Deleting Messages does not free up storage Delete entire message discussions. If you could delete the Messages app it would clear the lot but you cannot.
Delete old text messages
You'll be surprised to see how much storage space your text messages take on your smartphone. You may not even realize those messages are being saved to your phone. Don't worry, you can delete them. Be sure to delete messages with photos and videos first — they chew up the most space.
Deleting messages changes only your own Messages conversations, not those of your recipients. Tip: Use Undo Send to retract a message you sent accidentally.
Improves the speed of your phone
With the passage of time, these tiny messages start taking up space in your smartphone's memory, which results in slow processing. By deleting your text messages regularly, you can free up space and practically make your phone work faster.
But that doesn't mean text messages, over time, can't affect your phone's performance. According to Mac World, iPhones run out of storage space fairly quickly. Deleting all or most of your messages is a surefire way to boost storage space at least a bit.
It's easier to keep secrets.
But automatically clearing your texting history every 30 days can help you avoid getting in trouble if your phone slips into the wrong hands.
And don't forget your text messages–All those shared photos, videos, and GIFs can take up space. iPhone users can clear out big text attachments on the iPhone Storage screen. Another tip: Change your settings to save your text messages for a year or 30 days instead of forever.
What's likely stealing all the storage space are all the attachments you send and receive — audio, photos, stickers, videos, GIFs, and files.
Why are messages taking up so much storage? It is possible that there are a lot of pictures or file attachments in the messages or there are a lot of spam text messages that automatically sync to iCloud.
No, it does not. Photos that you attach to a message from your Camera Roll will remain there. Photos that you receive will only be in your Camera Roll if you save then first.
You can restore messages you deleted for up to 30 days. In the Messages conversation list, do one of the following: Tap Edit in the top-left corner, then tap Show Recently Deleted. Tap Filters in the top-left corner, then tap Recently Deleted.
"If you choose to keep old text messages or photos, print them out, keep a hard copy, and put them away in a box," suggests Dr. Klapow. "Then, delete them. If you are in a new relationship, there's nothing more disrespectful than having old love letters right at your fingertips."
Empty Android's cached files
If you've deleted all the files you don't need and you're still receiving the “insufficient storage available” error message, you need to clear out Android's cache.
Disabling and deleting Messages in iCloud will remove all your conversations from your iCloud account. As a result, your text conversations will no longer sync across your devices.
They sit on the company's server for anywhere from three days to three months, depending on the company's policy. Verizon holds texts for up to five days and Virgin Mobile keeps them for 90 days. AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint do not keep the contents of text messages.
Emails can take up tons of space on your Android operating system. If you keep thousands — or even hundreds — of emails around, then it's time that you clear a significant amount of space by deleting these emails in Gmail.
When you delete a message, it stays in your trash for 30 days. After that time, it will be permanently deleted.
1 Delete a Message
Open Messages. Locate the conversation that has the message you want to delete then tap on it. Touch and hold the message you want to delete. Tap the trash can to delete the message.
But can a text or other digital messages ever truly be erased from existence? People delete text messages and other electronic messages for many reasons: to free up room on their device; to break contact after a sour conversation; and, from time to time, to wipe out a conversation, for one reason or another.
You can choose to automatically delete your iMessages from your device after 30 days or a year, or to keep them on your device forever. For your convenience, iMessages are backed up in iCloud and encrypted if you have enabled either iCloud Backup or Messages in iCloud.