Messages in iCloud changed from Forever to 1 year but still taking up same space.

[macrlz9]

I’ve been using Messages in iCloud set to keep messages “forever” since the feature became available several years ago. My messages now take up over 300GB of iCloud storage!

I’m ready to only keep only the last year. I changed the setting to 1 year on my phone and checked that my iPad and Mac also now are set to 1 year, however the iCloud storage taken up by messages hasn’t changed. I let all 3 devices sit connected to power overnight.

Is this just going to take a while or am I missing something? The amount of iCloud storage taken up is getting out of hand… I need that storage back!

 

[StumpyBloke]

Delete

 

[0128672]

I'm not sure that changing that setting immediately reduces your Messages in iCloud storage, and I can't find anything in Apple support articles to support that assumption. Maybe they're in Recently Deleted? What happens if you delete a large number of older Messages manually including what's in Recently Deleted?

Delete messages and attachments in Messages on iPhone

In Messages on iPhone, delete messages, attachments, and entire conversations.

support.apple.com

 

[macrlz9]

I'm not sure that changing that setting immediately reduces your Messages in iCloud storage, and I can't find anything in Apple support articles to support that assumption. Maybe they're in Recently Deleted? What happens if you delete a large number of older Messages manually including what's in Recently Deleted?

Delete messages and attachments in Messages on iPhone

In Messages on iPhone, delete messages, attachments, and entire conversations.

support.apple.com

So I’m trying to avoid having to manually delete threads because naturally the largest threads are ones I don’t want to delete. (Spouse, close family/friends, etc)

I was hoping the “keep 1 year” setting would clear out old messages without deleting the whole thread.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I believe your changed setting only applies to new messages moving forward. If I am right about that, you will either have to get more storage, delete any attachments, or download all your messages from appleid.com, back up to another drive, and then manually delete messages to get space back.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I always thought they got wiped the instant I did that too because at one point in time (years ago) - I did this, and eventually went to 30 days and saw MOST of my iMessages disappear. But if I remember right, I had to be plugged in for this "processing" to occur. It did not remove them on my Mac, I do remember that - just the iPhone (and from iCloud).

I wish there was a way to remove media/videos easily from iMessages. I would love to keep the text as the cost for that has to be near 0 but I have 32GB and rapidly growing iMessages. Each member of my iCloud family has 30-80GB of iMessages too.

I have had my messages set to Forever now for the last few years, seriously considering setting to 30. If I summon the courage to do so, I'll let you know what happens. LOL.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Check it out - this is what it says when you choose 30 days. (I haven't done this yet). (iPhone).


I see you attached this pic above.

I'm guessing removing all that from iCloud could take awhile. Or it could go to the deleted folder and need to be emptied manually?

Hmmm.

 

[BigMcGuire]

OK yep, just looks like this affects local storage only. All my messages go back to 9/1 now but my iCloud storage is still 33GB.

Interestingly enough, it set my Mac OS iMessages to 30 days too but I can still scroll to messages from years ago. Annnnd about 3 mins later it wiped them all from local storage. But iCloud still shows 32GB.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Manage your iCloud storage - Apple Support

Free up space in iCloud storage.

support.apple.com

Seems to indicate that eventually this will be reflected in iCloud?

 

[BigMcGuire]

I'll monitor my iCloud storage over the next few days and will report if I see any decrease.

My gut tells me it's going to take 30 days.

 

[macrlz9]

So some time has passed and the storage used in iCloud has not decreased at all. Also, none of the Apple support articles I've found indicate this "keep messages for" setting affects iCloud in any way. I fear this is just the way it is...

My plan is as follows:
1) Set the "keep messages for" setting from Forever to 1 year - DONE & it automatically changed this setting on all my devices
2) Go into manage iCloud storage settings and select "disable & delete"
3) Hopefully all messages will then be removed and take up zero storage in iCloud. I will then turn Messages syncing back on again.

I don't know for sure this is the right approach but I think it should work...

I also agree that having an option to keep text only and purge attachments after a set period of time would be a good balance.

 

[BigMcGuire]

From what I’m seeing one has to turn off iMessages in iCloud for a whole month for the space to be recovered.

I’d be upset if I had 300gb to get rid of and have to live without iCloud iMessages for a month.

