I know that some people like to have all their devices synced so that when they delete texts off of one device, the other one deletes it, too. I don't want that. I even read where when they do want it, it doesn't work. Go figure!

Usually when I delete something off of one device, it stays on the other one until I delete it. Lately, I have no choice, when one is deleted the other one deletes it also.

I am wondering if this has anything to do with the fact that my iCloud account has recently become too full and can't be used unless I upgrade. I don't care to upgrade and don't care if it's full.

And as mentioned before but I got no fixes, sometimes when I delete one text from my Mac, the other ones disappear too. Sometimes I can bring them back by quitting messages and opening it again.

If I unsync my iPhone from my Mac would that do the trick or just the opposite where I receive a text on one but not the other? At this point all texts show up on both devices which is good for me.

What I have may be similar or the same as what you have, so let me describe my situation and then you can match or modify it.

I get text messages on both my iPhone and Mac. When I delete a text message on my iPhone, it is gone, but it still remains on the Mac forever. The only difference in settings that I can see is that on the iPhone under iCloud settings in Settings, "Messages" is set to "off". This seems to allow my Mac to get messages and to keep them when they are deleted on the iPhone. There do not seem to be any other settings on the Mac that relate to Messages and iCloud (not even in Settings>Internet Accounts>iCloud).

One downside to your free iCloud account being full is that your iPhone will not have a current back up.

My iCloud backup is off because it kept telling me my phone could not be backed up. I knew that and so turned it off. (I did that after these problems started.) When I looked today iCloud Drive was on, so I turned if off. Hopefully that's what you meant. We will see. Oops. That didn't work. Messages were still deleted from my mac when I deleted them from my iPhone.

I went into iCloud on the iPhone and found Messages. I went to turn it off and test it, but I got the message: Messages in iCloud: Messages have not been fully downloaded to this iPhone. Disable and download messages or cancel. I'm not sure what it means by they haven't been fully downloaded, but I don't want to download a bunch of messages to my phone. Boo! Maybe I didn't follow your directions properly. But when I went to Settings, iCloud - I didn't see "settings" under iCloud which is what is sounded like when I read your post.

I think the culprit that is adding confusion to the pot is the difference between iMessage and SMS/MMS texts. Please bear with me while I elaborate...

• Do not confuse the iMessage system with the Message App although they are closely inter-linked.
• iMessage© is a proprietary messaging system between Apple IDs via the internet and offers several very useful advanced features such as acknowledgment of message receipt and message being read as well as synchronizing between devices on the same AppleID.
• SMS/MMS are simplistic telecommunications protocols designed for use on relatively dumb (non-internet) devices and is devoid of all but the most rudimentary handshaking and lacks the acknowledgment, and synchronization features in iMessage.
• The confusion arises because the Message app in macOS, iOS, and iPadOS handles iMessage and SMS/MMS traffic almost transparently. (Outgoing iMessage texts are in a blue bubble while SMS/MMS are in a green bubble).
• As far as I can determine, the synchronization feature of iMessage is a function of the iMessage system independent of iCloud. (ie. I have no idea how to shut it off or even if it can be shut off.)
• The iMessage protocol is similar to IMAP in email in that all the devices are "seeing" the same server content and what you do on one device effects all of the devices on the same account.
• SMS/MMS appears to work more on a "broadcast" basis. The message is broadcast over the telco network as a message with an attached address to be "picked up" by any device listening for texts with that address. As a result any given SMS/MMS text may be picked up by all of the devices, some of the devices, or none of the devices using that address. So what happens to an SMS/MMS on one device has no linkage to what happens to that same message on any other device, unless iCloud synchronization intervenes. (My Apple Watch drives me crazy because MMS messages pile up on it and I don't think of deleting them until there are a ton of messages waiting to be individually deleted that have already been deleted on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. I would remove Message from the watch if it weren't so useful at times.)

With that in mind, the only solution I can think of is sending Feedback to Apple and maybe they can figure out changes to iMessage and/or Messsage to solve your/our problems.

Funny you still call it iMessage. From what I read, they've changed it to just Messages awhile back. Nothing says iMessage anymore on any of my devices.

I doubt Apple will or can help us even if they actually paid attention to the feedback. Nothing I've ever sent in before has been dealt with. It just started happening a few weeks or months ago and I've changed no settings. it was great when I could delete from my iPhone and my Mac as I chose, but now I have no option. I have to decide when I delete something from my iPhone if it matters to me whether it is deleted from my Mac which is what I use most for texting.

