iMessage will not delete

Hello Olivia-Rod-Klep,

Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities, and we'll be happy to help in any way we can. We understand you're having issues with deleting a message on your iPhone. Have you tried restarting your iPhone? This simple step resolves a multitude of issues: Restart your iPhone - Apple Support

"How to restart your iPhone X, 11, 12, or 13

1. Press and hold either volume button and the side button until the power-off slider appears.
2. Drag the slider, then wait 30 seconds for your device to turn off. If your device is frozen or unresponsive, force restart your device.
3. To turn your device back on, press and hold the side button (on the right side of your iPhone) until you see the Apple logo."

If that doesn't resolve the issue, does your iPhone need updating to iOS 16.0.2? Do you have a recent backup for the data in your iPhone in iCloud or your computer? If not, we recommend that you create one as described here: How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Then update your iOS as outlined here: Update your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

We hope this helps.

Cheers!

Exact same issue ... iPhone 14 Pro

Can delete some iMessages. But I have two I cannot delete.

I delete them and they come back immediately!!

Interestingly however they DO DELETE across other connected APPLE DEVICES when deleted from my iPhone.. but on the iPhone. they RETURN immediately and I cannot delete. I called APPLE Tech support.. suggestion was to wipe entire iPhone. erase all date and set up from scratch and NOT from a backup... THAT SEEMS LIKE A LOT OF WORK!!!

wow.. thanks for sharing.. THAT FIXED IT!!!!! great share.. thank you so much!!!!!!! 16.0.3 alone did NOTHING to fix it... but deleting recently deleted then going back to delete the msgs that would NOT delete was the fix... thanks again

I tried all of these fixes and have the same issue with no resolution

ps.. using 16.0.2

Same issue.

Try clearing our your Recently Deleted, and then try deleting the thread that keeps coming back again. That is what support just recommended for me as I was having the same issue.