Manage, delete messages

Keep track of important messages

To access your important messages and conversations in the Messages app:

Star messages you want to find later.

Pin up to 3 conversations to keep these groups of messages at the top when you open the app.

Pin/unpin conversations

To pin a conversation:

  1. Open the Messages app.
  2. In your conversation list, touch & hold the conversation.
  3. Touch .

To unpin a conversation, touch & hold it, then touch .

Star messages

  1. Open the conversation that has the message you want to star.
  2. Touch & hold the message.
  3. Touch .

To remove a star, on the message, touch .

Find starred messages

To find starred messages across all conversations, go to the top of your conversation list and touch > Starred.

To find starred messages within a specific conversation, open the conversation and touch > Starred.

Delete or archive texts

When you delete a message, you also delete any attached photos or videos. If you want the attachments, be sure to save them before deleting the message.

  • To delete a single message, open the conversation (thread) and touch & hold the message, then touch .
  • To delete or archive all messages in a conversation, touch & hold the conversation, then touch to delete or to archive.
  • To delete or archive multiple conversations, touch & hold each conversation, then touch or .
  • To see archived messages, touch > Archived.

Control notifications for text messages

If you use the Messages app:

  1. Open the Messages app.
  2. Touch > Settings.

  3. Touch Notifications and:

    • Turn notifications on or off
    • Change the sound
    • Add or remove vibration

If you use a different messaging app:

  1. Touch & hold the app's icon.
  2. Touch App info > App notifications.
  3. Make changes.
TipIn your phone settings, you can prevent interruptions by restricting text message notifications during hours you specify or from specific people.

Request text delivery reports

See whether recipients receive your messages by requesting delivery reports.

  1. Open the Messages app.
  2. Touch > Settings.
  3. Touch Advanced.
  4. Turn on Get SMS delivery reports.

Turn group messaging on or off

Group messaging allows conversation participants to reply to all recipients in a single thread. If you do not want multi-recipient SMS messages converted to MMS and want replies sent in separate threads only to you, turn off group messaging.

This feature is not available in all countries.

To adjust the group messaging setting:

  1. In the Messages app, touch > Settings > Advanced.
  2. Touch Group messaging and select an option.