How to delete messages in phone link

Question

How to delete messages in phone link

b h 40

For some reason even though I delete the messages on my phone they remain on my PC. I was told to click the X by the side of them but there is no X. I have reset my PC and tried to repair or rest link to windows but it says it cant do this

b h 40 Reputation points

2026-03-31T04:04:13.15+00:00

I have reset mu phone to factory settings and reinstalled windows link. However the same thing happened, when I delete the messages from the phone they remain on my PC.
Michael Trealoff 15 Reputation points

2026-04-22T15:53:36.8133333+00:00

The phone link worked about two months ago. I believe that one of your updates changed the feature. When I would delete a message from my phone, it would be deleted from the phone link on my PC. Now when I receive a message, I can delete it from my phone, but it stays on my PC in the phone link PC application. It is much different than it was before. Instead of a delete feature in my phone, it now shows move to thrash. Is Microsoft planning to send out an update to correct this feature? I believe your update is the cause and you should be able to correct this with another update to the application. Please let me know as the way the application worked in the past was much better than it is now. Thank you, a concerned user.
Michael Trealoff 15 Reputation points

2026-04-22T15:59:04.7133333+00:00

I've done the reset and factory settings, reinstalled the Windows link. Again I believe Microsoft needs to send out an update to correct the problem. I have not seen an update for quite some time.
John Petro 15 Reputation points

2026-05-06T10:05:52.6266667+00:00

It's exactly as Michael Trealoff described. Could you please put out an update that will fix the previous update that caused this issue? It's getting crowed in my phone link. Thank you. Jp
Wally Bear 10 Reputation points

2026-05-18T22:06:39.4033333+00:00

Microsoft won't acknowledge their buggy software. If they did, they'd fix it. Any chance to drop back a couple of updates to when the software worked last?
Jeff Olig 0 Reputation points

2026-05-24T14:17:25.8666667+00:00

I am experiencing the exact same issue. I have even deleted Phone link and still the same issue. How do I go back? Or do I need to just use a different app?
Bob Williams 50 Reputation points

2026-05-27T17:58:26.8+00:00

I agree with you. I use android and was using Samsung messaging. When messages were deleted from my phone and I closed the app they use top be deleted phone phone link. Now Samsung has discontinued its messaging app and am now using Google messages. Since using Google the messages on Phone Link go back for months and I cannot get rid of them.
Jeff Olig 0 Reputation points

2026-05-28T11:57:43.87+00:00

Look at the Answer. IT IS AI! Does not understand the problem and is giving a very bad answer. Convenient way to not have to fix a problem. Phone Link needs to get real software people back and service the customer. Trash AI.
Bob Williams 50 Reputation points

2026-06-28T11:31:09.77+00:00

MS probably waiting for AI to fix it!!!!!!!!
Mama Joan 5 Reputation points

2026-07-14T10:36:17.4466667+00:00

Since Google took over Samsung messaging, we will never have the "deleted messages" feature again. The only options are to either "hide" the messages on your computer; or switch to another similar app. I will do that eventually but have not done so yet. I'm too busy constantly fixing OTHER TECH issues every dang week. The day has come (that I feared it would way back in the 70's) when I started my career in computer technology. We have outteched ourselves. At age 74 now, I am so over it -- but I am so tied up and dependant upon it that I, along with everyone else, am no longer its associate -- I am its hostage.
Bob Williams 50 Reputation points

2026-07-14T10:53:39.4966667+00:00

I love Mama Joan's statements. I also grew up in the late 70's with DEC and UNIX and ALC. Today there are too many fingers on the keyboard's at MS and others. Once their done coding it's on to another project leaving the many problems with the last project to linger for ever.
Richard McWolff 5 Reputation points

2026-07-23T22:55:45.85+00:00

I agree with all you folks. Back when Phone Link went kablooey I got Pulse and that worked pretty well for a while but I really loved the Phone Link UI so I asked Claude AI what was up with Phone Link and it told me it had been updated and was back. So I got a link and installed it and went back to Phone Link and disabled Pulse. Well now I regret it. At least with Pulse there IS a check box on the Windows UI side as well as the Browser add on that's available and I'm tempted to go back to that since I don't want to end up like John Petro above with overcrowding on my Windows side. I mean I can hide the unwanted messages but come on, this is an official Windows app. I guess it's right up there with the black screens that Windows code monkey's introduced that everyone I know experiences when the system gets slightly stressed, got tired of that too, so halted all the current updates until MS gets off their butts and fixes their messes. 😡 PS, the AI answer below is NOT acceptable. This is on MS to fix and they shouldn't hide behind AI saying it's not their fault when before it all worked and now it doesn't! 😡

Answer accepted by question author

AI answer

Messages shown in Phone Link cannot be deleted from the PC side.