I’ll put in a feature request so at least Apple may consider making this area better.

 

[macrlz9]

From what I’m seeing one has to turn off iMessages in iCloud for a whole month for the space to be recovered.

I’d be upset if I had 300gb to get rid of and have to live without iCloud iMessages for a month.

I’ll put in a feature request so at least Apple may consider making this area better.

I’m about to test this shortly... It’s a bit ambiguous but I believe deleted photos and files in iCloud Drive do NOT count against your storage when in that 30 day deleted folder so who knows.

 

[macrlz9]

Ok so (on my iPad) in iCloud Storage > Messages, I selected "Disable & Delete" and got the following message:

"This will disable Messages in iCloud and
delete all your messages stored in iCloud.
You have 30 days to undo this action. Your
device will automaticallv download vour
messages."

When I checked iCloud storage, messages was gone completely and I got that 300+ GB back instantly. However, when I turned Messages in iCloud back on, the storage taken came right back.

The interesting thing is that the Messages in iCloud toggle remained enabled on Mac & iPhone. I wonder if I can just live without Messages in iCloud on 1 device for 30 days... Might just be best to disable on all 3 though.

Either way, I confirmed the storage is given back instantly during this 30 day window.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Ok so (on my iPad) in iCloud Storage > Messages, I selected "Disable & Delete" and got the following message:

"This will disable Messages in iCloud and
delete all your messages stored in iCloud.
You have 30 days to undo this action. Your
device will automaticallv download vour
messages."

When I checked iCloud storage, messages was gone completely and I got that 300+ GB back instantly. However, when I turned Messages in iCloud back on, the storage taken came right back.

The interesting thing is that the Messages in iCloud toggle remained enabled on Mac & iPhone. I wonder if I can just live without Messages in iCloud on 1 device for 30 days... Might just be best to disable on all 3 though.

Either way, I confirmed the storage is given back instantly during this 30 day window.

OK cool. So immediate return of storage used with the cost of having to have iMessages in iCloud off for a month to delete the data before it can come back on. Means that while your iPhone SHOULD forward messages it gets to your devices, messages that you send from other devices (say your Mac, iPad, Watch) may not fully sync back to your other devices.

Interesting that turning off iCloud messages doesn't do this on all 3. I would have assumed it would sync the setting like it does the 30 days thing.


What bothered me too was that Settings --> iCloud --> Manage Account Storage --> Messages --- Top Conversations is broken. It is blank. After setting 30 days yesterday and Disabling and Deleting Messages (then turning it back on) - it's now counting messages I send.

DESPITE 32GB of iCloud Messages - I can't search for messages I know I have had in the past.

Toggling "Disable and Delete" Messages in iCloud started my phone downloading (VERY SLOWLY) the 32GB Messages. After 30 mins it downloaded about 900mb. So that's why I turned that back on and had to toggle my phone to do Forever saving of messages, then back to 30 to delete the 900MB downloaded messages.

In my mind, why charge me for 32GB of messages when I can't search them without having them on my device. And if it is going to take 16+ hours to download them all (and only when plugged in...) ... sheesh.

Had I not deleted all my messages back in 2019? 2018? I'd probably just keep them but 99% of the 32GB are videos/photos that I've already saved what I wanted to save manually.

 

[macrlz9]

OK cool. So immediate return of storage used with the cost of having to have iMessages in iCloud off for a month to delete the data before it can come back on. Means that while your iPhone SHOULD forward messages it gets to your devices, messages that you send from other devices (say your Mac, iPad, Watch) may not fully sync back to your other devices.

Interesting that turning off iCloud messages doesn't do this on all 3. I would have assumed it would sync the setting like it does the 30 days thing.


What bothered me too was that Settings --> iCloud --> Manage Account Storage --> Messages --- Top Conversations is broken. It is blank. After setting 30 days yesterday and Disabling and Deleting Messages (then turning it back on) - it's now counting messages I send.

DESPITE 32GB of iCloud Messages - I can't search for messages I know I have had in the past.

Toggling "Disable and Delete" Messages in iCloud started my phone downloading (VERY SLOWLY) the 32GB Messages. After 30 mins it downloaded about 900mb. So that's why I turned that back on and had to toggle my phone to do Forever saving of messages, then back to 30 to delete the 900MB downloaded messages.

