Delete individual messages or entire conversations

You can remove text messages from your iPhone in two ways: delete single messages one at a time, or delete an entire conversation at once. Most people delete whole conversations because it's faster, but if you want to keep some messages from a person and remove others, you can do that too.

The steps are different depending on whether you're using the Messages app (for SMS and iMessage) or another messaging app like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. This guide covers the built-in Messages app, which is what most iPhone users have.

Key Takeaways

  • Swipe left on a conversation in the Messages app and tap Delete to remove the entire thread, or tap Edit and select multiple conversations to delete several at once.
  • To delete single messages within a conversation, open the thread, press and hold a message, tap More, select additional messages if you want, then tap Delete.
  • Deleted messages are gone permanently — iPhone does not have a trash folder or recovery option for text messages.
  • You can turn on automatic deletion in Settings so messages older than 30 days or one year disappear on their own.
  • Third-party messaging apps like WhatsApp have their own delete functions separate from the iPhone's Messages app.

Delete an entire conversation with one swipe

Open the Messages app and look at your list of conversations. Find the person or group chat you want to remove. Swipe your finger from right to left across that conversation — swipe quickly and smoothly, not slowly.

A red Delete button will appear on the right side. Tap it. The conversation and all messages in it disappear immediately. If you change your mind right away, you can tap Undo at the bottom of the screen before you do anything else, but once you leave this screen, the messages are gone for good.

Delete multiple conversations at once

If you want to remove several conversations but not all of them, use the Edit button instead of swiping. Tap Edit in the top left corner of the Messages app. Small circles appear next to each conversation.

Tap the circle next to each conversation you want to delete — a checkmark appears in the circle when it's selected. You can select as many as you want. Once you've chosen them all, tap Delete in the bottom right corner, then confirm by tapping Delete again. All selected conversations vanish at once.

Delete individual messages within a conversation

If you want to keep a conversation but remove specific messages from it, open the thread with that person. Press and hold your finger on the message you want to delete — hold it for about a second until a menu pops up.

Tap More in the menu. More messages in the conversation now have circles next to them. Tap the circle next to any other messages you want to remove. You can select multiple messages this way. Once you've selected all the ones you want gone, tap Delete in the bottom right, then confirm. Those specific messages are removed, but the conversation stays.

Set messages to delete automatically

You can tell your iPhone to delete old messages on its own so you don't have to do it manually. Open Settings and scroll down to find Messages. Tap it.

Look for the option called "Keep Messages" — it usually appears near the bottom of the Messages settings. Tap it and choose either 30 days or 1 year. Messages older than the time you pick will be deleted automatically. This applies to all your conversations, not just one person. If you want to keep messages forever, choose Never.

Understand what happens when you delete

When you delete a text message or conversation from your iPhone, it is removed permanently. Unlike email, which often has a trash folder, text messages do not go to a recovery location. You cannot get them back by looking in Settings or anywhere else on the phone.

The only way to recover a deleted text is if you have a backup of your iPhone from before you deleted it. If you back up to iCloud or your computer regularly, you could restore from an older backup, but that would restore your entire phone to that point in time — you would lose anything you've done since then. For most people, this is not worth it.

Delete messages from other apps

WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and other messaging apps have their own delete functions separate from the iPhone's Messages app. Open the app you use, find the conversation or message, and look for a delete option — usually you swipe or press and hold, similar to the Messages app, but the exact steps vary by app.

Deleting a message in WhatsApp does not delete it from the Messages app, and vice versa. Each app manages its own messages independently. If you want to remove a conversation from multiple apps, you have to delete it in each one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I recover a text message I deleted by accident?

Not from the phone itself. If you have an iCloud backup from before you deleted the message, you could restore your entire phone from that backup, but you would lose everything done since then. For a single message, this is usually not practical. If the message is important, contact the person who sent it and ask them to resend it.

Does deleting a message delete it from the other person's phone?

No. When you delete a message from your iPhone, it only disappears from your phone. The person who sent it or received it still has it on their device. If you want to remove a message from both phones, you would need to ask them to delete it on their end.

What's the difference between deleting a message and editing it?

Editing lets you change the text of a message you already sent — the other person sees the updated version. Deleting removes it completely from your phone. On iMessage, you can also unsend a message within two minutes of sending it, which removes it from the other person's phone too, but this only works with iMessage, not SMS.

If I delete a conversation, can I still text that person?

Yes. Deleting a conversation only removes the message history. You can still send a new message to that person anytime. When you do, a new conversation thread starts, and you won't see the old messages you deleted.

Will deleting messages free up storage space on my iPhone?

A little, but usually not much. Text messages take up very little space compared to photos and videos. If your iPhone is running low on storage, deleting old messages helps slightly, but removing photos and videos will free up much more space.