Delete Text Messages on the iPhone 5

We don’t have control over the things that other people send to us on our iPhone 5.

This is an unfortunate reality of a device that can be contacted by anyone that has your phone number.

But you may be engaged in a conversation with a friend or family member, and they send you a text message that you do not want to leave on your phone.

However, there is important information in the rest of the conversation, so deleting the entire thread isn’t an option. Fortunately, it is possible to delete only a part of a text message conversation on the iPhone 5.

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Delete a Single Text from a Text Message Conversation on the iPhone 5

Whatever your reason is for needing to delete a text message, whether it is to keep information secret from someone that might be snooping on your phone or because you don’t want to be reminded of the information that is contained within the text, it is a helpful thing to know how to do.

So continue reading below to learn how to selectively delete a single text message on your iPhone 5.

Step 1: Tap the Messages icon.

Open the Messages app
Open the Messages app

Step 2: Tap the text message thread containing the text message that you want to delete.

Select the conversation containing the message to delete
Select the conversation containing the message to delete

Step 3: Press the Edit button at the top of the screen.

Tap the Edit button
Tap the Edit button

Step 4: Tap the circle to the left of a text message that you want to delete, then press the Delete button at the bottom of the screen. Note that you can select multiple messages.

Select the message to delete, then hit the Delete button
Select the message to delete, then hit the Delete button

Step 5: Touch the Delete Message button at the bottom of the screen.

Tap the Delete Message button
Tap the Delete Message button

Now that you know how to delete text messages on the iPhone 5, you can easily remove individual messages from a conversation while keeping the rest of the conversation.

How to Delete Entire Text Message Conversations on an iPhone

If you want to delete more than just a single text message, then you might be interested in learning how to delete an enhtire conversation.

You can od this by opening the Messages app, swiping to the left on the conversation that you want to delete, then tapping the red trash can icon.

There are some other interesting functions in the Messages app, including the ability to save a picture message to Dropbox. Otherwise, that picture is just saved in your Messages, and you can’t edit and you could lose it forever if you delete that message thread.

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