In my mind, why charge me for 32GB of messages when I can't search them without having them on my device. And if it is going to take 16+ hours to download them all (and only when plugged in...) ... sheesh.

Had I not deleted all my messages back in 2019? 2018? I'd probably just keep them but 99% of the 32GB are videos/photos that I've already saved what I wanted to save manually.

Exactly. I always tell everyone that if you want to keep any photos or attachments sent via iMessage, save them elsewhere. Messages is not meant to be an archive you can go back to. So it's just taking up space unnecessarily.

I turned my setting back on for now too lol I will deal with this later... Perhaps after iPadOS 16 and Ventura are released. I plan to turn Messages in iCloud off on all 3 devices, let it sit for maybe 35 days to be safe, then re-enable.

 

[BigMcGuire]

One hidden cost I've found?

You know how Photos shows some photos that your family/friends have sent you? With that little white message icon?

I'm missing all of them except a few from my wife. Used to be loaded with my parent's family chat, friend's chats, etc. (Not that I minded cuz I saved everything I wanted to save) - but a cost that others should consider.

I imagine if I downloaded all 32GB of Messages - those photos would slowly return to the album. I bet this is why there's hesitation to remove the media.

How interesting.

 

[macrlz9]

Oh man totally forgot about that feature. Yeah it scared the crap out of me so I turned off "Shared with You" for Photos right from the start.

 

[BigMcGuire]

So my iCloud storage for iMessages went from 32gb to 22gb today. Lol.

After my attempt to delete on the 3rd I turned everything back on and watched all my devices spend an hour downloading 6gb of iMessages since 2019.

So - all my devices still show iMessages since 2019. I do know mid last month i went through and deleted a ton of videos and photos out of family threads. I wonder if they’re now subtracting ? Devices still show 6gb local storage for iMessages.

Will keep an eye on this.

 

[gigapocket1]

I remember calling tech support about this a few months ago….. They weren’t able to answer my question..

Basically I wanted to download all messages from iCloud. And remove them but keep them on my phone. No clear way to do this….. FYI..

Also asked about this very situation. Got conflicting information so just left it enabled for now

 

[BigMcGuire]

Today my iMessages iCloud storage dropped from 22gb to 17gb.

heh. No idea what’s going on. Lol. My local storage shows 6.8gb.

 

[Solomani]

Exactly. I always tell everyone that if you want to keep any photos or attachments sent via iMessage, save them elsewhere. Messages is not meant to be an archive you can go back to. So it's just taking up space unnecessarily.

I turned my setting back on for now too lol I will deal with this later... Perhaps after iPadOS 16 and Ventura are released. I plan to turn Messages in iCloud off on all 3 devices, let it sit for maybe 35 days to be safe, then re-enable.

Have you tried telling ALL THREE devices to only iCloud (Keep Messages) for 1 year?

P.S. -- Mac doesn't seem to have this option (to distinguish Keep 1 Year or Forever). But I suppose both iPhone and iPad do, since they are both mobile (iOS, iPadOS).

 

[Solomani]

View attachment 2086278

Check it out - this is what it says when you choose 30 days. (I haven't done this yet). (iPhone).


I see you attached this pic above.

I'm guessing removing all that from iCloud could take awhile. Or it could go to the deleted folder and need to be emptied manually?

Hmmm.

Interesting! Now.... uhh... where the hell is the "deleted text messages" folder?

 

[macrlz9]

Have you tried telling ALL THREE devices to only iCloud (Keep Messages) for 1 year?

P.S. -- Mac doesn't seem to have this option (to distinguish Keep 1 Year or Forever). But I suppose both iPhone and iPad do, since they are both mobile (iOS, iPadOS).

macOS does have the option for 1 year, in Messages preferences.

The deleted folder on iOS is in the Messages app under Edit > Show Recently Deleted

 

[macrlz9]

Today my iMessages iCloud storage dropped from 22gb to 17gb.

View attachment 2096235

heh. No idea what’s going on. Lol. My local storage shows 6.8gb.

Im noticing something similar. I went from over 300GB to 160GB now. I’m not sure if it’s from changing the setting from Forever to 1 year and giving it time or manually deleting videos under iPhone Storage and iPad Storage in Settings.

Either way it took a few days before iCloud reflected a change. 🤷🏻‍♂️