We have an ample amount of internal storage in our smartphones these days. We don’t need to worry about contacts or messages taking up space, unlike older times with feature phones. However, having a pile of older text messages will cause the message application to run slow sometimes. If you value privacy, you certainly don’t want others to go through your older messages. So it is a good practice to delete the older SMSes from time to time.
In both Android and iOS, there is a feature that lets the user delete older messages on a schedule. The user does not need to worry about older messages stacking up at all. Deleting older messages will make sure that your SMSes are always organized, and the messaging app is not filled up with useful texts that don’t have any value to them. The process of automatically deleting messages on iOS and Android is different, and we will take a look at both of them one after the other. So without any further ado, let’s get into it.
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How to automatically delete text messages on Android and iOS?
iOS users do have the option of deleting older messages built into the default messaging application. But with Android, that is not the case. To enable the auto-delete feature, we will have to use a compatible messaging app that serves the purpose. Google has its very own Google Hangout, so we will guide you on how you can auto-delete messages on Android with Google Hangouts as the default SMS application. This is not the ideal solution for Android, but this is all we can do to auto-delete messages on an Android phone.
How to auto-delete messages(SMS) on an Android device?
You can’t use the default SMS application for this method. You will need Hangouts or some other compatible application like it.
- Download and install the latest version of Google Hangouts on your phone from the Google Play Store by clicking here.
- Launch the application.
- Now, if you are using another application as your default SMS application, you will have to change it and set Hangouts as the default SMS application on your phone. To do that, tap on the three-line(hamburger) icon in the top left corner of your screen and chose “Settings” from the list of options that show up.
- Under the General settings section, you will find the “SMS” option. Tap on it and then tap on “SMS disabled” on the SMS settings page.
- You will see a pop-up asking for your confirmation to set Hangouts as the default SMS app. Tap on Yes.
- Now on the SMS settings page, scroll down, and you will find the “Delete old messages” option. Turn on the toggle for it.
Unfortunately, there is no setting to set the number of days or hours for deleting the older SMSes. As soon as the phone’s storage starts to get slow, Hangouts will delete the older SMSes to make up some extra space.
How to auto-delete messages(SMS) on an iOS device?
This process is comparatively much simpler in an iOS device as the feature is built into the native messaging application. There is no need to download any other messaging application to use the auto-delete feature.
- Open up Settings on your iPhone.
- Inside settings, tap on “Messages.”
- Under the Message History section here, you will see the Keep Messages option. Tap on it and choose between 30 days and 1 year. Choosing 30 days will enable the messages application to keep SMSes stored up only for 30 days.
- Selecting the 1 year or 30 days option will bring out a pop-up right away to ask for your confirmation to delete messages older than 30 days or 1 year. Tap on delete here.
- Once the number of days is selected(30 days or 1 year), any new messages(SMSes) that come along will stay in the smartphone for that long before getting deleted permanently.
This is how one can auto-delete messages(SMS) on an Android and iOS device. If you have any questions or queries about this article, then comment down below, and we will get back to you. Also, be sure to check out our other articles on iPhone tips and tricks, Android tips and tricks, PC tips and tricks, and much more for more useful information.