Messages deleted on one device are not deleted on other devices

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Level 1

22 points

Messages deleted on one device are not deleted on other devices

I have a Macbook Pro (15" 2018), iPhone 12 Pro, iPad Air 4th gen, and Watch 5th gen. When I receive spam texts in iMessage and delete them on one device, they remain on the other devices until I manually delete them there too. Every other action seems to sync across all of my devices. All devices have been restarted several times with no change to the issue. I have signed out and back into iCloud on all devices once or twice with no change. This issue has consistently happened for the past year and I finally thought to post about it.

Has anyone else observed this issue? It would only be a mild annoyance if the spam messages weren't frequent and sometime sexually explicit. I should expect if iCloud syncs all of the other actions (notes, music, contacts, browser favorites, photos, messages sent and received, etc.) that it should also sync messages that are deleted.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.1

Posted on Feb 15, 2022 6:54 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Jeffrey DiPallo

Level 1

19 points

Apr 27, 2022 9:05 AM in response to Jshaffer73

Deleted message do not sync across apple devices. Tried all suggestions multiple times. Pathetic. For a company of this size/money/resources that can't fix this is really disappointing.

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Answer 2

Apr 30, 2022 7:35 PM in response to Jshaffer73

Simply true.

Should simply work.

even after turning off iMessage , restarting devices turning back on. Nope. And why should users even have to go through this workaround? Syncing is pretty sime.

my notes sync, my contacts and all other iCloud data sync across all devices properly as expected and always have.

there is something absolutely fundamentally wrong with iMessage when it comes to syncing deleted.

stop defending apple. Call it like it is.

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Answer 3

Jshaffer73 Author

Level 1

22 points

Feb 16, 2022 10:53 AM in response to 1ssmith

Hello 1ssmith,

Thank you for your response. I have had Messages enabled in my iCloud settings on all of my Apple devices for the duration of this issue. When the issue started, in my search for a solution, I found the same article you linked. I disabled Messages from syncing with iCloud on all of my devices and then re-enabled it, to perform a fresh synchronization, but the issue persists. I have checked all of my devices and confirmed that they are still configured to enable Messages in iCloud.

The "How to delete messages in iCloud" article says, "With Messages in iCloud, when you delete a message, attachment, or conversation on one device, it deletes from all of your devices." That is exactly what is NOT happening, despite my settings being enabled to do so across all of my devices.

Perhaps this is some sort of bug in my account server-side.

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Answer 4

Jshaffer73 Author

Level 1

22 points

Mar 31, 2022 10:29 AM in response to Jshaffer73

I was able to speak with an Apple senior support tech. We repeated the steps of checking for updates, disabling and re-enabling the sync function, restarting all devices. The iPhone, Mac, and iPad are all now properly synched up. The Watch is not, and no solutions are currently available.

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Answer 5

1ssmith

Community Specialist

Feb 16, 2022 8:26 AM in response to Jshaffer73

Hello Jshaffer73,

We understand you're wanting to have your messages synced across your devices. We'd be happy to share information on this feature.

The feature you're wanting to use requires Messages to be enabled in your iCloud settings on each of your devices. Once this feature is enabled, your messages will no longer be part of your iCloud backups but instead will sync with your iCloud the way your contacts, notes, reminders and calendar does. To learn more about this feature, we recommend checking out the following resources:

Use Messages in iCloud

How to delete messages in iCloud

We hope this helps!

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. Have a good one!

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Answer 6

mingoslkd

Community Specialist

Feb 17, 2022 7:13 AM in response to Jshaffer73

Hi there Jshaffer73,

Thank you for sharing this information. It sounds like there may be some type of disconnect that isn't allowing your messages to sync. Let's try the following steps on each device:

Disable Messages in iCloud
Restart the device
Enable Messages in iCloud

If the issue continues after performing these steps, reach out to Apple Support directly: Get Support

Take care!

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Answer 7

Mar 30, 2022 11:41 AM in response to mingoslkd

Does the answer you

provided apply to the Apple Watch?? I saw an answer for this type of question a year ago that says the delete message function is not synced with the apple watch. Has this been updated? Thank you

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Answer 8

Jshaffer73 Author

Level 1

22 points

Mar 31, 2022 10:27 AM in response to latricia273

No, Watch does not currently sync any messages deleted anywhere other than the iPhone the Watch is paired to (in my experience, deleting a message from my phone also deletes it from the watch, but the same is not true for messages deleted on my iPad or Mac and synched to my phone). I managed to get a phone call with a senior support tech at Apple and he was not aware of that issue, and couldn’t find any documentation on it. The only documentation is on the “mirror iPhone” toggle for message notifications. It seems like this is an issue they may be aware of but have not addressed at all yet.

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Answer 9

Mar 31, 2022 11:15 AM in response to Jshaffer73

Thank you. To give a bit more information, I find if I have a contact muted, these conversations are only the ones that are not deleted from my Apple Watch if deleted from the iPhone.

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Answer 10

Jshaffer73 Author

Level 1

22 points

Apr 29, 2022 8:27 PM in response to Jeffrey DiPallo

That’s simply not true. Please see my other comment about getting it fixed. It now works well on all but my watch, which it does not seem to be supported on yet.

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Messages deleted on one device are not deleted on other devices

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