Thank you for your input thoughl

Originally Posted by joemikeb

I think the culprit that is adding confusion to the pot is the difference between iMessage and SMS/MMS texts. Please bear with me while I elaborate...

• [b]Do not confuse the iMessage system with the Message App although they are closely inter-linked.
• iMessage© is a proprietary messaging system between Apple IDs via the internet and offers several very useful advanced features such as acknowledgment of message receipt and message being read as well as synchronizing between devices on the same AppleID.
• SMS/MMS are simplistic telecommunications protocols designed for use on relatively dumb (non-internet) devices and is devoid of all but the most rudimentary handshaking and lacks the acknowledgment, and synchronization features in iMessage.
• The confusion arises because the Message app in macOS, iOS, and iPadOS handles iMessage and SMS/MMS traffic almost transparently. (Outgoing iMessage texts are in a blue bubble while SMS/MMS are in a green bubble).
• As far as I can determine, the synchronization feature of iMessage is a function of the iMessage system independent of iCloud. (ie. I have no idea how to shut it off or even if it can be shut off.)
• The iMessage protocol is similar to IMAP in email in that all the devices are "seeing" the same server content and what you do on one device effects all of the devices on the same account.
• SMS/MMS appears to work more on a "broadcast" basis. The message is broadcast over the telco network as a message with an attached address to be "picked up" by any device listening for texts with that address. As a result any given SMS/MMS text may be picked up by all of the devices, some of the devices, or none of the devices using that address. So what happens to an SMS/MMS on one device has no linkage to what happens to that same message on any other device, unless iCloud synchronization intervenes. (My Apple Watch drives me crazy because MMS messages pile up on it and I don't think of deleting them until there are a ton of messages waiting to be individually deleted that have already been deleted on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. I would remove Message from the watch if it weren't so useful at times.)

With that in mind, the only solution I can think of is sending Feedback to Apple and maybe they can figure out changes to iMessage and/or Messsage to solve your/our problems.

Settings, then Internet Accounts icon, then iCloud.

Not to sound stupid, but I don't know what an internet account icon is. Is it the one with my name and under it, Apple ID, iCloud, Media & Purchases? If so, all it shows is iCloud with a bar showing how much I have used, then Manage Storage (nothing I can do there with texts unless I click on Messages and disable and delete them from iCloud which I am not sure what will happen), iCloud backup which I turned off, and iCloud Drive which I have turned off, none of which took care of the problem.

I think I'll just live with it. Thanks, Ira. I'm too chicken to disable and delete the messages, not that I want to keep any messages. I just want my original problem to go away.


Settings, then Internet Accounts icon, then iCloud. [/quote]

It is Settings, Apple ID, iCloud, Messages. I should have reduced the image size so be sure and scroll down to the bottom to see the pointers for each item.

Thanks, Joe. That's exactly what I did. Didn't work because I wouldn't disable and download texts from iCloud which I didn't want to do.

I'm not sure what you mean, but to be sure we are on the same page, if the Settings > iCloud > Messages is checked then you are synchronizing your Message app data with iCloud.

I have tried to come up with a viable solution to your problem but I would need a non-Apple smartphone to thoroughly test all the various permutations of accounts and iMessage vs. SMS/MMS to verify that any given solution actually works and everyone I know uses an IPhone.

We are both using the same System version, so the System Preferences should be the same. Here is a screen shot of the preference pane to which I am referring. NOT Apple ID. Then follow the links as I listed them above.

Thanks, Ira. I ended up going to Messages Prefs on my Mac and unchecking "enable messages in iCloud" and that took care of it!

That's interesting and I'm glad it worked for you because on my Mac in Messages>Preferences I do not have any settings related to iCloud that I can turn off (or on).

You mean your's doesn't look like this on the Mac? Messages Prefs on Mac

Nope: look here. But based on my previous comments above, given that you have that setting, that would be the one to uncheck. It is comparable to my earlier suggestions.

This shows the difficulty of trouble shooting, even when operating systems, etc. are the same; and the value of screen shots.

Thanks. Since we both have 10.15 (though mine is 10.15.7), I wonder why it's so different. Anyway, I got it taken care of. Thanks for your help.