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FocusAndEarnIt

macrumors 601
Original poster
May 29, 2005
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Hi all,

Messages in iCloud on Apple Watch is notably absent. I've tried looking for an answer to this: is it included in the latest update to watchOS? I am suspecting not. It's a pain to delete messages on the Watch. My Mac, iPhone, and iPad are all sync but my watch is a mess. Any thoughts?
 
Here's hoping for watchOS 6, then. Shame that Apple hasn't included this seemingly basic feature, but I'm sure they would have it were as easy as it seems.
 
I think the way Apple handle message, all messages that sent to the watch will be there on Messages on iPhone anyway (the clue is you have to plug iPhone in if you want to send & receive SMS) so no need for watchOS message in the cloud since it’s already in the cloud by iPhone?
 
@matrix07 - if you delete a message on the Mac, iPhone, iPad, it's not deleted on the Watch. They have to be manually deleted since they are not synced, and that's a PITA with Apple's current UI on watchOS.
 
@matrix07 - if you delete a message on the Mac, iPhone, iPad, it's not deleted on the Watch. They have to be manually deleted since they are not synced, and that's a PITA with Apple's current UI on watchOS.

Could that be a sync issue between watch and iPhone, in that iPhone wouldn’t try to synce messages between the two?

And iCloud message also sync badly. I just reset my phone the other day and forgot to add my emails to Messages so when my wife texted me it didn’t appear on my phone (it appears on my iPad). Once I knew this I added them and check iCloud message on the phone on. It took a full night (18 hours) for that one message to appear on my iPhone. (I guess it’s waiting for my phone and iPad to be plugged in to charge to begin syncing)
With this experience I think iCloud message is more of a backup than syncing service.
 
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This works now on watchOS 5 and iOS 12. I deleted text threads from my phone and they were automatically deleted from my watch as well. Thought I was dreaming, tested a bunch of times just now and texts finally sync between my iPhone and watch.
 
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This works now on watchOS 5 and iOS 12. I deleted text threads from my phone and they were automatically deleted from my watch as well. Thought I was dreaming, tested a bunch of times just now and texts finally sync between my iPhone and watch.

Oh yeah, I've just tried deleting a thread and came off the watch immediately... That wasn't the case during the beta...
 
This works now on watchOS 5 and iOS 12. I deleted text threads from my phone and they were automatically deleted from my watch as well. Thought I was dreaming, tested a bunch of times just now and texts finally sync between my iPhone and watch.
This is great news and something that flew under the radar and release notes.
 
This works now on watchOS 5 and iOS 12. I deleted text threads from my phone and they were automatically deleted from my watch as well. Thought I was dreaming, tested a bunch of times just now and texts finally sync between my iPhone and watch.
Not working for me. Just tested, deleted a conversation from the phone, it still remained on the Watch.

Yes running iOS 2 and watchOS 5 (S2)
 
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So in tracking some responses here and in the Macrumors news article (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...chos-5-1-to-developers.2139209/#post-26505084), it would seem you need iCloud iMessaging on. For those that do not have it working, are you using that? @Grayburn not quoting you since you responded in the other thread.
Deleting from Watch does not delete on macOS and iOS for me.

Not working for me. Just tested, deleted a conversation from the phone, it still remained on the Watch.

Yes running iOS 2 and watchOS 5 (S2)

Not working for me. Watch S3, OS5, iOS 12
 
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So in tracking some responses here and in the Macrumors news article (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...chos-5-1-to-developers.2139209/#post-26505084), it would seem you need iCloud iMessaging on. For those that do not have it working, are you using that? @Grayburn not quoting you since you responded in the other thread.

Yes, I have Messages in iCloud enabled on both my phone and Mac. Deleted messages correctly sync between the phone and Mac, but nothing happens to the watch (just like it has always been).

EDIT - OK, just tested again per your link, here's the consensus...

You have to have Messages in iCloud turned on (we already knew that).

It WORKS when you delete an iMessage conversation from your phone. It WILL delete it from the Watch.

It DOESN'T WORK if you just delete a regular SMS (green) text message conversation from the phone. It will remain on the Watch (however it will still delete it from other Messages in iCloud devices, regardless of it being SMS or iMessage).
 
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Yes, I have Messages in iCloud enabled on both my phone and Mac. Deleted messages correctly sync between the phone and Mac, but nothing happens to the watch (just like it has always been).

EDIT - OK, just tested again per your link, here's the consensus...

You have to have Messages in iCloud turned on (we already knew that).

It WORKS when you delete an iMessage conversation from your phone. It WILL delete it from the Watch.

It DOESN'T WORK if you just delete a regular SMS (green) text message conversation from the phone. It will remain on the Watch (however it will still delete it from other Messages in iCloud devices, regardless of it being SMS or iMessage).
Yes, sorry, I should have made that disclaimer that it does not remove regular messages, only iMessages. Thanks for the follow up.
 
Have Messages in iCloud turned on. Tried deleting an iMessage on my Watch; still resides on my iPhone and MacBook.

I have AW S4 and this does not work. Deleted all watch messages and they remain on the iPhone regardless of if they are an imessage or SMS (I have icloud messages turned on). Really poor implementation by Apple.
 
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