Messages bug in watch 11 or iOS 18 or both?

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Level 1

87 points

Messages bug in watch 11 or iOS 18 or both?

I think a bug has popped up under watchOS 11 or iOS 18 or both. At least I can't figure out how to stop this behavior. Here is the issue.

When I delete a single message on my Apple Watch running watch 11, it is deleting the ENTIRE conversation on my phone. For example, if I delete a message from John Smith on the watch that says, for example, I'm on my way, on the phone (running 18) all messages from John Smith (the entire "conversation") are deleted. Everything. The entire conversation is in the deleted folder. Yikes.

Also, I just noticed the confirmation warning on the watch that pops up when you are deleting a message says "Would you like to delete this conversation"? This makes it sound like a deliberate design by Apple. but it can't be a deliberate change by Apple, can it? I just want to clear some individual messages from my watch. Not the entire conversation from my phone.

This wasn't the behavior on iOS 17 or watch 9 (which I had before 11). I am not syncing messages with iCloud. Has anyone seen this? Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks.

Apple Watch Series 8

Posted on Sep 18, 2024 02:18 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 30, 2024 07:03 AM in response to DeeJayToo

Update on recovery.

I was able to recover most but not all texts within a conversation. Thankfully, those with family are back on iPhone. I generally save photos as they arrive, but I still wanted the texts on my phone.

This was never a problem prior to the 18/11 updates you mentioned as I deleted all from my watch regularly.

Apple really needs to allow the option not to receive messages on the watch!

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Answer 2

Gator5000e Author

Level 1

87 points

Sep 30, 2024 10:30 AM in response to DeeJayToo

Well, there are a couple of smaller updates coming in the near future. I guess we will see if this gets fixed. I am not holding my breath as I think they think this is a great setup. All we can do is keep sending Apple feedback as they don't monitor these pages.

Feedback - Watch - Apple

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Answer 3

Gator5000e Author

Level 1

87 points

Oct 31, 2024 09:56 AM in response to SKIPref

I'm now believing that this is an intended new behavior. Ugh. The only thing we can do is to provide feedback to Apple and ask them to make it optional (delete from both or only delete from the watch). I am sure that is something their designers can do.

Here is the feedback page. I have left feedback on this for both the phone and watch.

Product Feedback - Apple

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Answer 4

SKIPref

Level 1

4 points

Sep 22, 2024 11:22 AM in response to Gator5000e

Think about how storage is going to be used on your watch. I'm have the same issue.

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Answer 5

Sep 30, 2024 12:20 AM in response to Gator5000e

Same here, but found a fix!

In messages app.

*Tap “Edit” in top left corner.

*Tap “Show Recently Deleted” in drop-down.

*Choose the messages you want.

*Then tap recover or delete.

It appears recovery is available within 30-40 days.

I just checked & as of this writing there are no additional options on watch regarding deleting messages from just watch or watch & iPhone. The option is needed in the future, but at least there’s currently recovery on the iPhone. HTH

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Answer 6

Sep 30, 2024 08:02 AM in response to DeeJayToo

Apple really needs to allow the option to not receive messages on the watch, or the very least, continue to delete from the watch ONLY if this is their new normal.

Gator, I now realize your post centered around the delete option & not recovery.

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Answer 7

SKIPref

Level 1

4 points

Oct 30, 2024 06:15 PM in response to DeeJayToo

IOS 18.1 No change in deleting a text on watch deletes all text on phone.

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Messages bug in watch 11 or iOS 18 or both?

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