how to delete google voice messages

When it was first rolled out, there was some confusion surrounding Google Voice. People associated it with Google Assistant, mainly due to the voice input. However, people now recognize it as a great internet-based service that allows you to have one number across multiple devices.

How To Delete All Google Voice Messages

It's a very capable service that gives you all the features of your regular phone number, including call forwarding, messaging, and voicemail.

If you've been a Google Voice user for some time, you've likely accumulated quite a number of messages. If you're seeing too much clutter, you'll be glad to hear that Google offers a couple of options for deleting Google Voice messages.

Deleting Multiple Messages from a Conversation

If you're looking for a way to delete messages in a certain conversation, there's an easy way of doing it. Here's what you need to do:

Open Google Voice.
Navigate to Messages by tapping the message icon.
Open the conversation that you want to delete messages from.
Press and hold a message that you want to remove, then select other messages by tapping on them.
Tap the trashcan icon.
Tap Delete to confirm.

You can also get rid of the entire conversation if you don't think you'll need it anymore. Follow these steps:

Go to your messages.
Tap the conversation that you want to delete.
Tap the three-dot icon to open more options.
Select Delete and confirm by tapping OK.

You can use the same method to delete calls and voicemails as well. Unfortunately, there isn't a mass delete option, so you'll have to delete each conversation separately.

If this seems too bothersome, there's a less obvious feature that also lets you do this.

Mass Deleting Google Voice Messages

The option to delete multiple conversation at once is everything but obvious. For some reason, Google decided to conceal it and make it hard for their users to reach it. Thankfully, the solution exists, except it requires a bit of a workaround.

Here's what you should do:

Make sure you're using the latest version of Google Voice.
Once you open the app, tap the hamburger icon to open the main menu, or the three-dot icon to open more options.
Both of these will open a side menu, so navigate to the Legacy Google Voice tab.
This will open a new menu that lets you take action on multiple messages, calls, and other items.
Tap All to delete all messages from the page you're currently on.

Even though this is a more convenient option, it's still far from perfect. It only lets you delete one page, which is 10 items. Since there's a high chance you have much more than that, this will still take some effort. Still, it's faster than deleting each message or conversation separately, so it's definitely a good shortcut.

Keep in mind that this option might not be there forever, since Google is likely to retire it in the future. They're aware of the fact that users want the mass delete feature but intentionally choose to not include it for now.

Deleting Your Google Voice Account

The only thing you can do to get rid of all messages at once is to deactivate your account. Obviously, you'll lose all other data as well, but if this is what you want, here's how to do it:

Log into Google through the browser.
Go to Settings.
Disable the voicemail support by going to Voicemail, then unchecking the Get voicemail via message
Go to Phone numbers, and tap Delete under your phone number.
Confirm account deletion.

After you've deleted your account, all of the data will be removed, and you have 90 days to change your mind. If you don't, Google will likely give that number to someone else.

If you want to reactivate your number, go to Legacy Google Voice, tap Get your old number back, and go through the reactivation process. If you do this, all your data will be back.

The Final Word

The lack of a convenient mass delete option is unfortunate. Still, you can use the above options to get rid of the clutter in your account.

With the newer versions of the app, Google has restricted the deletion features, so there's a slim chance they'll roll out an option to delete multiple messages. What's left to do is hope that they change their mind and until then, use Legacy Google Voice as the best alternative.