Permanently deleting SMS messages

[kingrob76]

Hello everyone -

Disclaimer: My 67-year old Dad just bought a Droid (I'm not getting mine until my 2 year contract is up in June) and keeps asking me how to do things on it, so I'm not a Droid owner but I can walk him through stuff (he lives 800+ miles away). He's pretty smart but new technology isn't always his strong suit.

That being said, he asked me how to make sure text messages - both sent and received - are permanently removed from his phone. As a subset to that, he asked if there was any way to make sure emails were permanently deleted as well (it might be the same process).

Would someone be so kind as to just give me the steps to make sure everything is deleted? I'd really appreciate it, and you'll be helping to preserve my sanity. Thanks!


Rob

 

[hookbill]

Well, to delete a message you long tap on the message and select delete. That's pretty much it. Now can it be recovered by the forensic team at the police department? I don't know. But that's the only way to delete a message that I know of. There is no "Permanently Delete" key.

BTW your dad is only 10 years older then I am. When you get to my age 67 no longer sounds that old. Now if he was 70......

 

[kingrob76]

So that doesn't move them to a trash folder for holding, or something akin to that? It's not a forensic thing, it's probably the prying eyes of the various women he enjoys the company of now that he's single and retired (I'm not really sure why, just a guess... he's a character, for sure).

 

[hookbill]

So that doesn't move them to a trash folder for holding, or something akin to that? It's not a forensic thing, it's probably the prying eyes of the various women he enjoys the company of now that he's single and retired (I'm not really sure why, just a guess... he's a character, for sure).

Heh Heh, I suspected as much. Nope, no trash folder it just deletes.

 

[Mr Steve]

On the stock Messaging app, at the main screen that lists all the 'threads', hit the Menu button. One of the four choices is "Delete Threads" with a garbage can symbol. I don't know what happens after that as I'm not hitting that button! :icon_eek:

 

[hookbill]

On the stock Messaging app, at the main screen that lists all the 'threads', hit the Menu button. One of the four choices is "Delete Threads" with a garbage can symbol. I don't know what happens after that as I'm not hitting that button! :icon_eek:

I believe that deletes all threads. The way I described allows you to delete one at a time.

 

[Mr Steve]

That's true - it might look a bit too fishy if there were no SMSs at all.

Oh, the tangled web we weave ...

 

[kingrob76]

I appreciate the help and feedback I got back in January. Now my dad is asking me the same thing with photos taken with his Droid (he's pretty adept, actually) and sent either via email or SMS - he wants to make sure they are permanently removed, gone for good, pushing up daisies, etc and cannot be recovered. I know he spends a lot of time in auctions and flea markets in Florida, and he got a pretty good situation in the Senior community he lives in, so I'm pretty sure there's some "monkey business" here... but the last thing I need is more details from the Old Man.

I haven't got mine yet - awaiting the Droid 2 so I can side by side it with the Droid X, but MAN am I looking forward to it.

 

[GTUtechII]

So that doesn't move them to a trash folder for holding, or something akin to that? It's not a forensic thing, it's probably the prying eyes of the various women he enjoys the company of now that he's single and retired (I'm not really sure why, just a guess... he's a character, for sure).

Text messages will be deleted with out a "trash" to empty... E-mails on the other hand DO go to a trash folder. But can be emptied just as easily.

Now the other issue of the Contact History storing at least a portion of the text message... I still have not found a way to remove these tidbits from texting! I have the Droid X, just got it a week ago... LOVE it so far (minus Contact History issues)

 

[ezydrvr]

is there a way to delete multiple text in a thread at a time without deleting the whole thread?

 

[mwhartman]

I use Handcent and it has a Batch mode setting that may meet your need.

Open the app, tap menu, tap more, tap batch, select , delete

Hope this helps

Mike

 

[ezydrvr]

thanks...that is what i needed.

 

[mwhartman]

Glad it worked for you.