Deleting new messages on Apple Watch deletes all the message on iPhone

I don't use iCloud for messages. When I delete I message from my iPad it's still on both my iPhones. The watch use to work the same way. Delete from the watch it's still on the phone. The watch never goes through iCloud. How do I know? Apple Support told me yesterday. I put in for a support ticket two weeks ago. They didn't follow up so I did. Their explanation is "This is expected behavior" but it's never been the behavior in the history of Apple Watch.

Beckster8806 wrote:

Yea I’ve complained a few times too and I hope they add an option where u can decide if u want this or not! I have having so many threads on my watch but don’t want them deleted off my phone!!! 😡😡😡

Have you complained anywhere that might reach Apple and might make a difference? This user-to-user forum is not a way to communicate anything to Apple. Here is the right place:https://apple.com/feedback

GG6468 wrote:

Prior to downtown iOS 18 I could delete messages from my Apple Watch and they’d remain on my phone. Now when I delete from my watch messages delete from phone. This is not happening on my husbands phone and we have everything the same! Please help!

You would find it enlightening to read some of the posts in the 9 pages of the thread you just added to.

Apple has NOT corrected the text deletion problem yet :(

Oh, the irony! Prior to iOS 18 the was a constant stream of post saying “why, when I delete a message from my watch is it NOT deleted from my other devices? This is contrary to the way almost every synced service works.”

Mendelman79 wrote:

I want the message deleted off my watch but not off my phone like I’ve always have done in the past. I don’t want to pin any text messages..

But this is exactly what pinning a message is for, so that you do not have to scroll through past messages to find who you're looking for.

I don't delete messages on my watch and never have so I was not even aware deleting them in the past did not delete them on the phone. It is more consistent now that it does delete it on the phone too as that is how every other Apple device works. If you make a change on one device, it makes that change on all devices. Keeps things simple.

I almost never find texting on the watch more convenient than pulling out my phone though.

We definitely need an update to correct this. I too, only keep a few text threads on my iWatch. I am tired of having to recover threads on my iPhone. Come on Apple lets get this fixed ASAP!

Prior to updating to IOS 18.0.1, I could delete my messages from my iWatch and they were not affected on my iPhone. The only option I can find is to turn off iCloud synching of my messages. That is not an option for me, I need to be able to back them up.

roosterdude1111 wrote:

I like the update. Glad they did this. I got tired of deleting messages on the iPhone and they would remain on the watch, then having to delete there too. It’s about time they fixed it. But they should make it a setting that we can choose to enable or disable.

You should tell Apple both what you like about the change and what you'd like to see here:

Product Feedback - Apple

mackdaddyyyy wrote:

APPLE PLS CHANGE THIS!!!!!!! It drives me absolutely crazy. i hate it, i just want to delete messages on my watch NOT my phone. Please fix it

APPLE, I LOVE THIS!!!!! Messages on an Apple Watch FINALLY work the same way they work on a Mac, iPad, iPhone and even an iPod Touch. The lack of consistency in how the watch worked has been driving me crazy for years!

But seriously, if you want to communicate with Apple this user-to-user forum is NOT how to do it. Here is where they take user opinions→https://apple.com/feedback.

JayRob216 wrote:

OK APPLE ! it’s 6:57 am 11/01/2024 Apple just did another senseless update on the watch and it still deletes messages from the watch and phone at the same time. Change it back to how it was if I delete one of the other it stays on one of the devices , I know it’s not hard to give customers what they want ASAP !

Why don’t you tell APPLE rather than yelling at and annoying other users in this user-to-user forum with no real Apple participation except as moderators? https://apple.com/feedback

BTW, I am THRILLED that Apple has finally made deleting messages work the same way on an Apple watch that it works on iPhones, iPads and Macs.

Rntiff wrote:

Yes! After I installed the latest watch update 11.2 recently, when I delete the watch texts, it automatically deletes the phone texts. This is so frustrating!

Allow me to humbly suggest that you read at least a couple of the 10 pages in the thread you just added to.

RN90 wrote:

Is there a way to get back those deleted messages? I am frustrated that when i deleted them

off my watch they deleted

off my phone too. I need to access so

e of

those text messages

You can see if anything here helps:

Recovering deleted texts and iMessages - Apple Community

Bonnie Smith wrote:

Yes, Apple please give us the option to delete messages on our watches and still have them on the phone.

I like NOT having my watch cluttered with messages and typically respond with the phone, in the past, knowing they were there. Please re-institute this feature.

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestion. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Chloe438 wrote:

I’ve been waiting for the fix too! I absolutely hate having all these messages on my watch that don’t need to be there. It’s crazy that they can’t just fix this even just put an option on there so the people that do enjoy keeping everything can, but those of us who don’t, do not have to.

This is the fix. People had been complaining for a long time that the Watch didn't have the same behavior as other devices (deleting on one deletes on all). So, Apple change dit.

1greatmamaw wrote:

This is so frustrating, there are messages I don’t want deleted from the iPhone!

Then don't delete them from the watch....