Phone Link only mirrors recent messages from the phone and provides no option to manage or delete them on the PC. Deleting a message on the phone does not remove it from the Phone Link view; the app explicitly does not support message deletion from the PC interface.

Key points:

Messages visible in Phone Link are read-only on the PC.
There is no X or other control to delete conversations or messages in Phone Link.
The app shows only a limited history (for example, recent messages or those from the last 30 days, depending on device/connection), and older ones disappear automatically over time or when Bluetooth connection is ended (for iPhone scenarios).
Resetting or repairing the app will not add a delete feature; it only helps with connectivity issues.

To remove messages completely, they must be deleted on the phone itself; Phone Link does not provide a way to delete or manage them from Windows.

References:

Send and receive text messages from your PC

AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

5 additional answers

Your answer

b h 40 Reputation points

2026-03-31T04:04:13.15+00:00

I have reset mu phone to factory settings and reinstalled windows link. However the same thing happened, when I delete the messages from the phone they remain on my PC.
Michael Trealoff 15 Reputation points

2026-04-22T15:53:36.8133333+00:00

The phone link worked about two months ago. I believe that one of your updates changed the feature. When I would delete a message from my phone, it would be deleted from the phone link on my PC. Now when I receive a message, I can delete it from my phone, but it stays on my PC in the phone link PC application. It is much different than it was before. Instead of a delete feature in my phone, it now shows move to thrash. Is Microsoft planning to send out an update to correct this feature? I believe your update is the cause and you should be able to correct this with another update to the application. Please let me know as the way the application worked in the past was much better than it is now. Thank you, a concerned user.
Michael Trealoff 15 Reputation points

2026-04-22T15:59:04.7133333+00:00

I've done the reset and factory settings, reinstalled the Windows link. Again I believe Microsoft needs to send out an update to correct the problem. I have not seen an update for quite some time.
John Petro 15 Reputation points

2026-05-06T10:05:52.6266667+00:00

It's exactly as Michael Trealoff described. Could you please put out an update that will fix the previous update that caused this issue? It's getting crowed in my phone link. Thank you. Jp
Wally Bear 10 Reputation points

2026-05-18T22:06:39.4033333+00:00

Microsoft won't acknowledge their buggy software. If they did, they'd fix it. Any chance to drop back a couple of updates to when the software worked last?
Jeff Olig 0 Reputation points

2026-05-24T14:17:25.8666667+00:00

I am experiencing the exact same issue. I have even deleted Phone link and still the same issue. How do I go back? Or do I need to just use a different app?
Bob Williams 50 Reputation points

2026-05-27T17:58:26.8+00:00

I agree with you. I use android and was using Samsung messaging. When messages were deleted from my phone and I closed the app they use top be deleted phone phone link. Now Samsung has discontinued its messaging app and am now using Google messages. Since using Google the messages on Phone Link go back for months and I cannot get rid of them.
Jeff Olig 0 Reputation points

2026-05-28T11:57:43.87+00:00

Look at the Answer. IT IS AI! Does not understand the problem and is giving a very bad answer. Convenient way to not have to fix a problem. Phone Link needs to get real software people back and service the customer. Trash AI.
Bob Williams 50 Reputation points

2026-06-28T11:31:09.77+00:00

MS probably waiting for AI to fix it!!!!!!!!
Mama Joan 5 Reputation points

2026-07-14T10:36:17.4466667+00:00

Since Google took over Samsung messaging, we will never have the "deleted messages" feature again. The only options are to either "hide" the messages on your computer; or switch to another similar app. I will do that eventually but have not done so yet. I'm too busy constantly fixing OTHER TECH issues every dang week. The day has come (that I feared it would way back in the 70's) when I started my career in computer technology. We have outteched ourselves. At age 74 now, I am so over it -- but I am so tied up and dependant upon it that I, along with everyone else, am no longer its associate -- I am its hostage.
Bob Williams 50 Reputation points

2026-07-14T10:53:39.4966667+00:00

I love Mama Joan's statements. I also grew up in the late 70's with DEC and UNIX and ALC. Today there are too many fingers on the keyboard's at MS and others. Once their done coding it's on to another project leaving the many problems with the last project to linger for ever.
Richard McWolff 5 Reputation points

2026-07-23T22:55:45.85+00:00

I agree with all you folks. Back when Phone Link went kablooey I got Pulse and that worked pretty well for a while but I really loved the Phone Link UI so I asked Claude AI what was up with Phone Link and it told me it had been updated and was back. So I got a link and installed it and went back to Phone Link and disabled Pulse. Well now I regret it. At least with Pulse there IS a check box on the Windows UI side as well as the Browser add on that's available and I'm tempted to go back to that since I don't want to end up like John Petro above with overcrowding on my Windows side. I mean I can hide the unwanted messages but come on, this is an official Windows app. I guess it's right up there with the black screens that Windows code monkey's introduced that everyone I know experiences when the system gets slightly stressed, got tired of that too, so halted all the current updates until MS gets off their butts and fixes their messes. 😡 PS, the AI answer below is NOT acceptable. This is on MS to fix and they shouldn't hide behind AI saying it's not their fault when before it all worked and now it doesn't! 😡

Answer 1

Anonymous

Hi b h,

Thank you for posting your question here! I understand you want to delete your messages.

