Trash icon grays out in iMessages when selecting messages in certain scenarios

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Trash icon grays out in iMessages when selecting messages in certain scenarios

i am trying to delete historical messages within a single conversation by using 2 fingers. The trash icon grays out in the following situations:

when the messages span over multiple days. For example I am selecting the messages for 26Jul inside a conversation using 2 fingers, when the messages from 27Jul come up the trash icon grays out
When some image with a reaction appears within the same date. For example: I am selecting messages for 26Jul inside a conversation using 2 fingers, when the an image with a reaction appears the trash icon grays out.

these issues have been there since I have purchased iPhone 11 Pro and am surprised no one has reported this and a fix has not been provided.

Posted on Sep 26, 2021 11:28 AM

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Answer 1

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wasdaak Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 3, 2021 10:55 AM in response to Rob_H1

Thanks for your reply Rob, but it appears you have not read my message carefully.

Anyhow, I have figured it out myself.

Folks, if you are trying to select multiple messages with 2 fingers and if you cross over multiple days the trash icon grays out and you cannot delete. You will have to stop at the last message within a single day, take your fingers off the screen and then select the first message in the following day with 2 fingers and continue selecting until the last message of that day. By doing this the trash icon will NOT gray out.

I am not sure if this is by design, but it makes sense to allow user to select messages from multiple days within a conversation without having to lift your fingers off the screen and then start over from the following day. Hopefully Apple will provide a fix for this soon, I can’t imagine 2 years have gone by and no one is frustrated with this experience, maybe not many people like to retain some messages while deleting some within a conversation.

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Answer 2

Rob_H1

Community Specialist

Sep 27, 2021 11:23 AM in response to wasdaak

Hey there wasdaak,

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. We understand that you're having some issues deleting multiple messages. We're happy to provide some assistance.

Take a look here on how to delete messages:

Delete messages on iPhone

You can delete multiple messages by tapping on a message within a message thread and tap "More...". From there you can tap on the messages you want to delete.

If you're unable to delete messages, try restarting your device and make sure it is updated as this can potentially resolve unexpected issues:

Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Restart your iPhone

We hope this helps.

Have a great day!

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Trash icon grays out in iMessages when selecting messages in certain scenarios

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