How to View iMessage and Text Message Storage on an iPhone

Messages is often one of the biggest apps on an iPhone, because every photo, video, voice message and GIF in your conversations is stored on the phone. If you’re running low on space, checking how much storage iMessage and text messages use, and which conversations and attachments take up the most, is the fastest way to free up gigabytes without losing anything important. This guide works on an iPhone 7 (iOS 15) and all newer iPhones.

Quick Answer

Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage, wait for the list to load, and tap Messages. Documents & Data shows how much space your messages and attachments use, with a breakdown by conversations, photos, videos, GIFs and stickers.

How to View Messages Storage on iPhone

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap General, then iPhone Storage.
3. Wait a few seconds for the storage bar and app list to finish calculating.
4. Scroll to Messages and tap it.
5. Check Documents & Data for the total, and the list below for what’s using it: Top Conversations, Photos, Videos, GIFs and Stickers and Other.

The storage bar at the top of iPhone Storage also shows a colored segment for Messages.

Free Up Space Used by Messages

Delete Large Attachments

1. On the Messages storage screen, tap Review Large Attachments, or tap a category such as Photos or Videos.
2. Swipe left on an item and tap Delete, or tap Edit, select several, and tap the trash can.

Save any photos or videos you want to keep to your Photos app first: open the conversation, tap the photo, and tap Share > Save Image.

Delete Big Conversations

Tap Top Conversations to see which threads use the most space, then swipe left and tap Delete. This removes the whole conversation, so only do it for threads you don’t need.

Auto-Delete Old Messages

1. Go to Settings > Apps > Messages (or Settings > Messages on older iOS).
2. Under Message History, tap Keep Messages.
3. Choose 30 Days or 1 Year instead of Forever, and confirm.

Older messages and attachments are deleted immediately and from then on automatically.

Shrink Future Photos

Turn on Low Quality Image Mode in Messages settings to send smaller photos. Set Audio Messages to Expire After 2 Minutes so voice messages delete themselves after you listen.

Use Messages in iCloud

With Messages in iCloud turned on (Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Show All > Messages), your history is stored in iCloud and synced across devices. When your iPhone runs low on space, iOS can remove older attachments from the phone while keeping them in iCloud. Note that this uses your iCloud storage, and deleting a message on one device deletes it everywhere.

Why Is Messages So Big?

• Group chats with lots of photos and videos add up quickly.
• Keep Messages set to Forever keeps everything since you set up the phone, including from backups.
• The Other category includes message text, link previews and app data, which can’t be deleted individually.
• Numbers may take a while to update after you delete things. Restart the iPhone if the total doesn’t change.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this show iMessages and text messages separately?

No. Messages storage includes iMessage, SMS, MMS and RCS messages together.

Will deleting attachments delete the messages?

No. Deleting an attachment removes just that file; the text of the conversation stays.

Can I see storage for one conversation?

Yes. Open Top Conversations on the Messages storage screen to see each thread’s size.

Does the iPhone 7 have these options?

Yes. The iPhone 7 can run iOS 15, which includes Messages storage details, Review Large Attachments and Keep Messages. The menu names are slightly different: use Settings > Messages instead of Settings > Apps > Messages.

Summary

1. Open Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
2. Tap Messages and check Documents & Data.
3. Review Large Attachments and Top Conversations to delete what you don’t need.
4. Set Keep Messages to 1 Year or 30 Days to prevent buildup.