The storage capacity of iPhones is a little more substantial, but our propensity to generate more and more data is always a problem. Here are three tips to prevent Messages from being too greedy.
While WhatsApp and other instant messaging apps do a lot of harm to our use of SMS / MMS, the Messages app in iOS retains a special place, especially for those who are part of an Apple ecosystem. It is sometimes very useful to receive messages on your Mac at the same time as on your iPhone, for example.
Anyway, by dint of sending photos, Gifs and other audio messages, these matches end up representing a nice volume of data that can clutter the storage of your device.
Before you save money to do the housework, you can start by taking an inventory. To find out how many megabytes or gigabytes occupy Messages, just ask your iPhone.
See you in Settings/General then IPhone storage. Give your smartphone time to take stock.
Then scroll through the menus until you find Messages in the middle of other applications. Tap on its section, to see more details.
Now that you know if your communications take up a lot of space, here are three little tweaks that will save you some space.
Keep messages for less
Depending on the storage capacity of your iPhone or your preference for archiving your SMS / MMS exchanges, it is possible to choose a longer or shorter retention period for your messages. Three options are currently available:
- 30 days,
- 1 year
- Indefinitely
To modify this criterion, go to Settings, then in Messages.
Scroll down the screen until you find the section Message history. Then tap on Keep messages.
A new page of the interface opens, simply select the desired duration.
Please note, if you had opted for “indefinitely” and then choose 1 year or 30 days, messages older than one year or 30 days will be “permanently deleted from your device”. This is the price for freeing up a little space.
Limiting the lifetime of audio messages
Since iOS 8, it is possible to send and receive audio messages. A fun and lively way to communicate … which can be a bit hungry on storage space. This is why Apple offers two solutions for their conservation. Either these messages are saved forever in your iPhone, or they are ephemeral and will disappear after two minutes.
To shorten the lifespan of its audio recordings or to make sure that you have opted for a short lifespan, follow these small manipulations.
See you in Settings, then Messages.
Scroll down until you find the section Audio messages. You should then see the timeout for these files.
Yes Never is displayed, tap it with your fingertip, then in the interface that appears, choose After 2 minutes.
If this option is already activated, all is well, the audio messages will not clutter your iPhone for too long …
Save space and bandwidth
Finally, last point, sending an image by Messages can take up both a lot of space and data on your package when sending. To limit the impact of your sending of your photos on these two elements, it is possible to reduce the quality of the images sent. The cliché will obviously be less “pretty”, especially if the goal is to print it, but you will gain space.
See you in Settings, then Messages.
Scroll down to the bottom. You will find the setting Lower image quality. Just activate the slide button. The option is now enabled.