Does Apple Watch Delete Messages? [Here’s What to Do!]

The Apple Watch is a convenient little gadget that can do more than track your health and fitness. You can view messages and other important notifications from your iPhone on your Apple Watch. Why? Because your iPhone and Apple Watch are synced. Most functions are synced, anyway.

But the sync functionalities might make you wonder if you delete items on one device, does it get deleted on the other? For instance, you may be wondering if the Apple Watch deletes messages from your phone!

The “delete” iMessage function is not synced across your iPhone and Apple Watch devices, so deleting iMessages from your Apple Watch will not delete them from your iPhone. And deleting iMessages from your iPhone will not delete them from your Apple Watch.

The function of deleting messages is not synced on your Apple Watch, so you have to delete messages separately after you do it on your iPhone. Deleting messages on your iPhone can be done manually or automatically after 30 days.

From my experience, deleting messages on the Apple Watch is one of the top 5 most inconvenient and frustrating “features”. The process might take time, but it is not as tedious as you think.

How to Delete Messages from Your Apple Watch

You can delete iMessages from your Apple Watch by following these easy steps:

• Press the digital crown to see all the apps on the watch screen
• Find the messages icon and tap on it
• Select the thread you want to delete and swipe left
• Tap the trash icon to delete the thread
• Repeat the process to delete more message threads

Note that you can only delete one conversation thread at a time – another thing that is a frustration to the consumer. It would be much easier and less time-consuming to mass delete texts on your Apple Watch. Unfortunately, this feature is not available on the Apple Watch.

Does Apple Watch Delete Messages Automatically?

Many messaging apps have a finite number of days to store your texts. In most devices, you have control of this feature because you can set the maximum number of days you want to keep your messages. After the specific days have passed, your device will automatically delete old conversations.

The Apple Watch uses a similar concept, but the limit is 30 days for this smartwatch. The messages on your Apple Watch will be deleted automatically after 30 days, and you cannot change this setting. Fortunately, all is not lost because your messages will still be on your iPhone.

Remember, the delete function is not synced on your Apple Watch, so you do not have to worry about losing important information.

How Long do Messages Stay on Apple Watch?

iMessages stay on your Apple Watch for 30 days or until you manually delete them – whichever is sooner.

The “keep for 30 days then delete” is a rare setting that you can’t modify. Seems crazy in an age where “customization is king”, right? So why did Apple go this route?

Apple won’t give us a straight answer, so here’s my hot take: it’s Apple’s (sloppy) solution to not syncing iMessages (via iCloud) between iPhone and Apple Watch. Instead, they implemented this clunky functionality to delete messages on Apple Watch.

Does Deleting Messages from Your Apple Watch Free Up Storage?

Apple Watches have a maximum storage of 32GB. It is doubtful that you will have that many text messages, and text messages do not eat up that much space on your device. Nevertheless, text messages with video, Gifs and audio attachments might take up a good amount of storage, so it makes sense to delete them.

Note that too much junk data on your Apple Watch might prevent you from updating it. So, it is essential to clear messages and other useless data on your watch for easy operation of the device.

Can You Recover Deleted Messages on Your Apple Watch?

You can only recover deleted messages if you previously backed up your data. If you want to see your deleted messages again, you have to restore your backup data, which will overwrite all data currently on your watch.

The data restored depends on how old your backup is. For example, if your backup data is one month old, the recovered data will be from a month ago.

Will Resetting Your Apple Watch Delete Messages?

Resetting your Apple Watch will delete all text messages from your device. When you restore your watch to factory settings, you erase everything on your smartwatch to start afresh. You can reset your Apple watch using cellular data or WIFI.

Usually, people refresh their watches to fix bugs and other issues. However, you can also reset your Apple Watch when you want to sell it.

Does Deleting iMessages Work Across all Apple Devices?

iMessage is Apple’s messaging application that works only when you have a data connection or WIFI. iMessages are saved on your phone in the iCloud, and you can access them on any of your Apple devices, including iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Apple Watch.

Since iMessage syncs across all Apple devices, you have deleted the texts across all devices when you delete iMessages on your Apple Watch.

Below is a step-by-step guide on deleting iMessages on your Apple Watch. The process is more straightforward when using your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or iPod.

• Go to the Settings app on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or iPod
• Click on your name
• Tap on the iCloud icon
• Choose the messages option to open the app
• Select the conversation you want to delete
• Swipe left you will see a trash icon
• Tap on the trash icon and confirm that you want to delete the selected iMessages

Note that you have to sync your iCloud with your Apple Watch for this to work. One of the advantages of using iMessages on your Apple watch is that you can delete messages in bulk. You can select multiple conversations from iCloud and delete them simultaneously across all devices.

How to Mute Messages from a Specific Conversation on Your Apple Watch

It is impossible to delete a particular text from a conversation on your Apple Watch. However, what you can do is mute the conversation’s notifications. Muting notifications for a specific discussion is a great option, especially for group messages.

You can mute notifications using these quick steps:

• Press the digital crown on your Apple Watch to show all the apps on your home screen
• Find the messages icon and tap to open
• Select the conversation you want to mute
• Swipe left on the conversation
• You will see the Do Not Disturb or hide alerts icon- usually a moon
• Tap on the moon icon to mute notifications for that conversation

Note that muting notifications does not mean you will no longer receive messages from that contact. Instead, you will still receive messages, but your Apple Watch will not alert you about it. You can change this setting by tapping the Do Not Disturb button again.

More Related Articles

Here are some more articles about your Apple Watch that you may find interesting! Give them a read!

1. Does Apple Watch Need Screen Protectors? [Complete Guide With Recommendations!]
2. Does Apple Watch Always ON Display Drain Battery?
3. Can You Wear Apple Watch in a Shower? [Here’s What to Know!]
4. Can You Wear an Apple Watch on Ankle? [Is It Accurate?]
5. Does Your Apple Watch Drain iPhone Battery? [Here’s How to Stop It!]