How to Delete Text Messages From an iPhone

Last Updated: Jan. 21, 2015

Most text messages are quick, disposable, and ready for deletion not long after they’ve been read and replied to. But that doesn't mean we delete them. In fact, in the age of iMessage and WhatsApp, we're more likely to leave text message conversations running so we can see the history of our discussions.

That said, there will always be some text (aka SMS) messages you want to delete.

In Messages, the texting app that comes with every iPhone and iPod touch, all of your text messages with each person are grouped into conversations. It's easy to delete the entire conversation, but what about individual texts within the conversation?

There's a way to do that—more on that in a minute—but before you delete any of your texts, make sure you mean it. There's no getting texts back after you delete them.

Deleting an Entire Text Message Conversation

To delete an entire iPhone SMS conversation, tap the Messages app (it's on your home screen, unless you re-arranged your icons)
If you were in a conversation when you last used the app, you'll see it. Tap the arrow at top left (or the Messages menu, depending on your version of the iOS) to go to list of conversations. If you weren't already in a conversation, you'll see the list of all conversations
Find the conversation you want to delete. In iOS 6 or earlier, swipe left to right. In iOS 7 or later, swipe right to left. You can also tap the Edit button at top of the screen and then tap the circle at the left of each conversation

If you swiped across the conversation, a Delete button appears at the right. If you used the Edit button, a Delete button appears at the bottom right corner of the screen
Tap either button to delete the entire conversation.

Deleting Individual Text Messages on the iPhone

If you want to simply delete a few messages while leaving your overall conversation intact, follow these steps:

Tap Messages to open it
Tap the conversation that has the messages you want to delete
Within the conversation, you do different things depending on your version of the iOS:
- In iOS 6 and lower, tap the Edit button at top right
- In iOS 7 and higher, tap and hold on a message until the menu pops up. Then tap More
Next to each individual message, a small circle will appear
To mark a message for deletion, tap the circle next to it. A checkbox appears in that box, indicating that it will be deleted
Check all the messages you want to delete
When you’re ready, tap the Delete (or Delete All, depending on your version of the iOS) button.

If you tapped Edit or More by mistake and don’t want to delete any texts, don’t tap any of the circles —just tap Done or Cancel (depending on your version of the iOS) to exit.

Learn more about text messaging on the iPhone:

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