2009
859
704
Sweden
Hi!

When I delete a message on my iPhone, it's not deleted on my watch. It is deleted on my iPad and Mac. I have messages turned on in iCloud.

Anyone else with this issue? Any known fix?
 
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ZEEN0j said:
I’m not sure. But I think that feature is not yet available on the watch
Click to expand...

That would be strange. I just assumed that it would stay in sync with the iPhone since it's getting the messages through it. Essentially just mirror what the iPhone messages show. Maybe it's going straight through the cloud to allow the LTE models to work independently of an iPhone...
 
Yes it’s strange but it’s been that way since day 1. I don’t know why they don’t sync, emails do most everything does. However messages do not.
 
Last edited:
That is a weird oversight...

I'm getting appointment reminders, 2 factor codes (from companies who stick their head in the sand and refuse to go TOTP instead of SMS) and stuff like that, and deleting them on the iPhone is easy, deleting them on the watch is kinda easy, but having to manually delete on both is not what I excepted from Apple. I hope they fix this.
 
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My Cellular Series 4 deletes iMessages that I delete on my phone. It does not delete SMS messages though.
 
It's been working since Watch OS 5 came out not sure why it's not working on some. The only exception where it doesn't work is.. SMS message and iMessage composed on Watch first will not get deleted until you typed messages on iPhone.
 
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dojoman said:
It's been working since Watch OS 5 came out not sure why it's not working on some. The only exception where it doesn't work is.. SMS message and iMessage composed on Watch first will not get deleted until you typed messages on iPhone.
Click to expand...

Really? These are SMS messages received on the iPhone and they stay on the watch no matter what I do
 
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user1234 said:
Really? These are SMS messages received on the iPhone and they stay on the watch no matter what I do
Click to expand...

That's correct SMS on Watch will not get deleted if you delete them on iPhone. For iMessage they will get deleted as long as conversation starts on iPhone first. If you start from Watch then even iMessage don't get deleted. Not sure why Apple does this oddball way but maybe limitation with iCloud not able to tell what messages are on the Watch.
 
user1234 said:
Really? These are SMS messages received on the iPhone and they stay on the watch no matter what I do
Click to expand...
There was a detailed thread about it when watchOS 5 came out. Messages in iCloud has to be enabled and it will only work with iMessages (as others have stated). There was mix of reports of it still not working with users who enabled, so your mileage might vary. However, it will not remove SMS.

I really do hope that they eventually have full mirroring (for last 30 days) on the watch. Delete once, delete in all places.
 
user1234 said:
That would be strange. I just assumed that it would stay in sync with the iPhone since it's getting the messages through it. Essentially just mirror what the iPhone messages show. Maybe it's going straight through the cloud to allow the LTE models to work independently of an iPhone...
Click to expand...
No it doesn’t. Very irritating to have to manually delete them.
 
I just tried it again, and it works for me. Just not with SMS messages. Maybe it is something that only works on Cellular models? I have no idea all I know is it works on my end.
 
MacintoshDan said:
I just tried it again, and it works for me. Just not with SMS messages. Maybe it is something that only works on Cellular models? I have no idea all I know is it works on my end.
Click to expand...

Deleting iMessages does sync on my non LTE model, just not SMS messages. I have messages in iCloud turned on. Not sure if that makes a difference.
 
user1234 said:
Deleting iMessages does sync on my non LTE model, just not SMS messages. I have messages in iCloud turned on. Not sure if that makes a difference.
Click to expand...

that has to be the difference. mine has never synced deleted messages with iCloud messages turned off.
 
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user1234 said:
Deleting iMessages does sync on my non LTE model, just not SMS messages. I have messages in iCloud turned on. Not sure if that makes a difference.
Click to expand...
If that is the case, it is working as intended. Not sure it was ever meant to delete SMS messages from the Watch. Even though it is supposed to mirror the iPhone. Likely an oversight on Apple's part.
 
Although it sucks, sometimes it comes in handy. For example, I sometimes delete threads on my phone which I wish I kept but if I go back to the Watch, it's still there and I could bring it back to life when I text on it.
 
user1234 said:
Hi!

When I delete a message on my iPhone, it's not deleted on my watch. It is deleted on my iPad and Mac. I have messages turned on in iCloud.

Anyone else with this issue? Any known fix?
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1560466150][/doublepost]So I have a slightly different spin on this one - I accidentally deleted a thread (my entire iMessage history with my wife!) and I'm trying to work out how to get it back. This happened a couple of hours ago and I've switch off iCloud backup on my iPhone completely.
I have a cellular Apple Watch and I can see all the history on that when I scroll back beyond when I deleted the message thread on my iPhone.
My MacBook also has all the history - but I understand that it might be because the MacBook stores iMessages on the hard drive directly?

In terms of settings on the iPhone and MacBook:
-> iPhone - iMessage is not toggled on in the "Apps using iCloud" so I am assuming that means I can't just simply restore from last nights backup. No idea why this wasn't toggled, normally just had everything on iCloud backup.
-> MacBook - in the iMessage -> Preferences, the "Enable Messages in iCloud" is not switched on.

Has anyone been through this? It does look like, based on my Apple Watch, that the messages are there but I have no idea how to get them back onto my iPhone.
 
sistaveley said:
[doublepost=1560466150][/doublepost]So I have a slightly different spin on this one - I accidentally deleted a thread (my entire iMessage history with my wife!) and I'm trying to work out how to get it back. This happened a couple of hours ago and I've switch off iCloud backup on my iPhone completely.
I have a cellular Apple Watch and I can see all the history on that when I scroll back beyond when I deleted the message thread on my iPhone.
My MacBook also has all the history - but I understand that it might be because the MacBook stores iMessages on the hard drive directly?

In terms of settings on the iPhone and MacBook:
-> iPhone - iMessage is not toggled on in the "Apps using iCloud" so I am assuming that means I can't just simply restore from last nights backup. No idea why this wasn't toggled, normally just had everything on iCloud backup.
-> MacBook - in the iMessage -> Preferences, the "Enable Messages in iCloud" is not switched on.

Has anyone been through this? It does look like, based on my Apple Watch, that the messages are there but I have no idea how to get them back onto my iPhone.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly sure you can't get the messages from your watch back onto your phone. If anything they will be removed from the watch after a while. The only way to restore an iMessage thread seems to be to restore the phone from a recent backup, either iCloud or iTunes. Can't say for sure it will work, but a quick look on Google suggests it should.
 
Deleting watch messages is the biggest PITA. I have no idea how all these bigwigs go on stage with their watches and don’t solve this ASAP. In iOS, there’s plenty of space for a “Close All” button on the multitasking screen.
 
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