[Q] How do you delete HUGE text threads!?!?!

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BAttitude7689

Senior Member
Nov 8, 2009
498
27
i have been lazy and got behide on text messages and now i have a couple really big threads some around 900 and another around 1200 and the biggest at 4500 text messages! I currently use handcent and ever time i try to delete it the phone locks up and takes forever to complete if it dosent freeze first, I have done some searchin around and there are a few apps people reccommend but they all tend to have the same outcome of freezing up, and found that just Android in general is just really poor at completing this task, and some say that its just HTC sense and not really android..but does anyone one kno how to delete very large text threads???
 

exSD

Senior Member
Apr 6, 2009
986
256
There is an ADB method out there somewhere. Look for it. Google something like "xda android delete all sms adb"

However if you have locked messages and want to keep them (as I did last week), what I did was put my phone on charge overnight, airplane mode, and deleted them. It took about 45 minutes to delete 7k messages.
 

freeza

Recognized Developer
May 28, 2006
5,416
14,188
Pasadena, CA
www.freeza-inc.com
OnePlus 10 Pro
There is an ADB method out there somewhere. Look for it. Google something like "xda android delete all sms adb"

However if you have locked messages and want to keep them (as I did last week), what I did was put my phone on charge overnight, airplane mode, and deleted them. It took about 45 minutes to delete 7k messages.

the adb/root explorer way would delete all of your messages, not just some.

It is done by deleting the file located in /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
 

triscuit1983

Senior Member
Apr 9, 2009
617
286
40
Laurel
Sounds like your doing anything you can. If its not too hard for you, wipe the entire ROM and set it back up. My normal setup time on a new ROM is max 5 minutes after flash. I'm thinking that might work.
 

freeza

Recognized Developer
May 28, 2006
5,416
14,188
Pasadena, CA
www.freeza-inc.com
OnePlus 10 Pro
NOPE! that didnt work either, I even rebooted and still had all the text messages there..


Now that's odd. That is the exact way I delete all my messages every month to avoid the freezing you're talking about and it works for me....

You should try the following.......

-Boot into recovery
-Mount /data (if you're using Amon_RA 2.2.1, just go to the mounts section and mount data)
-Launch adb shell
-navigate to /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases by doing:
--cd data
--cd data
--cd com.android.providers.telephony
--cd databases
--rm mmssms.db
-navigate to /data/data/com.android.mms/cache by doing:
--cd ..
--cd ..
--cd com.android.mms
--cd cache
--rm *
-Reboot

Very strange that deleting and rebooting from within Android doesn't fix it. It does for me.
 

xlGmanlx

Senior Member
Jul 21, 2010
6,803
546
www.life360.com
make sure you hit force delete (handcent - wipes both area's mms.apk and app)as that has better results. This is an android wipe issue and its embarrassing how long it takes. on my BB or my old iphone i could do it in seconds
i have been lazy and got behide on text messages and now i have a couple really big threads some around 900 and another around 1200 and the biggest at 4500 text messages! I currently use handcent and ever time i try to delete it the phone locks up and takes forever to complete if it dosent freeze first, I have done some searchin around and there are a few apps people reccommend but they all tend to have the same outcome of freezing up, and found that just Android in general is just really poor at completing this task, and some say that its just HTC sense and not really android..but does anyone one kno how to delete very large text threads???
 

sitlet

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2008
2,949
364
Just delete the thread through the messaging app. Leave it sit for a while, up to an hour or so, and dont touch anything. Just let it do its thing. If you try to do anything else, it will FC and wont work. You just have to let it sit.
 

teh roxxorz

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Nov 21, 2010
8,716
2,295
i have been lazy and got behide on text messages and now i have a couple really big threads some around 900 and another around 1200 and the biggest at 4500 text messages! I currently use handcent and ever time i try to delete it the phone locks up and takes forever to complete if it dosent freeze first, I have done some searchin around and there are a few apps people reccommend but they all tend to have the same outcome of freezing up, and found that just Android in general is just really poor at completing this task, and some say that its just HTC sense and not really android..but does anyone one kno how to delete very large text threads???

You're doing it. You can go from the main messages menu push and hold on a contact and click force delete, or menu and do a batch delete. The phone freezing is normal because it deletes them basically 1-3 at a time, so it take a little bit. So just be patient and try not to let them pile up next time :p. And speaking from experience here.
 

aimbdd

Senior Member
Jul 27, 2009
2,024
136
PA/MD
It will keep it from happening again. It deletes the oldest messages in a thread when it reaches a limit you set. Almost all messaging apps have it.