How to Free Up iMessage Storage Space on iPhone

Are Messages taking up too much storage space on your iPhone? We’re here to help. Watch this video to learn how to clear up storage space used by Messages on your iPhone.

#iPhoneTricks #iMessageStorage

First you’ll want to take a look at how much space iMessage is actually taking up. To do this, open your Settings. Select General. Tap iPhone Storage. Now select Messages. Here you can see a breakdown of how much storage is being used by different types of attachments in your Messages. To review and clear out the attachments that are taking up the most space, tap Review Large Attachments. Attachments will be sorted from largest to smallest and labelled with the date you received them. Tap an attachment to look at it in full screen mode. To delete a single attachment, swipe it to the left, then tap Delete. To select multiple attachments for deletion, tap Edit. Now, tap the attachments you want to select. When you’re done selecting all the files you’d like to erase, tap the trash can icon in the top right corner.

You can do the same thing with the other Message storage categories. Select Top Conversations, Photos, Videos, GIFs and Stickers, or Other to review and delete attachments that are taking up too much storage space. Continue going through and deleting items until you’re happy with the amount of storage space being used.

To prevent iMessage from filling up your storage space again, there are a few settings you can change. Go back to the main Settings menu and select Messages. Now tap Keep Messages. Here you can select how long you’d like to keep messages before they’re automatically deleted. If you select 30 days, your Messages won’t be able to accumulate as much storage usage because messages older than 30 days will be erased. Another setting you can enable is Low Quality Image Mode. This will reduce the quality of images you send through Messages, and in turn use less of your storage space.

That’s all it takes to free up iMessage storage space on iPhone.

[asvhlev]

Omggg so I just found out how to reduce storage if u already deleted stuff from recently deleted and everything. So basically if you have a backup delete it. Then make a new backup and it should work. Worked for me.😃😃

[nancisimari]

my iphone x doesn't come up with 'review large attachments'. although I have seen that previously somewhere. in messages, I have a list that includes videos, but no videos come up even tho it says 668.1MB for the videos. click and it's blank. I can edit a couple of 'conversations' but only 3 out of my hundreds.

[thetruth]

Have a iPhone 14 Pro Max and an iPad Pro. I have deleted all my message threads, on both devices, except for one, which is 103MB, but my Messages Storage in iCloud is reflecting 6.52GB. I have shut down both devices and turned back on, only to find no change. Under iPad Storage, Messages reflect 32MB and under iPhone Storage, Messages reflects 29.9. Any wisdom you can share regarding why iCloud would reflect 6.52GB? Thank you.

[JordyYoung]

It irks me they don't have a "select all" option for this. Thanks for the video!

[bunnydimples]

Thank you for this simple, easy to follow helpful video.

[mgfcronaronithehomie]

Thanks so much!!! But I have one quick question: Once I select a category, is there a way to “Select All” of the items without clicking each one by one?

[kimberlygraham]

12/15/2022 - HOW do we clear OTHER?? I have several GB in that category but when I click on it, I have the EDIT and TRASH in the corners but nothing shows on the list!

[merylliacarranza]

I want to save certain conversations, especially of loved ones who passed away. Is there a way that we could keep messages up to a year for some conversations and others forever?

[naturallynubian]

This was very helpful. Thanks 🙏🏾 for this vid!

[_Charrrrr_]

OMG TYSM IM SUBBING I REALLY NEEDED THIS 😂

[hatsukee]

if i delete something.. lets just use top conversations as an example.. will it get rid of that conversation?