Deleting a message

By jprykiel, 29 November, 2025

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi friends.
iPhone 17 Pro running iOS 26.1.

On my previous iPhone's Messages app , I could simply swipe vertically on a message to find the delete button. Now, I have to click on the plus sign first to find that button. But the strangest thing is that some of my friends with the same iPhone still have direct access to that button.

I've already reset my VoiceOver settings, but still no luck. Any ideas?

Thanks for your help,

Best regards,

JPR

Options

Comments

By Lee on Saturday, November 29, 2025 - 12:54

Have you checked that VO is defaulting to the actions in the rotor? Never seen this so no idea why you are getting this unless for some odd reason when you are on the message actions isn't defaulting for some unknown reason.

By jprykiel on Saturday, November 29, 2025 - 13:30

Have you checked that VO is defaulting to the actions in the rotor?
Yes it is.
Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't have this button in the actions list. I would hate to have to restore my iPhone to fix this, and I'm not sure it would, as restoring would bring back the same settings anyway. But what could cause this is a real mystery..
Cheers,
JPR

By jprykiel on Saturday, November 29, 2025 - 18:11

Hi friends,
To avoid any confusion, I was referring to the delete button found in the list of actions for a single message, not the one for an entire conversation. The latter still exists, but the former
existed in iOS 18 and has indeed disappeared in iOS 26. Don't you miss it?
Cheers,
JPR

By kool_turk on Sunday, November 30, 2025 - 01:44

Hi @jprykiel, so I just had a look, cause I hardly ever use the messages app.

My older brother for some reason, even though he has whatsapp, still uses the standard messages app, go figure lol.

Anyway you can still delete individual messages, but you have to swipe to more first.

So it's still there, you just have to do an extra step first.

HTH.

By Dennis Long on Sunday, November 30, 2025 - 05:42

Its been that way for years. I'm talking about to delete a single message in a conversation.

By jprykiel on Sunday, November 30, 2025 - 07:40

Unfortunately I don't have any iOS 18 device to check, but I'm nearly sure the button was present less than a year ago. Anyway… I live with that.
Thanks guys.
JPR

By Lee on Sunday, November 30, 2025 - 09:48

When on a message the following happens when flicking down I get Pin, Mark as unread, Hide alerts, Delete, Drag item and activate default. So are some of you saying this isn't what you get?

By jprykiel on Sunday, November 30, 2025 - 10:57

Hi Lee,
Yeh, I have the same actions list when a message or conversation is collapsed. Pin, for example cannot appear if a conversation is opened.
HTH,
JPR