Since Phone Link only mirrors messages in a read only view, messages you delete on your phone can still remain visible on the PC. There is no delete option on Windows by design and resetting or repairing the app will not change this behavior. To reduce or clear the messages shown, you can sign out of Phone Link on both the PC and phone and relink them or turn off message sync entirely if you prefer a clean PC view.

Let me know if you need further assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment" or "Add Answer" if you cannot add comment so your response will be visible. Thank you and I appreciate your effort.

Regards,

Angelique P.

b h 40 Reputation points

2026-04-22T16:51:42.91+00:00

As the previous person I have reset my phone to factory settings so reinstalled link to windows and I still cannot delete the messages in the microsoft app. There is no reason for the messages to still be there as they are not even on my phone.. as everything was reinstalled.
John Petro 15 Reputation points

2026-05-06T10:16:47.5566667+00:00

Hi. You wrote that phone link is a read only view and that it mirrors messages from our phones. The issue that I'm having (and I believe most of us are as well) is that a while back if I deleted a text from my phone, the app on my PC did as well. It really did mirror my phone. That is no longer the case and I'm wondering why it can't go back to doing that. Because as it stands right now, I have to disagree with your statement about phone link being a mirror of my phone. Thank you for your time. jP
Wally Bear 10 Reputation points

2026-05-18T22:10:40.16+00:00

AP - you really should reread the Comments again since you do not understand the problem we are having. A few months ago the Delete a Message on the Phone worked and it DELETED the Message on the PC when it Synced. Now it doesn't! Plain and simple. So don't say this isn't supposed to do this. Your credibility is in question as an 'Independent Reviewer'!!!
Connie Hajduk 10 Reputation points

2026-05-18T22:29:59.49+00:00

I second everything Wally Bear said, the software does not correctly sync SMS messages anymore. This should have been fixed weeks ago. Shame on the Microsoft developers (not) working on this application!
Bob Williams 50 Reputation points

2026-05-27T17:59:47.23+00:00

That is not correct at least on my machine. Phone Link now shows all messages going back months. It use to work, so there must have been an update.
Tom Johnson 0 Reputation points

2026-06-08T17:00:58.1666667+00:00

Another user here having the same problem with Phone Link not syncing with my phone. It adds new messages from my phone but does not delete them when I delete messages on my phone. So, SYNC does not work in Phone Link.
Joel B. Sheffield 0 Reputation points

2026-06-18T16:51:14.06+00:00

It is now a month after the problem was described, and there is still NO solution. I don't want to clutter my screen with old, deleted messages. Can't this be repaired? Or can we revert to the original version?
Joel B. Sheffield 0 Reputation points

2026-06-18T16:58:32.02+00:00

I have just noticed that when you delete a phone record from history on the mobile, it is deleted from the list in Phone Link. ---Interesting.
Joel B. Sheffield 0 Reputation points

2026-06-28T01:38:11.0566667+00:00

I have discovered that on my Android phone, messages that I "delete" are saved in the "Trash" folder. You can get to the trash folder by clicking on the Symbol on the right hand of the screen, with your pic or your initial. That will give you a set of options, one of which is called "Trash". If you open that and delete the contents, those messages will also disappear from PhoneLink.

Answer 2

Joel B. Sheffield 0

I have discovered that on my Android phone, messages that I "delete" are saved in the "Trash" folder. You can get to the trash folder by clicking on the Symbol on the right hand of the screen, with your pic or your initial. That will give you a set of options, one of which is called "Trash". If you open that and delete the contents, those messages will also disappear from PhoneLink.

Bob Williams 50 Reputation points

2026-07-14T10:48:08.67+00:00

Done the trash delete. Still there on Phone Link. Only way to not see the messages on Phone Link is the painful process of "Hide"ing each message.
Joel B. Sheffield 0 Reputation points

2026-07-14T10:54:57.65+00:00

It turns out that there are several depositories in addition to trash that come up on Phone link. Messages that you swipe to "Archive" still show up. If you "delete" these messages, they will go into trash, and then they can be deleted for real, and don't show up on phoneLink.

Answer 3

b h 40

Problem solved I dont use this app anymore. Dont know why problem cant be updated by a simple update.microsft boasts about its technology but cant do a simple update !

0 comments

Answer 4

Anonymous

I do not have trash but Recycle Bin; if I turn that off and on again I find all messages wiped from my phone link.

0 comments