The fastest way to clear all messages
You can delete all text messages on your iPhone in one action by going to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Messages, then tapping "Delete App" at the bottom. This removes the entire Messages app and all conversations at once. You can reinstall the Messages app afterward from the App Store if you want to use it again — reinstalling does not restore deleted messages.
If you want to keep the Messages app installed but clear only the conversation list, open Messages, tap "Edit" in the top left corner, then tap "Select All" and swipe left on any highlighted conversation to delete them. This method takes longer if you have hundreds of conversations, but it leaves the app itself in place.
Neither method is reversible without a backup. If you think you might need any of these messages later, back up your iPhone to iCloud or your computer before you delete anything.
Key Takeaways
- Deleting the Messages app through Settings > General > iPhone Storage removes all text messages permanently in one step.
- You can reinstall the Messages app from the App Store after deletion, but deleted messages will not return.
- The Edit and Select All method in the Messages app takes longer but leaves the app installed on your phone.
- Create an iCloud or computer backup before deleting messages if you might need them later.
Deleting through Settings (the complete wipe)
Open Settings and tap General. Scroll down and tap iPhone Storage. Wait a few seconds for the list of apps to load, then scroll down until you see Messages and tap it. At the bottom of the screen, you will see a red button that says "Delete App" — tap it and confirm when the popup asks if you want to remove the app and its data.
This method deletes every text message, photo sent in messages, and conversation thread at once. The process takes less than a minute. After deletion, the Messages app is no longer on your phone, but you can download it again from the App Store under your name at no cost.
When you reinstall Messages, it will be empty. Your phone will not restore old messages unless you restore your entire phone from a backup made before the deletion.
Deleting conversations one by one or in groups
Open the Messages app and tap "Edit" in the top left corner. Individual conversations will now show a red circle with a minus sign on the left side of each one. Tap the red circle next to any conversation you want to delete, then tap "Delete" when it appears on the right.
To delete multiple conversations at once, tap "Edit," then tap "Select All" at the top right. Every conversation will now be highlighted in blue. Swipe left on any highlighted conversation and tap "Delete" to remove all of them together. This is slower than the Settings method if you have many conversations, but faster if you only want to delete a few specific threads.
You can also swipe left on a single conversation without entering Edit mode — this deletes just that one thread immediately without a confirmation step.
What happens to photos and videos in messages
When you delete a text conversation, any photos or videos sent or received in that thread are deleted from your Messages app. However, if those images were also saved to your Photos app or iCloud Photos, they will still be there — deleting a message does not remove photos from your photo library.
If you want to keep the conversations but remove only the media files, you can delete individual photos from within a conversation by tapping and holding the image, then tapping "More" and "Delete." This removes the photo from the message thread but keeps the text of the conversation.
Backing up before you delete
If you delete messages and later realize you needed them, your only recovery option is to restore your entire phone from a backup made before the deletion. To create a backup now, go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup and tap "Back Up Now." Wait for the backup to complete — this can take several minutes depending on how much data you have.
You can also back up to a computer by connecting your iPhone with a USB cable, opening Finder (on Mac) or iTunes (on Windows), clicking your phone, and clicking "Back Up Now." Computer backups are faster than iCloud backups for most people and do not count against your iCloud storage limit.
After you delete messages, do not restore from this backup unless you want the messages back. If you restore, you will also restore everything else on your phone to the state it was in when the backup was made.
If you change your mind after deleting
If you deleted messages and want them back, you must restore your iPhone from a backup made before the deletion. Go to Settings > General > Reset, tap "Erase All Content and Settings," and follow the prompts. When your phone restarts, you will see a setup screen — choose "Restore from iCloud Backup" or "Restore from Mac/PC" and select the backup from before you deleted the messages.
This process restores your entire phone to that backup point, which means any photos, apps, or settings you added after the backup was made will be lost. For this reason, only restore if the messages are genuinely important and worth losing newer data.
If you do not have a backup from before the deletion, there is no way to recover the messages. iPhone does not keep deleted messages in a trash folder or recovery system.
Preventing accidental deletion
The Messages app does not have a "trash" or "recently deleted" folder like Photos or Mail do. Once you delete a conversation, it is gone unless you have a backup. To avoid deleting messages by accident, you can pin important conversations to the top of your message list so they are less likely to be caught in a bulk delete.
To pin a conversation, open Messages, tap "Edit," tap the circle next to the conversation you want to keep, then tap "Pin" when it appears. Pinned conversations stay at the top of your list and are not affected by the "Select All" delete action — you have to delete them individually.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will deleting the Messages app delete messages on other devices?
No. Deleting Messages from your iPhone only affects that phone. If you use Messages on an iPad, Mac, or another iPhone, those messages will still be there. However, if you have iCloud Messages enabled, deleting a conversation on one device will delete it from all your devices.
Can I delete messages from just one contact?
Yes. Open Messages, find the conversation with that contact, tap "Edit," tap the red circle next to their name, and tap "Delete." This removes only that conversation thread while keeping all other messages on your phone.
What if I only want to delete old messages, not recent ones?
The Messages app does not have a built-in filter to delete messages by date. You would need to delete conversations manually or use the Settings method to clear everything. If you want to keep recent messages but delete older ones, you may need to go through conversations one by one.
Does deleting messages free up storage space on my iPhone?
Yes, but usually not much. Text messages take up very little space — even thousands of conversations typically use less than 100 MB. Photos and videos in messages take up more space, so deleting conversations with many images will free up more storage than deleting text-only threads.
Can I recover messages if I restore my phone from backup?
Only if the backup was made before you deleted the messages. When you restore from backup, your phone returns to the exact state it was in when that backup was created, including all messages that existed at that time. Any data added after the backup was made will be lost.