Help Can't delete message thread

[viper689]

My girlfriend is having an issue where she has a text message thread of over 6000 text messages, but she just tried deleting the thread and it froze her messaging app and proceeded to crash it. Whenever she tries to do that the same thing happens. She's completely stock and she tried installing Handcent and GoSMS to delete but still no go. She's tried clearing data and cache also but no luck. She also can't send or receive texts. Any ideas?

I'm on a Galaxy Nexus so I'm not of much use in this matter

 

[Rolo42]

Try deleting some at a time--maybe start with half--rather than all of them at once.

 

[viper689]

We've tried that but to no avail. It just freezes and crashes the app. She was able to delete the other SMS threads with no problems at all but this is one big kahuna

 

[naviwilliams]

Go to Application Manager and use the 'clear data' option

 

[viper689]

Go to Application Manager and use the 'clear data' option

Tried it as mentioned in OP

 

[naviwilliams]

Oops. What about disabling the app, restart and then re-enable. Then see what happens...

 

[SUroot]

Im not sure there is much that can be done without clearing the message database which you would need root for and you'd also lose all messages....

 

[viper689]

Oops. What about disabling the app, restart and then re-enable. Then see what happens...

Lol we've tried that too.

Im not sure there is much that can be done without clearing the message database which you would need root for and you'd also lose all messages....

Hmmm yea I think rooting is out of the question since I can't be there to walk her through it. Plus she's worried about the voiding of the warranty.

I appreciate the help guys. If you've got more ideas please send them this way. Thanks!

 

[John P]

Just a long shot but may be worth a try.

In Handcent sms, go into; settings >> application settings >> then look in the storage settings section this has the option to 'delete old messages', and you can set the limit of messages to keep, ie 200 per conversation etc.
Then leave it for a while and it may sort itself out and delete them in the background.

I cant say I have ever had anywhere near that number of messages so Im not sure if it will work but worth a try.

John

 

[viper689]

Just a long shot but may be worth a try.

In Handcent sms, go into; settings >> application settings >> then look in the storage settings section this has the option to 'delete old messages', and you can set the limit of messages to keep, ie 200 per conversation etc.
Then leave it for a while and it may sort itself out and delete them in the background.

I cant say I have ever had anywhere near that number of messages so Im not sure if it will work but worth a try.

John

We tried that with the stock messaging app and unfortunately it didn't do anything. We've had it set like that since last night lol

 

[SUroot]

Setting the limit only works before the limit is reached. I've tried all these things when my missus' phone was in the same situation.

Best bet, backup what you can with mybackup and smsbackup+ then factory reset

 

[viper689]

Just to verify, a factory reset will indeed wipe out the sdcard, correct? Pictures, music, settings, everything, right?

 

[SUroot]

Unfortunately so. So your mybackup excluding sms, calendar and contacts if Google contacts. Smsbackup+ will backup sms to Gmail (so still accessible even if not restored) then backup sd to pc

 

[viper689]

Gotcha thanks! Not sure if she wants to go down the factory reset route but if worst comes to worst, then we'll definitely use that route. Thanks for the help guys

 

[davidmanvell]

an app called sms backup and restore will allow you to backup all your messages, then erase of of them, then reinstall only the ones you want.

 

[SUroot]

an app called sms backup and restore will allow you to backup all your messages, then erase of of them, then reinstall only the ones you want.

...and how do you erase all if them?

 

[shortride]

Gotcha thanks! Not sure if she wants to go down the factory reset route but if worst comes to worst, then we'll definitely use that route. Thanks for the help guys

If this is such an issue why is doing a factory reset a last resort? I would consider calling tech support from another phone and let them talk you through how to correct the issue.

 

[Gro99]

I found a free app called " Clear all SMS & MMS" Looks like you'll lose everything but it worked for me spendidly. It will lock up a few time, but just poke the wait for app to respond button, after a bit it cleared out 5k sms. Created an account just to let ya guys know, you don't have to factory reset!

 

[funkylogik]

Thanks mate and welcome to the forum
hope you stick around :beer: