Deleting message attachments does not lower iCloud storage usage

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Deleting message attachments does not lower iCloud storage usage

I have message sync turned on for iCloud. I had 4.1 GB of messages that were on iCloud. I then deleted over 2 GB of message file attachments from my conversations on my phone. However, the storage on iCloud is still the same number (4.1 GB). I did this about 2 weeks ago, so I think it should be updated by now even if it's not supposed to be immediate.

Note that after I deleted those attachments from my phone, my other device's conversations also showed these attachments to be deleted. However, iCloud storage remained the same.

Is there a way for me to directly delete message attachments from iCloud? I would expect deleting attachments on my phone to reduce iCloud storage.

iPhone 11, iOS 16

Posted on Dec 26, 2022 6:13 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

jmarse1

Community Specialist

Dec 27, 2022 2:41 PM in response to uhilk

Hi uhilk,

We'll be glad to assist with your deleted messages not relieving up free space. In iOS 16, messages aren't immediately deleted from your device. You'll want to make sure they've also been deleted from "Recently Deleted" as outlined in Delete and recover messages on your iPhone or iPad

"Retrieve a deleted message or conversation

In Messages, tap Edit.
Tap Show Recently Deleted .
Choose the conversations with the messages you want to restore, then tap Recover.
Tap Recover Message or Recover [Number] Messages.

"

Once there, you should see an option to delete the content as well.

We hope this clears things up.

Cheers.

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