SMS message deletion, there has to be a better way

[R1945]

I have about 1000 sms messages that were carried over from backup when I installed the new Pixel.

Who needs 1000 messages, and selecting them one-by-one is a poor solution.

There has to be a way to mass delete sms messages, and put a limit on how many sms messages you keep on you phone, like 300 maybe?????

Any suggestions.

I find it hard to understand why Android or Google has not provided a solution to clean up your sms text messages.

Ideas, comment? Is there an SMS utility app for Android SMS text messages.

Thanks

 

[TheAngryToaster]

Are talking message threads or conversations?

You should be able to long press on a thread and that opens up the ability to select individual conversations to delete them. You can select multiple conversations and delete them all at once.

 

[R1945]

Are talking message threads or conversations?

You should be able to long press on a thread and that opens up the ability to select individual conversations to delete them. You can select multiple conversations and delete them all at once.

It is archived that has the 1000 messages and when you long press it just selects that message. You would have to long press 1000 messages to delete them all.

 

[mustang7757]

Yes Google messages won't allow can send feedback and in meantime try different message app to do this then go back to Google messages.

 

[Stanley Kubrick]

Ummm, when I have all my messages collapsed into the base recipient and I long press on the recipient I am communicating with I have the option at the top to click on the garbage can which will delete the entire conversation with that individual.
Now then if you have 1000 individual conversation threads then you know way more people than I do! LOL

 

[R1945]

Recommendations for a google app that will manage SMS messages, like delete them, but you still can use Google messages as your sending and receiving app.

 

[PGrey]

I'm with @Stanley Kubrick on this one.
I've deleted conversations many times, including all the sub-messages within each, NP.
It's quite handy for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is being able to simply remove a 2-factor "conversation" if it's no longer in use.

Which goes back to the question, do you have 1000 messages (truthfully, I have a lot more than that in my history, hmm, not quite sure about admitting that ), or *1000 conversations*??

 

[THEPRFCT10]

When you r restored from backup, don't select the messages. Perhaps factory reset and make sure you don't select messages to backup and restore?

 

[PGrey]

When you r restored from backup, don't select the messages. Perhaps factory reset and make sure you don't select messages to backup and restore?

This is another route, you could use SyncTech SMS Backup and Restore (no relation to them at all, just love their free version, it's a total bailout for moving devices!), and edit the XML, to remove conversations, in-between a backup -> restore.
As long as you make a copy, and make the changes on that XML, it's pretty safe, you can always overlay the original, if the XML edits/transform/whatever goes wrong. Might be more work then the simple hold-select/delete-multiple though, depending on the answer on threads/messages...

 

[johnts]

I use Chomp for SMS. There is an option to delete all in the settings. Just download Chomp , then make it your default and delete everything with one tap.

 

[Grabber5.0]

This is another route, you could use SyncTech SMS Backup and Restore (no relation to them at all, just love their free version, it's a total bailout for moving devices!), and edit the XML, to remove conversations, in-between a backup -> restore.
As long as you make a copy, and make the changes on that XML, it's pretty safe, you can always overlay the original, if the XML edits/transform/whatever goes wrong. Might be more work then the simple hold-select/delete-multiple though, depending on the answer on threads/messages...

Yeah it's fantastic for device swaps - I've used it many times for that. Rather than edit the XML, you can also have it include or exclude specific conversations during the backup process. Separately you can set a date cutoff to only restore newer messages, but only during the restore process I think (unless I'm just not finding it). Seems like it would be more straightforward to have both of those options in the backup process instead, but the flexibility is very useful.

OP: if you want to clean up your current phone, you can do all that on device. Before restoring, select Tools from the app menu and you can delete all calls and messages before restoring what you want restored. I'd still do a full backup first in case you miss something the first time.